A program that takes pictures of the screen. The best programs for taking screenshots
You may need to take a screenshot in a variety of situations, so you need to be prepared for this by having a special, convenient free program at hand.
It's better to see once than to hear a hundred times! And it is true. The average person perceives more than 70% of information about the world around them visually. For example, with a computer: you can spend a long time talking about what and where you need to press to get this or that result. Or you can simply show it all with one single image with a screenshot.
Such pictures are usually called screenshots. They allow you to quickly and clearly demonstrate any sequence of actions with a computer or certain programs. Their advantage, for example, over video is their small size and the ability to print on paper without losing information content.
The screenshot feature is so popular that it is built into most operating systems. However, to create a truly good screenshot, it needs to be processed, providing various explanations. That’s why there are so many special programs for creating screenshots, which we will get acquainted with today.
The principle of taking screenshots
In Windows, an entire key on the keyboard is allocated for taking screenshots - Print Screen(PRT SCR). Pressing it automatically saves the current screen state to the clipboard. To save it as an image file, just open any graphics editor (for example, standard Paint) and paste the image stored in the buffer into its work area.
If you need to capture not the entire screen, but active window only, then this can be achieved by first holding down before pressing Print Screen, key ALT. In Windows 8 and older, another combination for taking screenshots was also added - WIN+PrtScr. With its help, you can automatically save a screenshot of the entire screen to a file, which will be placed in the “Screenshots” folder in the “Images” directory.
In addition, starting with Windows Vista, a tool appeared in the arsenal of the operating system "Scissors". In fact, this is already a more or less self-sufficient utility for creating screenshots. It allows you to save snapshots not only of the entire screen or active window, but also of a randomly selected area, and also makes it possible to add explanatory notes and make notes:
However, all this is suitable only for personal use, where no special aesthetics are required. If you need to share a screenshot with the general public, then crookedly drawn arrows and less-than-ideal hand-drawn strokes will not look entirely appropriate. Therefore, a good program for creating screenshots should first of all have in its arsenal tools for drawing neat explanatory elements.
The minimum set of such elements can be called:
- text signatures;
- arrows;
- cropping tool;
- basic geometric shapes (with and without fill);
- a brush or pencil for freehand marks and an eraser for removing them.
Advanced screenshots also usually have several additional screen capture modes. Among them, the most useful, in my opinion, are window element capture And capturing a scrolling window.
Some programs, in addition to taking screenshots, also allow you to record screen video and even with sound! However, these are additional functions, of which there can be quite a lot and which vary significantly between different software manufacturers.
Actually, we have found out what a good screenshot should be able to do and now we will look at some of them and compare their capabilities in order to choose the one that is most suitable for you!
PicPick
I confess :) At the beginning of my soft-testing career, I used a hacked version of the popular SnagIt screenshot to take screenshots. However, as I gained experience working with free software, I decided to find a free analogue of this program with the most similar functionality. And the result of the search was a free program that I have been using for many years:
The PicPick program has an initially Russian-language interface, a built-in graphic editor with the necessary set of tools, as well as a large number of screen capture modes (with customizable hot keys) and a number of additional tools. In addition, a portable version is available on the official website, which does not require installation!
The program allows you to capture the entire screen (including the contents of a scrolling window), as well as selected parts or even fragments of working windows. The only thing PicPick can't do is capture video. But there are other programs for this, if anything...
As for the built-in editor tools, there is almost everything you need: several types of beautiful arrows, various selection styles, callouts, adding text areas, shading, blurring and pixelation effects. The only thing that I personally lack is the function of inserting a translucent watermark in the place I need with the ability to correct its position by simply dragging it.
You can save the finished screenshot in any popular format on your local computer or online (FTP servers, Imgur clouds (without registration), Dropbox, Box, Google Drive, OneDrive (all with registration), social networks Facebook and Twitter are supported). Also, if you have an email client configured, the resulting image can be directly sent by mail to the recipient you need.
In addition to the screenshot function, PicPick has a number of additional tools that will be useful to a designer or web developer. These tools include: color selection under the cursor, a color palette for calculating the RGB code of any shade, a 10x screen magnifier, a pixel ruler, a point and angle coordinate calculator on the screen, as well as a full-fledged slate for drawing on the screen “by hand” .
