3 Tools to Take and Manage Screenshots

A picture is worth a thousand words. Here are three tools that I use to make the process of taking screenshots as smooth as possible.

3 Tools to Take and Manage Screenshots

A picture is worth a thousand words.

A well-annotated screenshot saves hundreds of words of explanatory text.  Here are a few tools that I use to make the process as smooth as possible.

Greenshot

Greenshot is one of my favorite things.

It's a free and open source screenshot utility with blazing fast performance.  You can automatically send every screenshot to multiple "destinations."  For example, here is a list of destinations on one of my devices:

  • An auto-named file in OneDrive
  • Greenshot image editor
  • Windows clipboard
  • SnagIt Editor

That's right, I open every screenshot in two different editors: Greenshot and SnagIt.

For quick and dirty annotation, the Greenshot editor is pretty great.

SnagIt

For more advanced screenshot annotation, I find the SnagIt Editor is worth its premium price.  Here are some of the tools I use the most:

  • Horizontal and vertical cut-out tools: remove excess whitespace
  • Bezier (curved) arrows: avoid obscuring text a straight arrow would block
  • Simplify tool: color-matched shapes to hide unrelated background screens
  • Magnify tool: zoom in on a key part of a screenshot
  • Callouts: associate text to graphics with pinpoint accuracy
  • Auto-incrementing step counter bubbles
  • Grab Text: perform OCR on screenshots to avoid unnecessary typing

(Note: SnagIt Editor is included with the purchase of SnagIt.  SnagIt and the SnagIt Editor are two different executables, but both are included with the purchase of "SnagIt".)

Windows Sketch & Snip

Reader Alfred Vachris wrote in with the following tip (shared with permission):

Use windows key+shift+s to capture open dialog and dropdowns...things I can't easily capture with GreenShot.

There seem to be certain situations that are especially tricky to grab screenshots of. In these situations, the item disappears before you can take the screenshot.  I typically perform these types of captures by setting a several-second delay in Greenshot.  That gets annoying real quick, though.

Alfred's tip sounds promising.  Now I just have to remember to use it the next time I bump into one of these annoying edge cases.

Everything

The Everything utility is not a screenshot tool itself.  However, I use it often to find screenshots that I've taken with other tools.  I simply search for png then sort by Date Modified in descending order.  The latest screenshot is always instantly available at the top of the file list.

Did I mention how much I love this tool?


On a personal note...

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External references

Greenshot
Greenshot - a free screenshot tool optimized for productivity
Buy Snagit
Get the latest version of Snagit with advanced caption and editing options. Buy online today.
Windows 10 Tip: Snip & Sketch
Did you know easy snipping is just a single step away, thanks to the Windows 10 October 2018 Update? Since it’s available in the Microsoft Store, Snip & Sketch (originally introduced as part of the Windows Ink Workspace under the name “Screen Sketch”) can update faster and more frequently. It’s al…
alfred-excel-vachris
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Referenced articles

My Favorite Things
Here is a list of my favorite utilities, add-ins, OCX controls, and applications that I use when developing Microsoft Access applications.
Everything You Need to Find Files
Or, should I say, You Need *Everything* to Find Files.

Image by Sonyworld from Pixabay

All original code samples by Mike Wolfe are licensed under CC BY 4.0