Snipping Tools are Microsoft Windows screenshot utility included in Windows Vista and later. It can take still screenshots of an open window, rectangular areas, a free-form area, or the entire screen. Snips can then be annotated using a mouse or a tablet, stored as an image file or an MHTML file, or e-mailed
This guide will provide an unbiased review of the best free snipping tools as well as directions on how to use them:Sn
Now follow along as we review the most popular snipping tools.
1. Snagit
Snagit is just more than a screen capture utility. It offers a broad range of editing and capturing tools and a comfortable user experience. The tool is intuitive, has a preview window, which shows a zoomed thumbnail shot of whatever your cursor is hovering over; the main screen of the program immediately gives you a choice of capture format, depending on what you need .
Snagit works on both Windows and Mac. You can download it for free and try the software for 15 days. Snagit allows you to capture your entire screen or only a selected portion of it. The screenshot automatically opens in the Snagit Editor where you can preview, edit, and share the capture.
Snagit makes it easy to capture images or record videos, import images from cameras and scanners, capture text from within an image and drop it into a text editor.
Moreover, Snagit 2020 comes complete with a wide array of pre-made layouts and templates to help you create professional-looking technical documentation and instructional content right inside the app.
? SPECS:
Works on: Windows and macOS
Price: $49.95
✅ PROS:
- Open source
- Easy-to-use interface
- Free trial: full featured for 15 days
⛔️ CONS:
- It only provides minimal video-editing tools
- Price
2. Snipping Tool
The default Windows 10 snipping tool, Snipping Tool as its name suggests is a simple screen capture application designed to quickly and easily capture, save, and share still images. More versatile than the Mac version, Snipping Tool can’t only capture full screenshots but can also draw custom snips and perform window specific snips.
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Even better, Snipping Tool supports simple text annotations and free-hand drawing. While there was a rumor that Microsoft had decided to do away with the Snipping Tool in its recent Windows 10 updates, Snipping Tool can still be found by selecting the ‘Start’ button and searching for it.
? SPECS:
Works on: Windows
Price: Free
✅ PROS:
- Simple editor
- Customizable screenshots
⛔️ CONS:
- Image capture only
- Windows only
3. Screenpresso
Screenpresso is one of the best snipping tools for Windows 10 allowing you to not just edit screenshots by adding drawings or cutting out parts that you don’t need, but also to get snapshots of several screens at once (suitable for multi-monitor setups).
The snipping tool can capture HD Video of your on-screen activities, exporting the results in MP4 (H264), WebM, Ogv or WMV formats and allows you to upload videos directly to your YouTube, Twitpic, Flickr, Facebook, Evernote, even FTP servers. Captures are limited to a maximum of 15 seconds in the free version and include Screenpresso branding.
? SPECS:
Works on: Windows
Price: Free/$29,99
✅ PROS:
- HD Video Capture
⛔️ CONS:
- Branding in a free version
- Limited image editor
4. DuckCapture
A small and simple screen capture utility, DuckCapture is the best snipping tool for Windows 10 and macOS. Great for still image snipping, DuckCapture offers customizability for capturing different areas of your screen or capturing particular screen shapes.
Captured images can be edited with annotations, text, shapes, arrows, and custom sizes and colors. DuckCapture comes with one severe restriction however; that as a snipping tool it is limited to still images only.
? SPECS:
Works on: macOS and Windows
Price: Free
✅ PROS:
- Simple user interface
- Custom editing
⛔️ CONS:
- Image capture only
- Dated look
5. PicPick
A great Windows snipping tool, PicPick can capture all types of screen images easily and includes a powerful editor that even lets you edit images before saving them locally.
PicPicks editor is perfect for most and comes with a wide array of features such as text overlay, adding shapes, blur, and pixelation, resizing and rotation, and freehand drawing. Even better, PicPick automatically opens its editor any time you capture a screenshot. However, once again, PicPick is limited only to still image capture.
? SPECS:
Works on: Windows
Price: Free for personal use
✅ PROS:
- Powerful editor
- Intuitive interface
⛔️ CONS:
- Image capture only
- Windows only
6. LightShot
Lightshot is a simple screenshot software tool available for Windows, Mac and in your web browsers, namely Chrome, Firefox, Internet Explorer, and Opera. It does not just capture an essential area of your screen, but comes with sharing options and editing tools like cropping, transforming, adding new layers or even adding filters and special effects.
LightShot is an excellent replacement for the standard PrtScr functionality in Windows. It features an impressive online editor but lacks more capturing options.
? SPECS:
Works on: Windows, macOS, Chrome, Firefox
Price: Free
✅ PROS:
- Includes an image editor
- Easy-to-use application
- Powerful editors
⛔️ CONS:
- No publicly available license
7. ShareX
ShareX is a free open-source screen recording tool that lets you capture or record any area of your screen and share it with a single press of a key on an extensive collection of platform destinations, including Google Drive, Dropbox, Twitter, Imgur, bit.ly, Pastebin, among others.
? SPECS:
Works on: Windows, macOS, Linux
Price: Free
✅ PROS:
- Open Source
- Capturing (screen, video, a window, etc.) with annotation
- Customizable
- Allows uploading to a vast number of different services
⛔️ CONS:
- Too complicated
8. Screenshot Captor
Screenshot Captor is another piece of free software available only for Windows. It’s a versatile snipping tool capable of capturing still images in selected areas, whole windows, and even content from a scrolling window. Even better, Screenshot Captor can record images from your webcam.