In general, PicPick, in my opinion, is one of the best screenshots. And it would be the best if it weren’t for minor flaws in functionality that the developers can’t correct, and the licensing principle. The latter implies that the program can only be used for personal non-commercial activities. So, if you want to use the program in an organization, you will have to pay about $25 for it.
Greenshot
If you are a fan of OpenSource software and want to use your favorite tool in any conditions, then you may like the completely free Greenshot screenshot program:
Despite the fact that the official website of the program is in English, the program interface itself is almost completely Russified. There is an official portable build that does not require installation, as well as access to the Greenshot source code.
The program itself has a relatively small “weight” (just a little more than a megabyte), but contains a very impressive arsenal of capabilities:
- full-page browser window capture;
- support for uploading screenshots to the Internet;
- optical text recognition on a screenshot (including Russian language!!!);
- connecting modules and external command scripts.
According to the principle of operation, the program is in many ways similar to PicPick discussed above. Here we can also configure any keys for one or another capture option, as well as redirect our capture to the built-in graphic editor. The latter, unfortunately, is not so convenient. Its main problem is the lack of image scaling. In addition, there is no support for hotkeys (you will have to manually switch tools using buttons on the toolbars).
The range of supported services for uploading a screenshot online is approximately the same as that of PicPick (the focus on popular Western “clouds” is visible). However, there are some peculiarities. Greenshot is a modular program. This means that, theoretically, you can add a module for it that will upload the image where you need it (however, for this you need to be able to program :)).
By the way, about modules. Greenshot has an almost full-fledged OCR module that even works! Moreover, even with Russian text!!! If you click the "OCR" button on the toolbar, the program will honestly "pull" the text from your screenshot into the clipboard and you will only have to put it into a text editor. The only thing is that you must first specify the recognition language in the “Settings” of the program.
Greenshot is a very interesting and promising project, but, alas, it is still a little crude and its everyday use can cause a number of difficulties. However, if you just need a free screenshot with the possibility of commercial use, then you can take a closer look at it.
ShareX
In my search for good and completely free programs for creating screenshots, I came across another interesting OpenSource project called ShareX:
Like Greenshot discussed above, ShareX is a completely free program. But at the same time, its functionality is much closer to PicPick, and in some aspects even surpasses it (sorry, but not in all)! The main “trump cards” of ShareX are:
- the presence of all existing capture modes with the ability to reassign hot keys (including scheduled capture!);
- the ability to capture video and create GIF animation (requires resuming the ffmpeg component);
- a huge number of “clouds” available for instantly uploading screenshots (Imgur by default);
- generation of short links, previews and QR codes for distributing screenshots on the Internet;
- built-in graphic editor;
- built-in OCR system with support for Russian language recognition;
- the presence of additional tools (Palette, Eyedropper, Screen ruler, Image combiner, etc.).
As you can see, the set of tools is more than solid. However, alas, not everything here is as smooth as we would like. There are no questions about the capture function. In ShareX it is implemented very conveniently and has a large number of options for any need. The bottleneck of the program (like many similar ones) is the built-in graphic editor. It has a basic set of necessary elements for highlighting and emphasizing the necessary details, but does not, for example, have functions for filling and resizing the image. And in general it is not very convenient...
There is support for hot keys here, but they do not always work. In addition, some changes (for example, cropping) for some reason cannot be undone. True, in fairness, it is worth noting that the ShareX editor supports translucency and can correctly insert any pictures on top of the edited image (for example, the same watermarks). In general, you can use the built-in editor, but if you decide to do so, you will have to get used to all its features and quirks...
More successfully than in Greenshot, the text recognition function on screenshots is implemented here. Everything happens in a special window where you can directly select the recognition language and have the opportunity to copy the received text. Some functions are implemented very dubiously. For example, the preview generator cannot reduce images by percentage or by a given side - you need to clearly indicate the width and height...
