Screen Capture Tools

SnagIt

Easy to use, nothing missing. Added texts can be updated and translated at any time. Several useful additional functions, such as basic video capture and text capture. Optional integration with Microsoft Word.

Price: approx. €48

http://www.techsmith.com

FullShot

Adds some additional buttons to each window at runtime. Instead of remembering a keyboard shortcut you can then click one of these buttons, for example, “W” for “Window” or “R” for “Region.” FullShot then creates the desired screenshot (and removes the additional buttons from these screenshots). Screenshots can easily be updated. In particular, added texts, such as callouts, are retained and can be edited. Highly efficient functions for capturing menus and command bars. Wide range of effects.

Price: approx. $90 (“Professional”)

http://www.inbit.com

MadCap Capture

Focuses especially on the requirements of technical documentation and single source publishing. Supports text variables. Users of the authoring system Flare (developed by the same company) can save images automatically in two versions: one version for online help, and one version for printed user manuals. The online version, for example, can be in color, the print version in gray. Also the resolution of both versions can be different. Images remain fully editable, irrespective of their format. Elements can be saved to palettes and reused. The design of the elements added to your screenshots, such as callouts, can be standardized conveniently.

Price: approx. $39

http://www.madcapsoftware.com

H@rdcopy

Especially powerful if you want to print screen captures directly on paper, but also has many advanced options to save as files.

Price: approx. $15; free for noncommercial use

http://www.gen.hardcopy.de

HyperSnap

Price: approx. $40

http://www.hyperionics.com

Ashampoo Snap

Price: approx. €20

http://www.ashampoo.com

PicPick

Basic screen capture tool, combined with image editor, color picker, color palette, pixel ruler, protractor, crosshair, and whiteboard.

Price: approx. $22; free for personal use

http://picpick.wiziple.net

Screenshot Captor

Price: donation

http://www.donationcoder.com/Software/Mouser/screenshotcaptor/index.html

WinSnap

Price: approx. $25

http://www.ntwind.com

CaptureXT

Price: approx. $30

http://www.capturext.com

SPX Instant Screen Capture Bundle

Price: approx. $23

http://www.moodysoft.com

FastStone Capture

Price: approx. $20

http://www.faststone.org

FRAPS

Creates screen captures and movies from video games.

Price: approx. €30

http://www.fraps.com

SnapDraw

Comes with many editing features.

Price: free (freeware)

http://www.crossgl.com

TNT Screen Capture

Especially helpful if you’ve made individual color settings in Windows. You can reset your custom colors to the Windows default values on command, shoot your image, and finally restore the individual settings automatically. In addition, the tool can automatically save a copy of each screen capture as a thumbnail and has an option to render screen captures as 3-dimensional presentation images.

Price: free (freeware)

http://www.ec-software.com

7capture

Simple screen capture tool that can automatically handle rounded corners and semi-transparent window backgrounds.

Price: free (freeware)

http://www.7capture.com

GIMP

The popular image editor also comes with a built-in function to capture the entire screen, or individual windows or areas. You can then edit screenshots directly within GIMP before saving.

Price: free (open source)

http://www.gimp.org

Greenshot

Saves screenshots to files.

Price: free (open source)

http://greenshot.sourceforge.net/

Screenpresso

Provides a basic set of capturing and editing functions.

Price: basic version free (freeware); “Pro” version approx. €29

http://www.screenpresso.com

PrtScr

Basic, straight-forward screen capture tool.

Price: free (freeware)

http://www.fiastarta.com/PrtScr/

Scenegrabber.NET

Specialized on creating screenshots from movies.

Price: free (freeware)

http://www.scenegrabber.net

SiteShooter

Specialized on creating screenshots of web pages. Automatically creates a hidden window of Internet Explorer, loads the desired web page, and then saves the entire content of the web page into an image file. Works via GUI or from the command line.

Price: free (freeware)

http://www.nirsoft.net

SnagIt

The market leader for Windows is also available for the Mac.

Price: approx. $50

http://www.techsmith.com

Voila

Full-featured screen capture tool.

Price: approx. €25

http://www.globaldelight.com/voila/

layers

Captures every item on your screen as a PSD (Photoshop) layered image.

Price: approx. $25

http://the.layersapp.com

LittleSnapper

Price: approx. €34

http://www.realmacsoftware.com/littlesnapper/

SnapNDrag

Price: free (freeware)

http://www.yellowmug.com/snapndrag/

InstantShot!

Price: free (freeware)

http://projects.digitalwaters.net

Skitch

Price: free (however, note the terms of service)

http://www.skitch.com

Paparazzi!

Price: free (freeware)

http://derailer.org/paparazzi/

Capture Me

Price: free (open source)

http://www.chimoosoft.com/products/captureme/

Shutter

Feature-rich screenshot program for Linux.

Price: free (open source)

http://shutter-project.org

KSnapshot

The screen capture tool of KDE.

Price: free (open source)

http://kde.org

GIMP

The popular image editor also comes with a built-in function to capture the entire screen, or individual windows or areas. You can then edit screenshots directly within GIMP before saving.

Price: free (open source)

http://www.gimp.org

If you only need to take a limited number of screen captures, there’s also the option to capture them manually. On Windows: Using the Print Screen key, you can copy the currently displayed screen contents to the clipboard. Using the key-combination Alt+Print Screen, you can copy the contents of the active window. Then, you can directly paste the clipboard contents into any document or graphics editor.

Windows Vista and Windows 7 make the procedure even simpler. The build-in Snipping Tool (usually located within the Accessories group) lets you instantly save basic screen captures as a file. However, if you want to apply any special effects or if you want to add callouts, you’ll have to use some general-purpose graphics software to do so manually.

On the Mac, OS X also provides a number of build-in options to capture both entire screens and specific regions. Command key+Shift+3 saves the whole screen, Command key+Shift+4 saves a selected region, and Command key+Shift+4, and then immediately pressing the spacebar saves a selected item to the desktop. Note: If you also hold down the Ctrl key, this saves to the clipboard instead of saving to the desktop.

OS X also comes with a basic Grab utility located in Applications > Utilities.