Screenshot utilities for Windows

Question

What are some good screenshot programs for Windows, preferably free? Obviously I know I can hit the Print Screen key and paste that into Paint and save it, but I'm looking for something that makes it simple. Bonus points if it can automatically upload to an image host.

Answer 1

The built-in Vista / Windows 7 Snipping Tool does a fantastic job. Not sure if you can get it to work on earlier versions of Windows.

Answer 2

Free

Generic

• On any version of Windows, you can hit Alt+PrtScr (capture the current window) or just PrtScr (capture the entire screen). This will copy that image to the clipboard, after which you can paste it into any image program like Photoshop or even Paint.

• On Windows Vista and Windows 7, you can use the included Snipping Tool. It allows you to select a single window, the full screen, a rectangular area, or a free-form snip. You can draw on the screenshot, then copy to clipboard or save to file.

  

Special features _{^{(video, web-upload, etc.)}}

• PrtScr can also capture overlay windows, which Snipping Tool cannot.

• Cropper, is a free open source .NET screen capture tool written in C#. It also has some support for vector graphics in programs like Adobe Fireworks.

  

• TechSmith Jing (by the same company that makes the commercial screenshot software SnagIt), works on Mac and Windows and will also capture video. Jing can also upload to their screenshot sharing site or your own FTP server.

• There are several Firefox add-ons for taking screenshots of webpages. Screengrab, Fireshot, and Abduction are a few. These add-ons have the advantage over regular screenshot software in that they can capture a whole long webpage as one image.

• MWSnap is older, but has a fairly nice array of features, such as being able to select a specific window, control, or menu, zooming, and a color picker.

Paid

• SnagIt from TechSmith is $50, and is a good choice for Windows.

  • It has an image editor so it's nice if you need to annotate / mark the screen grabs that you take.
  • It measures the area you're grabbing in pixels - a lot of web developers in our group use it as a measuring tool, not just a screen shot tool.
  • It does delayed capture which is useful for getting context menus etc as a part of your screen grabs.
  • It can screen grab scrolling windows which is very handy.
  • It has outputs so you can send images to Flickr, Blogger, MSExcel, Skype, FogBugz, etc.

• WindowClippings is $18 and will grab a shot of a window with the proper Aero window border without any background and can also add your own watermark. There is also a free unlimited trial that ads a mandatory watermark. It also has add-ons to do things like send images directly to Paint.NET or MS OneNote.

• WinSnap is ~$25 and allows you to simultaneously select and capture multiple objects (e.g. windows, dialogs, buttons and controls).

• FastStone Capture is ~$20 and has a few nice image editing tools.

• FreshLog is ~$15 and will import to almost any issue tracker.

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For more detailed info, you can also reference the Wikipedia article on screenshots.

Answer 3

I really like Greenshot. You can take a screenshot of a selected area or a single window, and you can configure it to either copy to the clipboard, save to a file, open in a simple editor, or any combination of the three. The only problem with it is that I have very occasionally had it crash, but restarting the program fixes it.

I've also used Cropper which I also like, but it runs a little slower and has less configurability than Greenshot.

Answer 4

+1 for Cropper. Free, Lightweight, Open Source, Written in C#.

It also has a strong plugin community! Here is a list of some of the free plugins for Cropper:

1. AnimatedGif - Captures to an animated GIF image.
2. AviFormat - Captures to an AVI movie.
3. CountdownPng - Gives you a countdown before taking the shot to allow you to set it up.
4. SendToEmail - Sends the image via the default e-mail client.
5. SendToFlickr - Sends captures to one's Flickr account
6. SendToOneNote - Sends captures to a page in OneNote
7. SendToS3 - Sends captures to one's Amazon S3 account
8. SendToTinyPic - Sends captures to TinyPic
9. TFSWorkItem - Creates a Team Foundation Server work item with the captures image as an attachment.

Answer 5

Take a look at www.jingproject.com. I think it should do all you need.

Answer 6

Per Scott Hanselman:

WinSnap and Window Clippings - I'm torn between two of the finest screenshot utilities I've ever found. Free, clean, fast and tight, WinSnap has as many (or as few) options as you'd like. Also does wonders with rounded corners and transparency. It includes a 32-bit and 64-bit version, as well as a portable no-install version. However, Window Clippings also has no install, includes 32 and 64-bit and is only $10. It's a tough one. I use Window Clippings at least daily, and I use WinSnap a few times a week. Kenny Kerr of Window Clippings is actively adding new features and has a nice clean add-in model on his Developers site. Both these apps are worth your download.

I don't think either of them are free anymore, but they're both nice. Also don't forget the clipping tool in Vista.

Answer 7

I use the Print Screen key and Adobe Photoshop.

Alt+Print Screen captures only the active window.

Answer 8

Cropper is pretty nice.

Answer 9

On Windows, I now use Screenshot Captor. It may not be the best looking tool, but it has a nice set of options for selecting exactly which part of the screen to grab (entire screen, current window, a custom selection, etc.).