The good news is that the program is being developed very actively and many shortcomings are consistently corrected a couple of times a month. This gives us hope that developers will be able to improve ShareX to the level of the best screenshot in the near future. In the meantime, he is also one of the good ones :)
Monosnap
If you are not a particular fan of decorations and you like to do everything quickly, then the Monosnap screenshot may suit you:
In terms of capture, alas, there are no special conveniences. You can capture either the entire screen or a manually selected area. But it is possible to record screen video and even images from a webcam (which other competitors do not have).
The built-in graphic editor also does not have much functionality. Here you can draw basic shapes, create inscriptions, make freehand notes, and add a blur effect. However, there is no zoom, no fill, no normal highlighting of areas of the edited image.
Joxi
At the end of our review, I would like to mention another free domestic tool for express exchange of screenshots online Joxi:
For full use, it is advisable to register a free account on the website of the program developers (you can do it through the program itself). This will give you the opportunity to instantly upload the screenshots you create online. 1 GB of space is available for free for your images, which are stored on the server for up to 90 days. For 400 rubles per year, you can switch to Joxi Plus mode to expand the storage up to 3 GB and remove some restrictions (the maximum upload file size is more than 20 MB, generating a direct link and connecting your own Dropbox or FTP server).
In terms of functionality, here, like Monosnap, only capturing the entire screen or a manually selected area is available. But there is no support for capturing video and directly uploading files to online storage. But Joxi has a plugin for the Google Chrome browser that allows you to take screenshots of web pages with scrolling or fragmented and does not require installing the program itself:
The screenshot editor for both the desktop and browser versions of Joxi is identical. Here, again like Monosnap, there are basic highlighting and accentuating tools, but some of the usual functions of traditional image editors (for example, eraser, normal selection and overlaying image fragments) are missing.
The advantage of Joxi over Monosnap is its focus on Russian-speaking users. The finished screenshot can be uploaded not only to online storage, but also to our popular social networks: VKontakte, Odnoklassniki, Facebook and Twitter. Moreover, you can do this in one click by setting a special key combination for the service you need!
To summarize, I can say that installing Joxi as the main screenshot is not suitable for everyone due to its “lumpy” functionality. But as an extension for Chrome, it is quite a convenient tool for quickly sharing a snapshot of the browser state.
Comparison
We briefly reviewed the capabilities of the best free screenshot software and now summarize the information about them in the form of a summary table:
| Program | Disk size | Graphics editor | Publishing a screenshot on the Internet | Video Capture | Commercial use | Peculiarities |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PicPick | 30+ MB | multi-tab, no alpha channel support, no drag-and-drop watermark positioning feature | + (Imgur or "clouds") | - | - | a large number of capture modes, a very convenient graphic editor, a set of additional tools for designers, an official portable version |
| Greenshot | 1+ MB | non-standard, hot keys do not work well, there are no tools (eraser, fill, selection), undo does not always work, no zoom | + (Imgur or "clouds") | - | + | modularity, OpenSource project, inconvenient graphic editor, presence of OCR function, presence of official portable version |
| ShareX | 10+ MB | non-standard, there is support for alpha channels and overlays, no number of tools (eraser, fill, selection), no zoom (but there is a virtual magnifying glass near the cursor) | + (Imgur, Pastebin (for text), bit.ly (for shortening links) or "clouds") | + (as well as GIF animations if the ffmpeg module is available) | + | modularity, OpenSource project, the presence of an official portable version, a not very convenient graphic editor, but with alpha channel support, a large set of additional designer tools and mini-utilities (OCR, preview generator, QR code generator, etc.) |
| Monosnap | 21+ MB | single-window, has only a set of simple tools, no zoom, has a blur effect | + (own server, FTP or WebDAV) | + | + | the ability to capture video (including in games and from a webcam), the function of uploading any files to online storage |
| Joxi | 40+ MB | non-standard (editing using a special panel right on top of the screen), quite easy to use and has most of the popular selection and emphasis tools, no zoom | + (own server or social networks (VKontakte, Odnoklassniki, Facebook, Twitter)) | - | - | minimum required set of functions, quick uploading of screenshots to online storage, availability of a standalone extension for Google Chrome |
conclusions
In my experienced opinion, there are no ideal free programs for professional screenshot creation. Each of them is missing something. Either there are few capture options, or a very modest editor, or even a complete lack of any important tools! Although, for your personal everyday needs, you can easily take any of the screenshots we reviewed - they all have the required minimum functions!
