Do you have a favorite "print screen" app/method for your PC?

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

One of the things I've long been in the habit of doing is saving electronic clips of things I think will be useful or important for me for the future -- Immigration stuff, retirement stuff, hobby stuff, and on and on....  Kind of like keeping an electronic filing cabinet. But the question arises, what's the best method to accomplish that on a PC?

 

I've always wanted and looked for a program/app that made that process easy, and gave me options for different outputs, like sometimes saving as a file on my PC, other times going direct to a printer, etc etc... One key for me is that such programs can be automated to where either a default setting or quick menu choice will execute either a clip print or a clip save -- not a long process of manually opening a separate program, and executing a bunch of menu commands.

 

Long ago, I started out using a really good paid program for that called Print Screen Deluxe, but it seems to be no longer in active development and the newer versions I don't care for as much, while the older versions I had already bought don't really work well with Windows 10.

 

http://www.americansys.com/psd.htm

 

More recently, as PSD became unsatisfactory, I searched around and came upon a free Windows program called Greenshot, which provides those same kinds of features, but has been updated to work in the Win 10 world.  Only problem is, on at least on one of my Win 10 PCs, it too often seems to be freezing up my PC and the app itself when I go to use it, not sure why...

 

So searching around more lately, I came across another free program that's pretty lightweight and does provide the essential capabilities -- freeform screen clips and printing when desired. The latest app, which works fine in Win 10 and on 64 bit systems, is called Lightshot.  About the only thing it's missing that I liked from Greenshot is the ability to shrink/enlarge the clipped content when printing, and to position that content at various page places (top, center, bottom). AFAICT, Lightshot doesn't allow that, but otherwise, seems to work and run pretty crisply.

 

https://app.prntscr.com/en/index.html

 

So the questions are, are any of you out there also PC content clippers (screen capture/print screen), and if so, what's your preferred method(s) of saving a clip to your PC and/or printing out that clip?   Thanks!!!

 

PS - I already know that in Windows without any special app, hitting the "print screen" button will copy screen content to your clipboard, and it then can be copied into some other app or program for use. But in my case, I do a lot of screen captures, I want to control the specific sections of stuff I'm saving, and I don't want to have to be going into a separate program each and every time.  I want a quick, 1 button process to save and/or print...

 

There's also in Windows 10 a very limited Snipping Tool that MS is apparently in the process of re-developing into something called "Snip and Sketch," which gets part of the way there.... But to use it, AFAICT, you have to manually open the app each time, and then have to manually choose to either save or print what you've clipped thru menu commands in the app, which for my tastes is slow and balky...

 

 

[david555]

http://www.faststone.org/  I use faststone capture and it works on my print scr key direct (possible to do in settings depending your pc/laptop..)

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

BTW, here's what a Lightshot screen looks like after you press the "Print Screen" button. You use your mouse to select the screen area you want to hightlight/capture, and as soon as you do that, the Lightshot command functions pop up along the edges of your image.

 

 

As you can see, the bottom row of command icons provide functions to save a file, print the content, share or other stuff. While the right edge menu provides options for annotating the captured image.

 

With Greenshot, once you hit the "Print Screen" button and selected your screen content, you got a popup menu with a list of options that included automatic file save, file print, and other options like sizing or placement on the printed page.

 

Both Lightshot and Greenshot are running in the background, minimized, and can be set to auto start with Windows, so both can be always available with just a press of the "Print Screen" button.

 

 

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

9 minutes ago, david555 said:

http://www.faststone.org/  I use faststone capture and it works on my print scr key direct (possible to do in settings depending your pc/laptop..)

 

Yes, I have that, and have used it too.... But isn't it one of those kinds of programs where you pretty much have to manually open and run the program each time you want to use it???  Which for me, is a time hassle and waste I'd prefer to avoid.

 

FastStone image viewer is a pretty nice program as well for managing / viewing / editing one's photos and photo library.

 

[david555]

same thing does this capture from a small taskbar up , lasso , rectangle and more , I use it simple way , but part of screen too , can try it if not good remove it, also I use the image viewer from same group which let you resize and many things whit the picture I am not so much a lay out user .

[david555]

once you installed it you can let it star with windows start up , and then it is positioned in the task bar , until you stop it or put it back in task bar down right , when open it is a small task bar up right with the controls , I just clikc on print scr key for direct capture opening for that up right task bar .

If you had it already you should know how it works , maybe in settings can explain more 

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

Ahh... maybe that's why I was using the other free apps/program... The Faststone Capture program is $19.95 to continue using after the 30-day shareware trial period.   

 

See how useful screen captures can be when traveling about ThaiVisa!!!

 

 

 

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

Yep, Faststone Capture has a lot of the features I like/liked in Greenshot....which is free.

 

The ability just by pressing the Print Screen button to autosave any clip that can be automatically given a year-month-day-time filename. Choice of file formats to auto save as, jpg, gif, png. etc. The ability to set an auto print function any time you do a screen capture. Choosing the default folder where images get saved to. Selecting the automatic settings for the image quality of the saved captures. Choices of type of capture -- whole screen, active window, freehand selection, rectangular selection, Etc etc.

 

[bendejo]

I've been using this for years.  I usually capture a selected area or a window, haven't used any of the fancier features.  If I need to edit I'll use my usual graphic program.

http://www.ducklink.com/p/free-screen-capture-tool/

 

Inside of the firefox browser I use Nimbus.  It's ok, the ads are annoying.

 

 

[balo]

I just use the built in Snipping tool on Windows.  You can open it from one of your F-keys so you don't have to look for it every time. 

 

Very easy to use really, I don't see the need for anything else just to save 2-3 seconds.  

[JoePai]

Agree the (new) Snip & Sketch app built into Windows is perfect and easy to use 

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

6 hours ago, JoePai said:

Agree the (new) Snip & Sketch app built into Windows is perfect and easy to use 

 

No automatic save on hitting print screen button. No automatic print on hitting print screen button.

 

For once in a while, it's OK. But for frequent and heavy use, it's a PITA!

 

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

17 hours ago, bendejo said:

I've been using this for years.  I usually capture a selected area or a window, haven't used any of the fancier features.  If I need to edit I'll use my usual graphic program.

http://www.ducklink.com/p/free-screen-capture-tool/

 

 

Not bad!!! Not one button to save or print captures... but at least only two easy clicks.

 

Can run in background and auto start with Windows. Options for different modes of capturing. Options for where to save and what file types to save as. Options for changing the command keys to launch capture commands. Options for how to auto name the saved captures, such as using the Y-M-D format or other.

 

But I'm confused a bit about its pricing. The website advertises the software as free. But when I installed it, I thought I saw something in the EULA disclosure that talks about it only has a 30 day free trial and then having to purchase or pay for a license. And yet in the app and on the website, I can't find any mention or route to that.  Does the "free" program stop working after a month's use?

 

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

19 hours ago, bendejo said:

Inside of the firefox browser I use Nimbus.  It's ok, the ads are annoying.

 

 

The Nimbus add on for Firefox isn't bad either, but strikes me as a bit balky, and as you'd expect in an add-on, not as many available options, settings, customizations as in a regular app/program.

 

Once you set the quick save options in its Settings, saving a captured screen area automatically to a file on your desktop is pretty easy and works well.  Click the Nimbus icon in your browser add-ons menu area, select "Selected Area" from the dropdown menu to choose the type of capture, and then set the "action after capture" setting to default to download. Once that's done, it's two mouseclicks to get to the highlighting the screen area function, and then one final mouse click after selection to create/save the file.

 

But the printing a screen capture outcome is a bit more complicated and obtuse. There doesn't appear to be any direct command to accomplish that. Instead, you follow the same directions as above to capture a file to your desktop. But once you get to the final step, instead of choosing the Save icon, you instead click the three dots icon to the right and that displays a Print command as one of several choices in a popup menu. Choose that, and that opens your printer command dialog box and allows you to order a print.  A single icon or command option just to execute Print would be a whole lot easier!

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

With the free Lightshot program I mentioned above, once you hit the Print Screen button, you're automatically prompted to choose the area you want to save. And once you've used the mouse to capture the area you want to save, you automatically get an onscreen menu below the capture area that has single icons for executing both a file save and a file print function.

 

It's fast and uncomplicated. The only part I'd like better is if the program's file save function just saved automatically with a predetermined naming method. Instead, file save brings up a Windows file save dialog box prefilled with the filename "Screenshot_X" with X being a number. So then you can either accept that file name or type in the name of your choosing. No automatic system to automatically save files with a year-month-day time type format. So that's one extra, albeit quick step.  That's the one thing that I think is missing and would make this program more appealing for a heavy user.

