Need A Useful Screenshot Utility

[BCD 1]

I need to take some screenshots for making some tutorials. Currently I have to manually take screenshot and save it to jpg (using a utility to do that), and then I am opening it on GIMP, cropping it, adding text. I need to speed up this process.Do you know of any utility which after pressing a shortcut key, puts a selection tool on the screen, and when I drag a selection, it immediately saves that selection to jpg and opens a editor with text tools and then save it finally? I need such a utility even if its a paid one. Any one have come across such a program?Thanks

[yordan 10]

Did you try this ?
http://forums.xisto.com/no_longer_exists/

[akashi 0]

You can also try Faststone Capture. I only ever used its image viewer but they do has a good software. Maybe you can compare it with the one that yordan told and make some review here.

BTW, you can get it from :
http://faststone.org/FSCaptureDetail.htm

[Quatrux 4]

To capture screenshots I just use Irfanview, where you can set a keyboard combination and take s screenshot, because it's a only powerful image viewer, you can't edit the images to much like on Gimp, but taking pictures with Gimp is not comfortable.. The way I use it is I take a screenshot with Irfanview by pressing Ctrl F11 I believe, then I push Ctrl C to copy the image and I just Copy P paste it to Gimp, fast and suits me

You can find Irfanview here: http://www.irfanview.com/

[BCD 1]

Thanks yordan, akashi, Quatrux. I thought there may be one or two such utilities, but those were so many. I tried each one of them. And I would like to give a sort of review as akashi told. Also I would later tell the one I chose for my purpose.

 

Yes yordan, its better to edit/annotate the screenshot too before saving the image. That is better idea. I never knew Irfanview too had built-in screenshot feature. Very handy, but lacks the features of annotating. But its perfect for what it is, a viewer. By the way, Quatrux, your idea is great, just copy pasting and using the monster Gimp to edit to our hearts content. But its just too much for something as simple as annotating and cropping. Ok, so here are the three utilities which I think are the best:

 

1) JetScreenshot: (The quickest way, Free); The quickest and most efficient way to take and edit screenshots. Moreover its free. You can literally take a screenie, crop it, add some text, upload and get the link in 10 seconds or more. It has the minimum required drawing tools to edit the screenshot and get the job done. It allows you to annotate even before taking screenshot. The software has built-in ftp upload feature, and their server even hosts the images for free. All these great features take a small watermark on the end product. It seems there is no way to remove the watermark, as they don't have a paid version. I would use this one to help my buddies in troubleshooting sessions.

 

Download Page

 

2) FastStone Capture 5.3: (Feature rich, Free for personal use); akashi you were using a full fledged screenshot utility as a viewer. It has nice drop shadow effects for the pencil, boxes, circles drawn. Opacity can be adjusted for the elements drawn. It also has polygonal lasso tool to custom cut out the screenshot. It doesn't put any watermarks on the final image. So if you want more professional screenie this program is the best. Note, that I am mentioning the version 5.3 (free for personal use), the newer version comes as trial.

 

Download Page

 

3) Gadwin PrintScreen Pro: (Full fledged screenshot editor, Paid); This is the ultimate tool out there. It has extra features like airbrush, different types call outs, many image effects. This one costs, there is also a free version. I am not sure if that too offers all these features. If anybody is interested they can check the official website.

 

Download Page

 

I am now using faststone capture for making my tutorial snaps. Its feature rich and its free.

Hope this review helps people who visit this page in search of a screnshot utility.

Edited July 7, 2009 by Spencer (see edit history)

[akashi 0]

Glad to hear you like it. I use its viewer for years and I really like it. It has frame masking and other plugins. That's why when you asked about capture program, I suggested you to use its product. BTW, thanks for the short review, that would helps me and other member when we need the tool

I am now using faststone capture for making my tutorial snaps. Its feature rich and its free.Hope this review helps people who visit this page in search of a screnshot utility.