Many of the programs from our review have official portable versions, however, if you don’t want to download and install anything at all, then you may need special services for creating screenshots online (yes, there is such a thing!). Good luck with your shots and may your screenshots always look professional!
P.S. Permission is granted to freely copy and quote this article, provided that an open active link to the source is indicated and the authorship of Ruslan Tertyshny is preserved.
Well, proven folk wisdom does not age as quickly as our smartphones and laptops go out of fashion. “It’s better to see once than to hear 100 times”.
Have you tried to explain to someone through correspondence how to set up a WI-FI router? Then you probably understand that it would be better, indeed, for a person to see 1 time than to hear 100 times or read 100 messages! That's why many people ask how to take a screenshot on a computer.
A few words of theory
The word screenshot was exactly transferred into the Russian language from international English. It means an exact image of the user's screen, a screenshot. An abbreviated version of this concept, “screen,” is in common use.
How to take a screenshot on Windows
Actually, here are the main groups of solutions:
- standard Windows tools;
- online services that allow you to take a screenshot on a computer;
- special programs.
Method 1. Screenshot on Windows using system tools.
If you look at the top left of your keyboard, you can find a button there PrtScr. The name of this button comes from English Print Screen- screen printing. Previously, by pressing this button, the printer would print the active screen. Now, when we click this button, the screen image goes to the clipboard. All that remains is to insert the image into some program from which it can be saved.
Honestly, on a laptop, this button can be anywhere on the right side of the keyboard. Sometimes, as in the example below, for this button to work you need to start a button with it Fn(Functions - this is usually located on the lower left side next to the button Ctrl) and without releasing it, press the button labeled PrtScr.
To action: press PrtScr, go to the Paint program, it is available in any Windows operating system and click “Insert”.
You can access Paint through the Start menu → All Programs → Accessories → Paint.
The Start menu differs depending on the version of Windows; the screenshot below shows how to open Paint in, because I use this particular operating system.
In the Paint program you need to click "Insert" and our screenshot ends up here. If necessary, it can be edited using the program or simply saved using the button "File" and than "Save" or t.
IMPORTANT. When you press just the PrtScr key, a screenshot of the entire computer screen is copied to the clipboard. When you press the Alt+ PrtScr combination, the active (selected) window is copied. If you use the Win+ PrtScr combination, the image of the entire screen is saved in the c:\Users\Username\Pictures\Screenshots\ folder. It can be easily found from the Computer menu. In the left column, click the “Images” menu item and then select the “Screenshots” folder.
So, to take a screenshot on Windows using the system, you need to press the PrtScr key, go to any image editing program, for example Paint, and click the “Insert” button.
Method 2. How to take a screenshot on a computer using an online service
It happens that a screenshot needs to be edited and it is often more convenient to do this using some kind of website than an installed program. For example, let's take 2 such services. They are united by the general principle of how to take a screenshot. Press the button PrtScr(if you don’t know where it is, see the first method just above). We go to the site and click Ctrl+V.
And, as we are advised, we press Ctrl+V.
We see that the screenshot has been inserted into the site window. If you need to save it, then click on it, it opens in a new browser tab.
Congratulations! The image is saved on the computer.
So, to take a screenshot on your computer using an online service, you need to press the PrtScr, or Alt+ PrScr key, go to the service we have chosen, press Ctrl+V to paste the image and save it to your computer.
Method 3. How to take a screenshot on a computer using special programs
It is worth saying that there are actually a huge variety of programs that allow you to take a screenshot of your computer screen. If you look at the Softportal service, the request “screenshot” returns 181 applications.
Of course, each of them has its pros and cons, but often people use such programs out of habit. Once installed, figured it out and that’s it. There are especially powerful applications, even paid ones, that allow you to quickly not only create a screenshot, but also edit it. For example, you can add arrows, frames, and other effects.
One of the decent and free options is the Joxi program.
You can download it from the official website joxi.ru.
