Capturing Screen Images from the Web and your Computer Screen

John Campbell | Nov 02, 2009 | Comments

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As a writer of computer books and articles I regularly capture screen pictures to illustrate points rather than use long winded phrases and unnecesarry description. I am a great believer in the old adage “A picture is worth a thousand words”.

When I began writing computer training manuals, I frequently used screen dumps to illustrate important points. The earlier methods I used are described below:

To Capture All the Screen

Press the PrtScn (Print Screen) key.
After capturing the image, paste it into the document.

To Capture a Window

Press the Alt key and PrtScn (Print Screen) key.
After capturing the image, paste it into the document.

Following image capture the image goes into Windows Clipboard AND Clipboard only holds on image. This was “One shot in the locker”. Snagit the better option, pastes all captures into Snagit Editor where they remain available for editing or manipulating.

In this primitive method of screen capture, I used Paint to modify and crop its elements. While this method was pretty crude, it achieved its purpose.

Snagit

Then along came Snagit produced by TechSmith. I began to use this valuable program back in its early stages of development. Over the years it has been refined and has developed into a powerful tool eminently suited to my work. At present, I’m using the latest version, Snagit 9.

While this program is not free, the purchase price is not prohibitive. It is a worthy investment and Snagit has been a boon to my work. I highly recommend it.

Incidentally, for those interested in trying it, you can download a free version. It is time stamped and you can only use it for a limited period.

This is available at this website: Free 30 Day Snagit Trial

Snipping Tool

This free tool, found in Windows Vista and in Windows 7, works in a similar fashion to Snagit.Though its not as refined or precise as Snagit, it still does a pretty good job.

Andrew referred to this tool in his post on 13 Oct – Odds and Ends, Part Two: Calculator, Snipping Tool, and Math Input Panel

Let’s take a more detailed look at Snipping tool.

Where is the Snipping Tool?

It is located in the Accessories folder in your Start menu. Rather than dig and delve to find it, use this method to access it.

Open the Start menu.
In the Search box, type snip.
In the Search results box, click Snipping Tool.
The Snipping Tool opens.
Next, click the New button on the toolbar and choose the snipping tool.
There are four options available: