Free Screen Capture and Annotate App - Snaplr

I have discovered some great free apps the last couple of days.  Snaplr is a free screen capture and annotate map.  It has some similarities to TechSmith Jing.  It can be downloaded from http://www.vessenger.com/snaplr for both the Mac and Windows PC.  A screen shot of the app is below. 

• Click on the Take Screenshot button 
• The screenshot will fill the window
• Annotate with the drawing/test icons
• Copy to the clipboard or save the image

The app is simple and easy to use.

Taking Screenshots

Screenshots are great ways to create tutorials and provide a picture with an explanation.  There are several ways to create them.

Download Jing (http://www.techsmith.com/jing.html ), a free app

With Windows operating system (OS)

• The Snipping Tool is an app with some of the Window OSs.  
• In Microsoft Word 2010, click the Insert menu > Screenshot from the Illustrations section
• If you have OneNote, you can click the Windows + S key 

On the Mac

• Click Cmd + Shift + 4 keys
• Click Cmd + Shift + 3 keys (full screen)
• Click Cmd + Shift + 4 + space bar (open window)
• Go the Dock > Utilities > Grab

On the iPad or iPhone

• Click the on/off and Home button (takes full screen)

Jing Update

I learned some new features with Jing today.  You can use the free version of Jing to create buttons that will automatically upload Jing files to Twitter, Facebook, and Flickr.  I created the buttons (use the history menu), but have not attempted the uploads.  Not sure how it might work with Twitter. 

Screen Capture and Video Software - Snag-it, Jing, and OneNote

A colleague mentioned that she was going to visit a nursing program that is using Jing and Snag-it software.  Jing and Snag-it are developed by TechSmith, the same company that produces Camtasia.  Jing is free. With the really scarce resources for many of us, free software is good.

Snag-it (http://www.techsmith.com/screen-capture.asp ) is used for screen capture.  The software is available for a 30-day free trial.  It is much better than the Print Screen function that we all have with our computer keyboards because you can choose exactly what you want to capture.  I use Microsoft OneNote (http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/onenote/default.aspx ) software, which is similar.  OneNote is available for a 60-day trial. The reason that I like it better, is that the software runs in the background, so all I have to do is to tap the Window+S keys to do a screen capture.  I also like the way that OneNote keeps automatic notes about the screen captures, for example, the day, time, and source (if it is a URL) of the capture.  OneNote allows me to store the screen captures in a workbook.  Those features are really helpful when designing online course content.

Jing (http://www.jingproject.com/) provides the ability to record video of on-screen action and it also can be used for screen capture.  The free version of the software is available for both the PC and the Mac.  It includes tutorials and is easy to use.  The on-screen action video is very helpful for that "teaching moment" assistance.  As an example, a couple of years ago I was running into roadblock using a software to access my web site.  One of our fantastic support people in the GCSU Web Enhanced Resource (WER) group figured out a work around. He created a short video of the on-screen action and emailed it to me. 

If you need a way to capture a part of a computer screen or capture screen action, consider trying Snag-it, OneNote, and/or Jing. All are very easy to use.