After installation, an icon for this program appears in the taskbar. The first time you launch it, there will be an option in the bottom right corner to choose whether you want to capture the entire screen, a snippet, or other options. Subsequently, after clicking on the icon, you can select the area of the screen that you want to save and after selection, the program looks like this:
Notice the blue icon in the top right corner. By clicking on the small arrow on the right, you can select:
Conclusions from our “screenshot production”
If you make a resume, there are 3 main solutions that allow you to take a screenshot on a computer
- Use Windows tools;
- Online services;
- Special programs.
Here, as they say, who likes what and for what purposes. Try it, experiment.
The article will discuss a program for taking screenshots from the Windows 7 screen and more. For a blogger, teachers need to be presented in a visual and visual format, especially in my niche. To do this, you simply cannot do without screenshots (screenshots). The article will analyze one program in full and a list of alternatives.
Faststone capture great screenshots for computer
I have been familiar with the Faststone capture program since 2012, it is ideal for Windows 7. I tried a lot of software, but this program helped me out. Here are the main features:
- Capture an arbitrary window.
- Capture the active window.
- Capture all active windows.
- Scrolling screenshot.
- Video shooting, simple without frills.
The only negative is there is no cloud storage.
The best program for taking screenshots from Windows 7 screen
Faststone capture program for taking screenshots from Windows 7 screen has an official website here. But I’ll say right away that it’s paid, after a month a restriction on functions is imposed, I used it and was satisfied with it.
I suggest you download it from me, it already has built-in activation and the Russian version, here is the link, use it. We install and move on to review and operation.
Review and operation: take a photo and edit
We open the program, a pop-up window appears and we begin the review of the work.
With this the main panel disassembled, let’s move on to the settings.
Program settings
When you click the last icon on the panel, the following menu will appear. I will not consider everything, only two points.
- Main settings, more about them below.
- It’s a cool trick to combine an image into one, I use it often.
Main settings
I won’t describe it, everything is in Russian. It’s clear from the first reading, the only thing I recommend setting up first is the hot keys, because the standard combinations are too tricky.
And never enter your FTP data in the access section of the program.
Never upload your FTP login information to any program other than file managers like Filezilla because they have their own data encryption.
Photo editor
As soon as you take pictures, the initial edit form will appear. I will highlight only three points in it.
When you click on the picture, a new window will open in which there will be many useful tools for a blogger. Arrows, highlights, letters, markers, areas, etc. Everything you need to make an educational presentation in pictures.
When it comes to video shooting, we’ll talk about it in another article, because the topic is already different.
Download other screenshot programs for free on Windows 7
Three of the best programs after faststone capture, all only in Russian
Few people know that Windows 7 has a standard program for taking screenshots called scissors. To open, press start, then standard, and find the scissors.
To change the shape of the image, click “create” and select what you need. 
For small settings, click “Options”; there are few settings, the bare minimum.
Short video about scissors
Take a photo and the editor will open, with only three tools, a pen, a marker and an eraser. It's a pity there is no function for writing text on the image.
Now the best program for taking screenshots from Windows 7 screen is no longer a problem, and you know what to choose. All pictures on my blog are made by FScapture.
Screenshot is a small free utility for capturing images from the screen. In addition to the ability to create screenshots, you can change the following options in the program: visibility of the mouse cursor, automatic saving to the clipboard, adjusting the image quality. You can download Screenshot for Windows 7 on our website.
Utility features
The program has the ability to save a screenshot to the clipboard or to a folder, the path to which you can set yourself. Creating screenshots is supported in the following formats: .bmp, .jpg, .png.
To capture an image of the entire screen, you need to press the PrtSc key. In order to screenshot only a specific area, you need to press the key combination Alt+PrtSc.
The utility, when creating screenshots, automatically gives them unique names using the date and time of creation. If you hold down the hot keys, the creation of screenshots will begin non-stop, about one snapshot per second. The latest version of the program in Russian can be downloaded from the official website.
If you want the application to load when the operating system starts, so as not to waste extra time when you need to quickly take a screenshot, simply configure the program to autoload in its options. The program does not require installation; it can be easily copied to removable media or sent to other people via any file sharing service. It takes up very little space, does not load the system and is supported by any computer running the Microsoft Windows operating system.
