For the past couple of months I've had a screen capture feature on a toolbar on my computer. It was great for saving JPEG images. It has now mysteriously disappeared from the toolbar. Perhaps it was there as a free trial? I really don't know. Anyway, can anyone recommend a downloadable screen capture program? Some advertise as being free while others charge a fee. I'm certainly willing to pay if it works well. Thanks for your help.
If you are a Windows user then since Windows Vista, the operating system has a built-in screen capture app called "snipping tool". Just type snipping tool in that little search box below "All Programs" in the start menu and you should see it. To learn how to use it, see this article:
Alternatively you could press the "Print Screen" (PrtScr) key on your keyboard. This will capture an image of your entire screen and copy it to the clipboard. You can then open any image editor application of your choice and paste it there. The most commonly used app is Paint, a free app that comes with all versions of Windows. To use that:
- Click Start, click Accessories, and then click Paint. - In the Paint window, press CTRL and V (which is a shortcut for paste in all Windows based applications) - Save the file in the format of your choice.
Note that the second method involving keyboard shortcuts works on all versions of Windows, but in this method you cannot take a screenshot of videos. You can take a screenshot of videos using the app I mentioned however.
If you are on Mac then a similar tool called "Grab" is available at /Applications/Utilities/. It functions just the same.
Similar to Windows you could also use some keyboard shortcuts to capture the screen on a mac:
CMD (and) Shift (and) 3 (i.e. you press these three keys on your keyboard at the same time) What it does: It takes a screenshot of the whole screen, and saves it as a file on the desktop.
CMD (and) Shift (and) 4 Allows you to select an area first. Once you made the selection it take a screenshot of that area only and saves it as a file on the desktop.
If you want to capture a freeze frame from a video you can use VLC Player which has a built in screen capture option. Which is under Video/Snapshot. VLC plays just about any file type and is free for both PC and Mac.
Thank you, Drawgoon. I wasn't aware of that snipping tool feature. It works perfectly. Just what the doctor ordered. Thanks for your recommendations also, Pete and Solium.
