Screen Capturing Tools
I have briefly highlighted a few screen capturing tools and keyboard shortcuts on Langwitches before. Here is a quick run down, links to original posts or links to the software website:
- Windows Keyboard Shortcut
- Capturing the entire desktop: Use the Print Screen button on your keyboard to place the image on your clipboard, then past (CTRL+V) the image
- Capturing the active window: ALT + Print Screen button
- Mac Keyboard Shortcuts
- Command+Shift+3 shortcut for taking a screen capture of your entire screen. Places a copy of the image on your desktop.
- Command+Shift+4: gives you a crosshair cursor. Drag the cursor out over the area you want to capture. Places a copy of that image on your desktop.
- Control+Command+Shift+3 (or +4): instead of creating a file on your desktop, copies the captured area into your Clipboard. Paste (CTRL+V) the image where you want to.
- Kwout- Screen Capturing and Quoting tool (web based)
- Skitch (for MACs only)
- Jing Project (MAC and PC)
I have been using Jing for a while and love that it is simply there. After installation jing will be the "sunshine" on top of your screen window.
The crosshair cursor will create a cross on your screen that you can drag over the area you want to capture. You can save the captured image as a .png file on your hard drive or upload to screencast.com , flickr or upload via FTP directly to a location. You can also receive an embed code for that image. I use the image tool almost every day for trouble shooting visuals, creating step-by-step instructions for faculty and even to re-size images quickly while I have them on the screen, instead of opening up Photoshop to do it. I admit, that I have not used their video capturing tool on a consistent basis.
Usually I add text and/or arrows to the screenshot to point out a button or an option.
- Snag it (Same company who developed Jing)
- I was able to get a free licensed copy (version 7) of this program as well as Camtasia a couple of months back. I had not played with it, until Sue Waters used some pretty nice screen shots in her post "Can you smell the benefits of CoComment? " I asked what tool she was using and that brought me back to checking out Snag It.
I like there more professional options to jazz up your arrows, add stickers and above all the ability to edit the screen shots right there, without having to save and then import into Photoshop to resize. That is a real issue for me, since my WordPress layout theme, does not like me to insert images greater than 500 px.
Snag It allows you to save your shots in MANY different formats, while Jing will export as a .png file. It also allows you to choose between different options of capturing. While Jing will capture a rectangular area, in Snag It you can choose between the Screen, a window, an active window, a freehand region, a fixed region, an object and multiple areas. The best feature though is the scrolling area. With the other screen capture tools I have, I cannot include any part of the screen that is hidden below. Very cool tool.
One feature that I am still looking for is the one that allows me to capture dropdown menus. Usually they disappear when I move my mouse away from it to define the area of the shot. Anyone now of a way to do this with any of the tools mentioned here? A tip would be greatly appreciated.
You can find another review list for screen capturing tools on Digital Inspiration . They include a few tools, that I have not used.
Snag it has a setting that will delay the capture for a few seconds so you can capture the drop down menu. Thanks for this great post…I’m just learning to use Jing on my mac!
Windows Vista comes with a built in program called snipping tool – it’s very easy to use.