For those who like to play games, Screenshot will also be a very useful utility. You have probably repeatedly encountered such a situation when you wanted to save some moments of the game to show your friends or just remember, but not all games have a button for creating a screenshot, so you had to press the PrtSc button, and then launch the graphics editor and paste the image from the buffer exchange and save to your computer. With the help of this utility, such a problem will no longer exist - just press the hot keys and select the desired area for the image, after which it will be saved in the folder you need.
To work with the program, no installation is required, and when launched, it is minimized to the tray. To take a photo, you need to hold down the hotkeys or move the cursor over the desired icon in the tray. Right-clicking on it will take a snapshot of the entire screen, after which you can download the image from the link provided. Clicking with the left mouse button will open the utility menu, where you can select the necessary options, as well as configure the program itself.
Advantages:
- Russian-language interface;
- Ability to select picture quality;
- Configuring the program to start when the system starts;
- Use without installation.
Key Features of Screenshoter:
— capture an image of the entire screen or a specific area;
— automatic hiding of the program while taking a screenshot;
— saving pictures in different formats;
— use the clipboard or select a save path.
The program is quite easy to use. You can download ScreenShoter on our website using the link below.
Hi all! Marat Nauruzbaev is with you. In this article, I will tell you and show you in a video how to take a screenshot on a computer using standard Windows tools, and also consider seven popular programs for taking screenshots.
Many people ask me how to take a screenshot on a computer, what programs are best to use for this, and how to make a screenshot without using third-party programs?
Screenshot(from English screenshot) or simply " screen” is a screenshot of your computer, simply put, a photograph of what is displayed on the monitor screen or a certain area on the screen.
A screenshot is taken for various purposes, mainly to communicate with support, send a screenshot to social networks, publish on a forum, capture a still frame in a game, in a movie, etc.
Guys, I looked at the main features of the seven most popular free programs for taking screenshots, and in this article I will show their main features and describe the pros and cons of using them.
Taking a screenshot using standard toolsWindows
First, let's look at the option of how to take a screenshot using standard Windows tools.
To do this, press the key “ PrtScr» on the keyboard (may appear as PrntScrn, PrtScn, PrtScr or PrtSc)
If on a laptop, then press two keys “ Fn» + « PrtScr»
To take a snapshot of only the active window, click " Alt» + « PrtScr", on the laptop press " Fn» + « Alt» + « PrtScr»
After pressing the " PrtScr" or " Alt» + « PrtScr"A snapshot of the monitor screen is saved to the clipboard, this is the so-called temporary memory of the computer. Now we need to save this image to a file on the computer for future use.
To do this, you can use any graphic editor. Windows 7, 8, 10 already have a built-in simple graphic editor “ Paint" To launch it, click menu " Start" and in the search bar " Find» enter: paint and click on “ Paint»
The graphic editor will launch. Paint»
Paste a screenshot from the clipboard. To do this, press the button “ Insert»
Note: To paste from a buffer, you can use cl. "Ctrl » + « V »
We see how our desktop snapshot was inserted in the editor “ Paint»
IN " Paint» you can apply simple operations on a screenshot: draw with a pencil or brush, fill with color, enter text, apply various shapes
Next, save this screenshot file on your computer. To do this, in the menu “ File» select « Save as" and indicate in what format we want to save the file. In this case, I chose the JPEG format
As a result, our screenshot will be saved to a file on your computer. Now you can send it by mail, post it on social media. networks, forums, etc.
Scissors program
A more convenient way to take screenshots in Windows is to use the standard program " Scissors" It is more convenient because it allows you to photograph an arbitrary shape on a computer screen, but there are practically no image editing tools in it :)
To start the program, in the menu " Start", in the search bar enter: Scissors and click on “ Scissors» 
The program will start " Scissors» 
When you click the down arrow button " Create", you can select the area for creating the screen: rectangular shape, rectangle, window or the entire screen 
Let’s say you have selected “ Rectangle", now when you press the button " Create", press the left mouse button and without releasing it, move the mouse around the area on the screen that you want to record, then release the mouse button 
The selected area will be automatically photographed and appear in the program 
Now we can do simple operations on the screen. I’ll just say that the capabilities in this program are very simple, including “ Paint"More opportunities... 
Next, click on the button with a floppy disk to save this screenshot to a file 
Give the file a name and click " Save» 
The screenshot file will be saved in the location you specify on your computer or laptop.