Use Screenshot Captor’s editor to block out sensitive information, add text overlays and other custom edits – there’s even a watermarking tool to protect your intellectual property. One downside to Screenshot Captor is its expiration after 6 months. While it’s free to renew, a new subscription key must be generated every six months to continue to use the program.
? SPECS:
Works on: Windows
Price: Free with 6-month renewals
✅ PROS:
- Powerful editor
- Customizable
- Many export options
⛔️ CONS:
- Subscription key expires after 6 months requiring you to register for a new account to continue using
- Image capture only
9. Grab
A now discontinued Mac utility for capturing image content, Grab has been replaced in the latest Macs with a simple screenshot utility. Unlike its predecessor, the newer snipping tool for Mac is no longer classified as an application, instead, it is a feature that is accessible via shortcut.
Less of a snipping tool and more of a shortcut for capturing content, both Grab and its newer cousin, are accessible by using any of the following shortcuts: Command+Shift+3 to take a picture of the entire screen and Command+Shift+4 to drag to select a particular area. Screenshots save directly to the desktop.
? SPECS:
Works on: macOS
Price: Free
✅ PROS:
- Built in for mac
- Simple to access with shortcuts
⛔️ CONS:
- No built-in editor
- Image capture only
- Mac only
10. Greenshot
Greenshot is a simple screenshot software tool for Windows and macOS that offers many of the same features as its proprietary counterparts. It allows you to quickly take screenshots of a selected area, capture complete web pages, annotate, add arrows, signs, boxes, highlight or obfuscate parts of the screenshot and export files.
Being easy to understand and configurable, Greenshot is an efficient tool for project managers, software developers, technical writers, testers and anyone else creating screenshots.
? SPECS:
Works on: Windows and macOS
Price: Free
✅ PROS:
- Open source
- Easy to use
- Freezes screen when you capture
- Allows annotating, highlighting and obfuscating screenshots
⛔️ CONS:
- Rarely updated
What are the uses of snipping tools?
Take a snapshot to copy words or images from all or part of your PC screen. Use Snipping Tool to make changes or notes, then save, and share. Windows 10 has another screenshot app you might also like to try.
How do I access the Snipping Tool?
Select the Start button, then type snipping tool in the search box, and then select Snipping Tool from the list of results. In Snipping Tool, select Mode (in older versions, select the arrow next to the New button), choose the kind of snip you want, and then select the area of your screen that you want to capture.
To use the Snipping Tool when you have a mouse and a keyboard: in windows 10
- Select Start , type snipping tool, and then select it in the search results.
- To take a new screenshot using the same mode you used last, select New. Or, to choose the type of snip you want, select Mode (or, in older versions of Windows, the arrow next to New), and then choose a capture mode. When making free-form or rectangular snips, use your mouse to select the area that you want to capture.
- Use the Save and Copy buttons at the top of the snip to save or copy it to the clipboard.
The available snipping modes are Free-form, Rectangular, Window, and Full-screen Snip.
To use the Snipping Tool when you only have a mouse:
- To open the Snipping Tool, press the Start key, type snipping tool, and then press Enter. (There’s no keyboard shortcut to open Snipping Tool.)
- To choose the type of snip you want, press Alt + M keys and then use the arrow keys to choose Free-form, Rectangular, Window, or Full-screen Snip, and then press Enter. (Alt + M is available only with the latest update to Windows 10). When making a rectangular snip, hold down Shift and use the arrow keys to select the area you want to snip.
- To take a new screenshot using the same mode you used last, press Alt + N keys.
- To save your snip, press Ctrl + S keys. To copy it to the clipboard, press Ctrl + C keys.
BENEFITS OF USING SNIPPING TOOLS
Benefits of a Snipping Tool
Here are a few of the best benefits of using a snipping tool.
Annotate images
Users can add notes to ensure the message their screenshot needs to convey is as clear as possible. Typical functionality within snipping tools includes markup features, which facilitates better communication and collaboration with colleagues via lines, arrows, text and more.
Some snipping tools may even provide the ability to blur out sensitive content in screenshots, in case information needs to be shared externally.
Image library
Instead of saving screenshots on your desktop or within different folders, snipping tools should have a library in which to store screenshots. Users should be able to arrange screenshots and sort them by any order in these libraries.
Create GIFs
Believe it or not, but GIFs actually have a place in business. Their ability to create a looping video provides a way to absorb information more quickly. Instead of a single static image, a GIF can turn a screenshot into a clearer set of instructions.
Scrolling screenshot
Depending on the size of the user’s screen, a screenshot may not be able to capture an entire window — especially if you need to scroll to capture the entire window. Some snipping tools include ability to screenshot a scrolling screen; scrolls can be captured vertically or horizontally.
Image editing
All snipping tools should provide the ability to enhance image quality, as well as resize, crop and rotate the screenshot as you need. These products should also allow you to sharpen, brighten and adjust the color of the image.
Record video
Many snipping tools go one step further and enable users to create a video of their screen. With snipping tools, users have the ability to record a screen, resize the frames and export the files. This is a great way to train employees step-by-step on a new process or system.
Now that I’ve shared the benefits of using a snipping tool versus built-in shortcuts, take a look at a small selection of tools you can use to create screenshots for your business.
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