Key Takeaways
- Windows Snipping Tool upgraded in Windows 11, but alternatives offer more features.
- Lightshot and Greenshot provide easy image sharing and editing.
- ShareX offers extensive features, making it a strong alternative to the Windows Snipping Tool.
The Windows Snipping Tool allows you to take screenshots and edit them in very basic ways. Since the introduction of Windows 11, the Snipping Tool has seen some nice upgrades to its usability, including the ability to record videos. However, the Windows Snipping Tool isn’t without faults, and there are a lot of user reports of it not working. While it might not seem like much, being able to take a screenshot of your whole screen, or even just a part of it, can be very beneficial.
Screenshots have several uses, from capturing and saving info on the web, to helping show step-by-step instructions on how to complete a task. They can be a great way to document what a website or project looks like at different steps along the way, or before and after a major update. When it comes to taking screenshots on your PC, some 3rd party tools offer amazing benefits over the standard Windows Snipping Tool.
5 Lightshot
Lightshot is free for download directly from their website. This has been the screenshot program I have personally used for a few years now. It’s definitely not the fanciest of them all, but it does the job, and it does it well. It is rather easy to use and can be set up in a matter of seconds after it has been installed.
Lightshot is compatible with both Windows and Mac devices. There are three main features that help it stand out. It offers a similar image search, which can take any image on your screen and find more similar to it. It also allows you to upload screenshots to prntscr.com and will give them a short link, so they can be easily shared. Last but not least, it also has the option to upload the screenshots directly to a few different social media sites. Being able to upload the images to their server and also share them directly on social media bypasses the need to save them to your device.
Lightshot
Lightshot is a free third-party app that offers a fast and easy to use interface. After capturing your screenshot, you can easily share to social media or save to your favorite cloud platform.
Related
4 Greenshot
Similar to Lightshot, this is another lightweight and free-to-use screenshot software tool. Greenshot is also open source, which some may find appealing. Work on the project seems to have slowed down, but they have updated their blog back in February, and it seems like they want to keep it going.
One of the unique features of Greenshot is that when you are capturing an area of your screen, it gives you this big crosshair that zooms in on the area you are capturing. It also provides you with the option to upload your captures directly to Imgur, which can help save storage space and makes it easier if you plan to share the screenshot with other people.
Greenshot
Greenshot is a light-weight screenshot software tool for Windows.
3 PicPick
PicPick has both free and paid versions, depending on your needs. It also has loads of options to make sure you are getting the most from it. Even with all of its options, it is so easy to use that almost anyone should be able to navigate it with ease.
Not only does it allow you to capture the screen in almost any way you want, but it also has a load of image editing options as well as the ability to save, share, or send your screenshots in various ways. Being able to easily save your screenshots to Google Drive, Dropbox, or One Drive, or being able to send them directly to Facebook, Twitter, or through email is going to save you some time and hassle. If you are taking screenshots quite frequently that you want to share as you take them, this is definitely one of the tools to try and see if it suits you.
PicPick for Windows
PicPick is a powerful software that allows you to take customized screenshots on your Windows PC.
Related
Windows 11 Snipping Tool gets quicker access to screen recording
Windows Insiders in the Canary and Dev channels are getting updated versions of the Snipping Tool and Notepad, with nifty new enhancements.
2 Snagit
This one seems to be more for professionals rather than standard users. While there is a free trial available, after it ends you will need to purchase a yearly subscription to continue to use the software. The license is only around $50/year, but with so many other free alternatives, it may be worth looking around first to see if there is another that will do what you need.
While you may have to pay to use it, there is good reason behind this decision. Snagit has quite the plethora of advanced features for a program designed to take screenshots. You can set the exact dimensions of the area you want to capture, capture multiple areas on the screen in a single capture, capture images from your webcam, and even use time-lapse capture to capture the same area of your screen at regular intervals. It also has a very useful set of annotation tools for those professionals that need them. You can add callouts, move elements around, and even edit or copy text within the screenshot itself.
Of course, Snagit also has the ability to record your screen, and offers a number of useful features for this. You can add cursor highlights and animated clicks, draw on your screen while recording, change the shape of your webcam video, and much more! Looking at the full list of features, it becomes easy to see why Snagit has a yearly subscription fee.
SnagIt by TechSmith
SnagIt by TechSmith is a powerful screen capture software that lets you create stunning visuals and videos. Whether you need to capture a web page, a presentation, a tutorial, or a screenshot, SnagIt makes it easy and fast. You can edit your captures with annotations, effects, text, and more.
ShareX is a free and open-source screenshot capturing utility. It dubs itself as the best free and open-source screenshot tool for Windows and, in fact, it might just be. Considering all that it has to offer, it gives some of the bigger tools that require purchases and subscriptions a run for their money.
ShareX has a number of different capture modes, including screen recording, scrolling capture, and auto capture. It also has loads of after-capture tasks, such as uploading the image to a host, beautifying the image, opening the image in the editor, saving a thumbnail image, and many more. The fun doesn’t stop there, it also has a host of annotation tools to help you make things look a bit more professional should you need to. It even has some productivity tools to really spruce up your screenshots and make them stand out.
sharex
ShareX is a screenshot and screen recording tool for all kinds of purposes. It can record all or part of your screen, and it even works with games. It also provides tools for easy sharing by uploading files to the internet.
Is it worth downloading a 3rd party screenshot tool?
Yes, if you take screenshots regularly, then it absolutely is. While the Windows Snipping Tool can take screenshots and even record your screen, it doesn’t have many features overall. As you can see, there are some other good options available. If you are after something that will give you a link for sharing, then Lightshot may be the right tool, since it does this with a single click. However, if you are looking for the best of the best, you may want to check out ShareX.
As we mentioned, ShareX is free and open source, and out of the five Windows Snipping Tool alternatives we have looked at, it may just have the most options available. From multiple capture modes, to annotation tools, and even multiple upload features, the plethora of options ShareX offers is going to be enough for almost any user, no matter the screenshot task at hand.