Programs for taking screenshots
For those who often take screenshots, it will be much more convenient to use special programs for creating and editing screenshots.
I took away 7 free programs, which in my opinion are most intended for creating screenshots and their subsequent editing.
I will not describe how to install them and how to use them, I will describe only one program that I use myself, and for the remaining programs I will describe the main functions, pros and cons of each program.
PicPick(http://ngwin.com/picpick)
Tool " all in one" for each. Full featured screen capture, intuitive image editor, pixel ruler, protractor, crosshair, slate and much more.
A powerful program for creating and editing screenshots. There is a Portable version (portable version that works without installation). Free for home use.
I use it myself, since I have not yet found any free analogues in terms of capabilities. If you find it, write it in the comments.
I’ll briefly describe the process of creating and editing in the program “ PicPick"That's exactly how I do it.
IN " PicPick"You can take a snapshot of different areas of the screen: the entire screen, the active window, a window element, a scrolling window (a very necessary function, not all programs have it), a selected area, a fixed area and a custom area. Each of these functions has assigned hotkeys that can be changed at your discretion.
Using this program I take screenshots for...
Try to guess why?
To create screenshots for these articles that you are currently reading at the moment :)
So, when I take a screenshot (picture) of a window or a certain page on the Internet, I immediately put all sorts of explanatory frames, lines, arrows and text on the picture.
Now I’ll show you how I do this in this program.
First, I take a screenshot of the window or area I need in the browser. In this case, I took a screenshot of one of my blog articles in a browser. To do this, I pressed the key combination " Shift» + « PrtScr” and pointed the mouse at a specific area on the screen. The screenshot of the area I selected was automatically inserted into the program PicPick.
Then I selected under the button “ Figures", a certain shape, in this case a rectangle
And I move the mouse with the left button pressed over the area of the screen that needs to be highlighted with a rectangle, and at the end I release the button. In this case, I highlighted the logo of my site
In this case, you can change the style, color and thickness of the frame, apply a shadow to it, etc.
I draw arrows in the same way
The arrow format can also be customized: change the style, outline, thickness, transparency and color. Look at the picture below, arrow 1 is made in the form of dots, arrow 2 is thicker and more transparent
You can also add text, a watermark, blur, rotate, change brightness, contrast, tone, resize, and much more on a screenshot.
Or upload directly to a web page, to the cloud, send to Facebook, Twitter, by mail or upload to an FTP server
You can also upload a screenshot to the cloud on Dropbox, Google Drive, OneDrive, Box, etc.
Besides, PicPick has a number of additional tools, such as " color selection" (will help you find the exact color code of a pixel on the screen with a built-in magnifier), " ruler" (to measure the size of objects and place them in an exact location on the screen), " color palette», « magnifying glass», « crosshair», « protractor" And " slate».
Let's look at how these tools work using the example " Color under cursor" And " Ruler».
Sometimes you need to know the exact color of a certain object on the screen. To do this, right-click on the icon PicPick in the tray and select " Color under cursor»
Then we move the mouse pointer over the object on the screen whose color value you want to remove. In this case, I hovered the mouse over the program shortcut " PicPick" We see the color values for a given pixel under a magnifying glass.
When you click the left mouse button, a window appears with the value of this color. We can select the value in HTML, RGB(), C++, Delphi format and click " Copy" to copy this value to the clipboard for later use
Tool " Ruler» You can measure the size of objects on the screen and the distance between them. To do this, right-click on the icon PicPick in the tray and select " Ruler»
A ruler will appear on the screen that you can use your mouse to move across the screen. Having placed the ruler where you need it, measure the distance in pixels
You can also rotate the ruler 90 degrees and change its length.
Program PicPick I liked it because of its capabilities. Of course, it has two minor drawbacks (where would we be without them 🙂), which I personally miss.
This is a normal straight line for arrows, I would like to be able to change the straight arrow style 
to cone-shaped 
And also, if you need to put a shadow on an object (for example, on an arrow), you have to point it all the time, that is, you would like PicPick I remembered that the superimposed object should have a shadow, IMHO.
But these are all minor things compared to its advantages.