 

But when you choose a screen capture area and then hit the Print Icon instead, it just immediately brings up the standard Windows print dialog box and allows you to just do a one click OK to execute the print command.

 

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

...

[lopburi3]

Have found FireShot easy to use and no issues on Chrome.

https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/take-webpage-screenshots/mcbpblocgmgfnpjjppndjkmgjaogfceg?hl=en

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

23 hours ago, TallGuyJohninBKK said:

More recently, as PSD became unsatisfactory, I searched around and came upon a free Windows program called Greenshot, which provides those same kinds of features, but has been updated to work in the Win 10 world.  Only problem is, on at least on one of my Win 10 PCs, it too often seems to be freezing up my PC and the app itself when I go to use it, not sure why...

 

I should add, of all the printscreen programs and apps I've tried thus far, the one that works the smoothest, quickest and cleanest with the most powerful range of choices to set as defaults is the free Greenshot program.

 

I noticed in my original post, I didn't include a link to that program, so I'll do that here now:

 

https://getgreenshot.org/

 

Greenshot has/had been working flawlessly on my former 32-bit Win 10 desktop for many months as my go-to printscreen choice. But for reasons I can't figure, at the same time, it was constantly causing freezeups on my 64-bit Win 10 laptop. I don't know if that's an issue with my laptop or with the program itself. [Unfortunately last week, my main hard drive in my desktop died, so I had to replace the hard disk and reinstall Windows, which I did with the 64-bit version. So now I guess I need to give Greenshot another try on my new 64-bit desktop, and see if it runs OK or shows the same problems as my 64-bit laptop OS.]

 

That aside, there are a lot of features to really like about this program, the main ones for me being, the ability to set the program to do basically one-click automated file saves and file prints -- no multiple menus, multiple screen, typing in file names, print screen dialog boxes, if you don't want them. For ultimate ease, it can be just hit the Print Screen button, select your area, and choose your output option from a context menu. That's it, everything else is automatic and happens by itself.

 

If you want the program to basically do everything by itself, you can set it that way in the settings, and then when you hit the Print Screen button and select an area, you automatically get this pop-up menu, click to choose your output option, and you're done!!!

 

 

You can have options for outputting the file in a particular way each time (the top "select destination dynamically" option), or just set in Settings what you want to happen automatically every time you do a Print Screen, as with the different choices below, so there are no further clicks or commands required:

 

 

Same with its printing options in Settings:

 

 

As you can see at the bottom of the above image, you can have the program give you this full menu of printing style choices each time you want to print a screen, or by unchecking the box at the bottom, you can just make your style/printing selections with the above checkboxes and Greenshot will just follow those settings automatically each time without you having to do anything other than choose Print!

 

(The above options for automatically enlarging, shrinking or centering the printout on the page come in very handy--and those aren't features I saw so readily available or at all in the other programs.)

 

All of the above are the kinds of control options -- and the ability to minimize the number of clicks and menus and choices to make -- that are available each time you go to do a Greenshot Print Screen or save.

 

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

1 hour ago, lopburi3 said:

Have found FireShot easy to use and no issues on Chrome.

https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/take-webpage-screenshots/mcbpblocgmgfnpjjppndjkmgjaogfceg?hl=en

 

Looks like it's compatible with various browsers:

 

 

But a bit pricey for a screen capture utility...

 

[BritManToo]

23 hours ago, TallGuyJohninBKK said:

So the questions are, are any of you out there also PC content clippers (screen capture/print screen), and if so, what's your preferred method(s) of saving a clip to your PC and/or printing out that clip?   Thanks!!

I press the 'print screen' button on my keyboard (next to F12), then paste it into photoshop, or paint.

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

1 minute ago, BritManToo said:

I press the 'print screen' button on my keyboard, then paste it into photoshop, or paint.

 

When I'm using the Print Screen function, I'm usually wanting to do one of two things:

1. quickly save the screen capture as a file to my desktop.

or

2. quickly print out the screen capture on paper.

 

For both of those purposes, having to diddle with copying and pasting each image into a separate app and then saving or printing from there would be time consuming and a hassle. Especially when various of the above solutions are much quicker/more direct and include their own image editing functions built into the programs.

 

Same reasons I'm not interesting in using MS's own balky "Snipping Tool" or "Snip and Sketch" applet.

 

But if that approach works for your purposes, that's great!  I clip a lot using Print Screen, so I'm especially conscious of minimizing the time and clicks it takes to accomplish each capture.

