If you are writing worksheets, technical documents, blogging, etc. You will invariably come across the need for a screenshot. A screenshot is just what it says, a picture taken of whatever you have showing on your screen. When I started this blog, I quickly developed a need for a screenshot tool that would be fast and versatile (and of course preferably free). After looking through the various options, my conclusion was to definitely go with Greenshot.Greenshot runs in the system tray in the lower right of your screen and has a very simple interface allowing you to customize your settings about where your captured screens are saved to and whether or not to capture your mouse as part of the snapshot (even if you do, you can delete it later).
To capture a full screen simply hit Ctrl + Print button. Since the Print button is vestigial, left over from when this button would send the text on the screen directly to the printer, it breathes new life into the button. If you would like to capture a portion of the screen hit Print by itself and then click and drag the region you would like to capture (keep in mind some computers have added the "Function/Fn" button to essentially add more keys, for my computer I hit Fn + Ctrl + Print or Fn + Print).
Once you have captured the screen, an editor window will open (unless you have changed the options to directly save or copy to the clipboard). From here you can:
I would highly recommend Greenshot for Windows and hope it makes your life a bit easier.
Greenshot can be found in my Free Software for Educators List
Subscribe to BrokenAirplane for the latest in Education Technology resources and news!
To capture a full screen simply hit Ctrl + Print button. Since the Print button is vestigial, left over from when this button would send the text on the screen directly to the printer, it breathes new life into the button. If you would like to capture a portion of the screen hit Print by itself and then click and drag the region you would like to capture (keep in mind some computers have added the "Function/Fn" button to essentially add more keys, for my computer I hit Fn + Ctrl + Print or Fn + Print).
Once you have captured the screen, an editor window will open (unless you have changed the options to directly save or copy to the clipboard). From here you can:
- Add rectangles, circles, lines, and arrows to add emphasis.
- The color, thickness, and transparency of these shapes can all be configured.
- Add text
- Highlight
- Obsfucate - This is a wonderful tool allowing you to blur out or hide specific parts of the picture or text. You might find this helpful if you want to blur out portions of a bank statement, hide your address in a picture, or share a student's work without divulging the name.
- Crop the image down to just the right size.
I would highly recommend Greenshot for Windows and hope it makes your life a bit easier.
Greenshot can be found in my Free Software for Educators List
Subscribe to BrokenAirplane for the latest in Education Technology resources and news!
