3 Tools for Creating a Screen Capture

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Whether you are a teacher or a content developer, the ability to capture your computer screen is essential. A screen capture is an image file that is created from taking a "snapshot" of the contents from a computer screen. This image can be used in text documents, slide presentations and even in video animations.

3 software programs for screen capturing
Here are the programs that I use for my screen capturing:

1) Microsoft Power Point (2010 and later)

The later versions of Microsoft PowerPoint (version 2010 and later) have a nice feature for creating screenshots. By clicking Insert-->Screenshot from PowerPoint's main menu, you can capture any active window on your computer.  Also, by selecting the option "screen clipping" under Insert-->Screenshot, you can outline parts of the screen that you want to capture. 

Once you capture your screen or part of it, the output image is pasted right into your PowerPoint window and you are good to go!  From there you can click on it and copy it into any other program you like. MAGIC!
 

Purchasing PowerPoint:  I purchased my copy of Microsoft PowerPoint at Amazon for about $100.


2) Screen Capturer

Screen Capturer is another one of my favorite screen capture tools. It's extremely easy to use and creates full or clipped screen captures that can output to a file like JPG, PNG or GIF. You can even record multiple screen captures to create an animation! Your output can then be sent to your email, a printer, an image file or to your computer's clipboard.

Download at: http://www.screencapturer.com
(*You will need to register and then the company will send you a license key)

3) Techsmith's SnagIt



My first real screen capture software was TechSmith's SnagIt. It came bundled with a great video making software called Camtasia, also by the same company. TechSmith is a great company and really comes up with some fine products.  While SnagIt does full and clipped screen captures like other software, it includes a full image editor. I program my SnagIt to pop-up when I press the Ctrl-End key combination no matter what program I'm in. It's truly powerful. Honestly, I use SnagIt everyday.

Purchasing SnagIt

To purchase SnagIt, I recommend going through Amazon which sells SnagIt for $49.95 for the download version OR $29.95 for an Academic discount for school faculty and staff.

*Credits: All images owned by their respective companies or websites.