 

 

 

 

[bendejo]

7 hours ago, TallGuyJohninBKK said:

Does the "free" program stop working after a month's use?

Well, I just checked the date on the executable, it's November 2011.

If there was an expiration I would think it would have kicked in by now.

 

 

[scorecard]

15 hours ago, balo said:

I just use the built in Snipping tool on Windows.  You can open it from one of your F-keys so you don't have to look for it every time. 

 

Very easy to use really, I don't see the need for anything else just to save 2-3 seconds.  

Me too, I added an icon on the bottom tray. 

 

I often use it to snip (capture) a model or graphic or photo and paste it direct into the body of an e.mail. So easy and quick.

[KneeDeep]

Sorry, couldn't be bothered to go through the thread or even read the OP.

 

The Opera Browser has this function built-in. Ctrl + Shift + 5

[lopburi3]

8 hours ago, TallGuyJohninBKK said:

But a bit pricey for a screen capture utility...

Mine is free - believe that must be for using advanced type settings.  

[longball53098]

I have been using SnagIt for more than 10 years, Paid via the job way back when and still maintain the license all this time. Only tool I use. There are free alternatives but SnagIt is the best IMHO.

 

https://www.techsmith.com/products.html?utm_source=product&utm_medium=snagit&utm_campaign=sw12

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

5 hours ago, KneeDeep said:

Sorry, couldn't be bothered to go through the thread or even read the OP.

 

The Opera Browser has this function built-in. Ctrl + Shift + 5

 

So does Firefox, hidden underneath a three dots menu in the browser search box area. But it's balky, slow to use, and almost no control options, more limited that even the browser add-on solutions that have been mentioned above. Plus, no direct print command, and a complicated multi-step process just to save a file to your desktop.  It's miserable. The built-in Firefox version, that is....

 

 

 

 

 

 

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

6 hours ago, KneeDeep said:

Sorry, couldn't be bothered to go through the thread or even read the OP.

 

The Opera Browser has this function built-in. Ctrl + Shift + 5

 

Weird... I don't use Opera that much, but I do have it on my PC. Tried your approach above. As best as I can tell, there's no icon or menu based access to trigger that command. It looks like you have to use the keyboard shortcut in order to activate it. But it is listed under Basic Keyboard Shortcuts way down in Opera's settings menu.

 

For me, it works a whole lot more smoothly and less balky that the Firefox equivalent. But like a lot of the built-in browser solutions, suffers from a lack of controls and settings capability, including as best as I can see, no direct, one click option print out the screen capture once it's been captured. The Cntrl P command doesn't work in that screen, nor is there a right click context menu Print command avail.

 

 

[Stocky]

+1 for Greenshot

 

I use a lot of screen captured shots for reports and presentations. Yes I could use the built in feature 'Snip & Sketch' but the capture quality isn't as good as Greenshot. It's free so no harm.

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

Overall, I'd just like to say a very sincere THANKS to all those who have responded in this thread, and for all the various suggestions offered above. Some I like, some I don't, but what works for one person doesn't work for another. So it's great to see all the different approaches to choose from.

 

A while back, I did an internet search for print screen apps/programs, and came up with a review article list of a half dozen or so, which I thought was going to be enough to find a good solution. Greenshot was among them, and I believe one other mentioned earlier in this thread. But most of the apps and solutions mentioned above weren't on the review list I saw at all, and some I've never even heard of before. So it was really great to have my horizons widened on this!!!

 

Right now, after considering all the comments/suggestions above, I'm sticking with Greenshot on my (now 64-bit OS) Windows 10 desktop to see if it works smoothly or has any of the freeze-up problems that were occurring on my 64-bit Windows 10 laptop with that program. I really do think Greenshot is probably the most powerful, quick, configurable solution among all those I've tried thus far.

 

But on my laptop, where Greenshot was causing problems, right now I'm going to give the oddly named Duck Link Screen Capture program a try, so thanks to Bendejo for the suggestion... It's also free, and while not as powerful or configurable as Greenshot, it also has the two critical features I really want, being once a screen capture area has been selected, simple one click access to either save or print it, without multi step processes or manual file name typing, etc etc.

 

So again, thanks to all!!! Learned a lot here!  There was a similar thread a couple years back here on TVF that I read before starting this one, and pretty much the only comment responses were to use the Windows built-in screen capture tool.  Thankfully, this thread has gone far beyond that!