For the bonus points: Screenshot Captor can be configured to easily upload the picture to an FTP server, or send it via e-mail.

Answer 10

I've recently become a fan of Greenshot. It is open source and written on the .NET Framework. I usually configure mine to just put the screenshot on the clipboard, but it also has a built-in image viewer when the screenshot is taken.

Answer 11

Another good one for Windows is FastStone Screen Capture. It's not free, but inexpensive at $20.

Answer 12

If you're running Vista, use the included Snipping Tool. It's free and, for simple usages, works great.

Answer 13

There is a good clipping utility in Office OneNote. It grabs the portion of screen that you select with your mouse and inserts right below the captured image some info related to the operation. Useful if you use Office, because of the integration of the various tools.

Answer 14

I like snagit, not free but worth the money. You can tell it to just take a shot of the selction, or the whole page, it even scroll a page for you if it is longer than your screen. it also has ftp upload functions and other useful stuff.

Answer 15

When looking for utilities, I will often check Scott Hanselman's tool list first. He suggests WinSnap or Window Clippings.

Answer 16

FastStone capture. Version 5.3 is free: http://www.oldapps.com/fast_stone_capture.php :-) Latest version is free for non-commercial use, but I think its lifetime license is worth few bucks.

It can take a screenshot of entire window (even parts which are non-visible, and needs scrolling).

It also has nice simple editor for adding highlights, texts, ... It has cropping, various edges, ...

Latest versions even have screen recording tool included for making simple videos.

Answer 17

I've found myself using ScreenGrab! a firefox plugin a load just recently although generally I use Print Screen/Sys Req under Windows and X and edit the result.

Answer 18

Kenny Kerr's Window Clippings for grabbing an entire window, without a background. or Windows Vista's Snipping Tool for quick grabs.

Answer 19

I've always liked the FogBugz Screenshot Tool, mainly for the ability to feed screenshots straight into FogBugz cases.

It also allows saving a screenshot to a file.

For a more full featured tool, Snagit seems to be one of the better choices.

Answer 20

I never understood why people need anything but the built-in screenshot functionality in Windows/OS X/Gnome/KDE (although I've never actually used KDE for any length of time)

Well, on Windows perhaps it skips the prnt-screen/switch-to-image-editor/paste/save steps.. but OS X's screenshot shortcuts are great. Cmd+shift+3 grabs the entire screen. Cmd+Shift+4 lets you screenshot an area (or my favourite feature, press space and it lets you select a specific window, or the dock/menubar etc). It saves it to your desktop.

With "Deeper" or "Onyx" or any of the countless system-setting-tweaking-tools, you can change the location of the screenshots (I put min in ~/Pictures/Screenshots/), the format it saves in (I don't recall the default, but I have it set to save PNG)

In Gnome, you hit prnt-scrn, it asks you where to save the file. That's about it..

On Windows, I just pressed prnt-scrn, loaded up Paint Shop Pro 6 (v7 started to load really slowly, PSP6 loads in a second or two), or Paint, paste, then save..

To this point, I cannot fathom why people pay money for this functionality.. What do these applications achieve over the boring little button already on your keyboard?

Answer 21

Check out Gadwin PrintScreen. It's feature rich and free. It's the only tool I've used for capturing screen shots for a long time.

Answer 22

Personally I used IrfanView, though admittedly the screen capturing capability is sort of a "hidden feature" as it was snuck away in the "Option" menu (find it under "Option > Capture/Screenshot..."; alternatively the shortcut key is "C").

Answer 23

If you just want to capture web pages the add on "Screengrab!" will take the entire websites length and width in one screenshot for you.

Answer 24

I use Gadwin PrintScreen. It is small, it is easy to use and it's free.

Answer 25

Did you know you can press ALT + PRTSCRN to copy just the current window to the clipboard? I use this all the time in combination with Paint.Net.

Answer 26

I use Bug Shooting.

It can send screenshots to:

• FogBugz
• Gemini Project Issue Tracking
• OnTime 2009
• BugTracker.NET
• SharpForge
• Mantis Bug Tracker
• DoneDone
• JIRA
• SpiraTest
• Elementool
• Skype
• Default E-Mail client
• Any application (by command line)

Answer 27

OneNote will do this very simply.

Answer 28

I've been using MWSnap for a while. Not sure if it's the best but it has many good features like only grabbing a section of the screen or grabbing the selected window/toolbar.

Answer 29

Just to add a few more notes on Snagit, which is already mentioned but which has features that propel it far beyond the ALT + PrintScreen:

1. It has an image editor so it's nice if you need to annotate / mark the screen grabs that you take.

2. It measures the area you're grabbing in pixels - a lot of web developers in our group use it as a measuring tool, not just a screen shot tool.

3. It does delayed capture which is useful for getting context menus etc as a part of your screen grabs.

4. It can screen grab scrolling windows which is very handy.

Answer 30

On Windows I always use Cropper, it's free and has a great interface that allows you to select exactly what part of the screen you want to capture and then save it off to a number of different formats.