Jessica Posted April 24, 2012 Share Posted April 24, 2012 Need to get a free non trial screenshot program for a windows computer. Not F12 and Paint, a program to do it for me. What do you use? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Philip Posted April 24, 2012 Share Posted April 24, 2012 Vista and above has the built-in snipping tool which is very handy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ManiacDan Posted April 24, 2012 Share Posted April 24, 2012 Are you trying to do this on a timer? If so, various malware and spyware does this. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jessica Posted April 24, 2012 Author Share Posted April 24, 2012 Vista and above has the built-in snipping tool which is very handy. On XP SP2 :/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jessica Posted April 24, 2012 Author Share Posted April 24, 2012 Are you trying to do this on a timer? If so, various malware and spyware does this. No. I'm used to using SnagIt but I need a free tool which can do similar - easily crop and add arrows/boxes etc. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ManiacDan Posted April 24, 2012 Share Posted April 24, 2012 I assume "install Ubuntu" isn't a good idea then? PrintScr copies the screen to the clipboard. Why not open photoshop/gimp/photoimpact/whatever and just paste into there instead of paint? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jessica Posted April 24, 2012 Author Share Posted April 24, 2012 I hate Gimp and don't have photoshop. I guess the question wasn't clear. I'll keep looking at stuff I find via google, I was just hoping someone who actually uses a specific screenshot software would be able to say I use X and like it. And it's free. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ManiacDan Posted April 24, 2012 Share Posted April 24, 2012 So what are you trying to do, exactly? Maybe we can approach it from the other direction. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jessica Posted April 24, 2012 Author Share Posted April 24, 2012 I'm trying to take screenshots... I understand that Print Screen does this. I like the added functionality that SnagIt offers like grabbing just the open window automatically or cropping to a defined area, graphics/arrows/boxes, text, copy to clipboard or save to file. I don't want to use Paint because it sucks, and Gimp/Photoshop are overkill for this. I currently use a firefox add on for web shots but I need to be able to do any program and also get the address bar in Fx. Maybe I'll just give in and buy a license for snag it, it's for work so I will talk to them about buying it. I'm surprised that this is confusing, it's something I've had to do as part of work for over 5 years, and the companies I've worked with have always supplied SnagIt or a similar program, I know there are a ton of them out there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xyph Posted April 24, 2012 Share Posted April 24, 2012 Give this a try? http://www.techsmith.com/jing-features.html Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maq Posted April 24, 2012 Share Posted April 24, 2012 I can't recommend one but these look promising (annotations, cropping etc.): http://www.techsupportalert.com/best-free-screen-capture-utility.htm Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
salathe Posted April 24, 2012 Share Posted April 24, 2012 Give this a try? Oh jing, it's a little clunky (and super, duper ugly) to work with. I wouldn't give it the thumbs up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ManiacDan Posted April 24, 2012 Share Posted April 24, 2012 I'm trying to take screenshots... [...] I'm surprised that this is confusing It's not really confusing, you're just not really explaining everything you need and why. You're not trying to take screenshots, you want screenshots of the active window, or portions of the active window, with graphics overlaid. That's a lot more than most screenshot apps give you. If you want to capture only the active window to the clipboard, use alt+prtscn. You'd still have to paste it into a graphics editor of some sort to add your arrows and whatever else you need. I've personally never used a standalone screenshot app, since I use gimp for all this, but the above links look promising. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zane Posted April 24, 2012 Share Posted April 24, 2012 Personally, if I were using your system and wanted screenshots, I would just use PrintScreen of alt+PrintScreen as Dan suggested. I would then use mspaint and save it as a jpg or whatever I need. If only you could find a Snipping Tool equivalent for XP, you'd be set. The snipping tool in Vista/7 is awesome. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zane Posted April 24, 2012 Share Posted April 24, 2012 Perhaps, this will work http://xpsnipping.codeplex.com/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jessica Posted April 24, 2012 Author Share Posted April 24, 2012 I've personally never used a standalone screenshot app Maybe that's why you didn't understand? I'm not trying to be rude, I'm just pointing out if you've never used a screenshot application you wouldn't know what one would consist of? All of the paid ones I've used in the past had all those features and more, without being a photo editor. Jing looks good but it gave me an error about .NET when I started install, and I haven't had a chance to try and figure out what's wrong with it. The list Maq found looks great, I'll probably find something there. If I don't, guess I'll just pay for SnagIt since that's the one I know best. Thanks guys! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ManiacDan Posted April 24, 2012 Share Posted April 24, 2012 Oh no, I definitely don't know anything about screenshot programs (apparently) but now I'm interested. What do you do that requires this? I've taken probably 6 screenshots in the last 4 months, and I program web interfaces for a living. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
QuickOldCar Posted April 25, 2012 Share Posted April 25, 2012 Pearl crescent is a good free plugin for taking screenshots and resizing for firefox http://pearlcrescent.com/products/pagesaver/ Is options in the plugin. Or to automate it. for instance using psexec must accept eula first time use it psexec -accepteula C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\firefox.exe -savepng http://www.aol.com/ exec("Psexec.exe -i -d C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\firefox.exe -savepng $url -savedelay 3000"); Is a windows app called webshot, also free http://www.websitescreenshots.com/ I prefer to use pearl for taking nice shots, can use adblock and other plugins for nicer ones, the webshot can do single or from a list of urls, but sadly uses ie, so it will throw out some bad sites or white shots sometimes, for the mopst part can do a lot quickly. I've done exec scripts that just open firefox windows and snap them with pearl Is also the com method which can exec ie http://www.php.net/manual/en/function.imagegrabwindow.php or http://www.php.net/manual/en/function.imagegrabscreen.php Whichever methods you pick to get the intial image, you could further manipulate them with gd or imagemagik If you browsed my old posts i have more information and even some better example codes for automating the screenshots. Here is a post with more info for programs and how to make your own thumbnailer snapshots http://www.phpfreaks.com/forums/index.php?topic=352033.msg1662293#msg1662293 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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