Pros and cons of the programPicPick:
+ capture scrolling window
+ multi-window interface
+ a lot of extras functions like ruler, color under cursor, etc.
- regular arrows
- the shadow on the arrow must be pointed at all times
Greenshot(http://getgreenshot.org/)
Greenshot is a program for creating screenshots with rich functionality for overlaying various objects and effects on the taken screenshot.
The program has good capabilities for editing screenshots, sending the screenshot to “ cloud” (Imgur (direct links), Dropbox) or into one of the Microsoft Office applications, the ability to print directly from the program, it is possible to apply effects, in addition to the effect of overlaying a frame and shadow, I especially liked the effect “ Torn edges»
The result of the effect " Torn edges»
Greenshot also knows how to capture a scrolling window (Internet Explorer only)
Pros and cons of the Greenshot program:
+ capture scrolling window (Internet Explorer only)
+ effect “Ragged edges”
- regular arrows
Monoshap(http://monosnap.com/)
Monosnap- free program for Windows and Mac OS X. Monosnap allows you to take screenshots, add notes and send screenshots to “ cloud”.
The program has fewer features than PicPick, but some may find it more convenient due to the ease of creating screenshots. The program has a function to record your desktop in video format. It is possible to send a screenshot to your own cloud Monosnap(registration required), as well as on SFTP, FTP, WebDAV, Amazon S3.
Among the shortcomings of the program that I discovered when creating a photo: screen area, where the context menu given by the menu is not included in the screenshot.
Example of a context menu...
Also, I did not find the possibility of creating a screenshot of a scrolling window, for example, of sites in the browser that need to be scrolled.
Pros and cons of the programMonoshap:
+ it is possible to record desktop video
+ cone-shaped arrows
+ there is a small shadow near the arrows
- there is no capture of the object’s context menu when capturing a screen area
Joxi(http://joxi.ru/lander/)
Joxi– a cross-platform program for creating screenshots. Knows how to post screenshots on social networks (facebook, twitter, VKontakte, Odnoklassniki). There are also plugins for browsers (Chrome, Yandex, Opera).
In the free version, you can only upload to your own “ cloud” (not direct links, disk space: 1024 MB, storage period: 90 days). In the paid version, restrictions are removed and it is possible to upload screenshots to FTP/SFTP and Dropbox.
Pros and cons of the programJoxi:
+ capture and edit on the fly (in the same window)
+ cone-shaped arrows + contour thickness adjustment
- there is no way to open a separate file
- no scrolling window capture
- no arrow shadow
Clip2net(http://clip2net.com/ru/)
Clip2net– a standard program for creating screenshots. Knows how to post screenshots on social networks (facebook, twitter, VKontakte, Odnoklassniki, google+). There is a version for iPad and Android.
For additional features of the program (direct links (c2n.me) and no advertising, recording videos and uploading files to your servers) you will have to pay an annual fee (information about tariffs on the website).
Pros and cons of the programClip2net:
- no scrolling window capture
— arrows are normal, without shadows
Lightshot(https://app.prntscr.com/ru/)
Lightshot– a simple program for creating screenshots. Knows how to post screenshots on social networks (facebook, twitter, VKontakte, pinterest).
There are plugins for browsers Chrome, Firefox, IE, Opera. There is a function to search for similar images on Google.
Pros and cons of the programLightshot:
- no scrolling window capture
— arrows are normal, without shadows
Shotnes(https://shotnes.com/)
Shotnes is a cross-platform free program for creating screenshots. Able to send screenshots to your own “ cloud” (direct links).
Shotnes can record video from your desktop in format. mp4 And. gif(you need to register on their website). Among the disadvantages of the program, it is worth noting that at the time of writing, it could only save screenshots in the . png.
Pros and cons of the Shotnes program:
+ record video from desktop
- no scrolling window capture
— saving the file only in .png format
— arrows are normal, without shadows
Conclusion
Well, I told you how to take a screenshot on a computer, we looked at all the ways to create screenshots on your computer or laptop. Standard methods for creating screenshots were described, as well as the main features of free programs for capturing and editing screenshots.
Personally, I liked the multifunctional program PicPick, which I use for these purposes. This program has many features for the free version. The program is also quite good in its capabilities. Greenshot
