If you’ve been relying on the Print Screen key and PhotoShop (or other graphics program) to capture and perform basic edits for online graphics, you’re wasting a great deal of time.
The first time I tried Snagit (TechSmith) was to take screen shots of the Miva Merchant admin when writing the official guide to the software. I’d previously paid someone to capture screens for me, but it was tedious to work with an obscure file naming scheme, and counterproductive when I needed to move things around. Snagit allowed me to capture what I needed, at different resolutions. It was a simple program, and quite inexpensive.
If PhotoShop is too rich, or overkill for your work, try Snagit. It boasts many standard tools, including drop shadows, filters and watermarking.
Snagit is still affordable (currently $49.95), but now boasts hordes of tools for simple and on-the-fly graphics editing. I used to “snag” the screen and use PhotoShop to resize, add effects and run filters. Now, I can edit most images for this site from within Snagit itself. And, yes, I can also work with images never captured through the software.
The beauty of Snagit, however, is not just what I can capture, but how… Not only can you grab pages via a scrolling window method, Snagit can capture entire web pages with links intact. This is quite useful when I need to archive a page before modifications, or, unfortunately, when I need to capture a site that’s ripped off my work. You can also set up custom profiles for capturing at specific resolutions or percentages.
Default, basic capture profiles are sufficient for most. When you want to do something special, though, you can create custom settings.
The ability to use output commands is a plus. Snagit can launch virtually any program (including email and FTP) to attach or upload images. It can also output to Excel, Word and PowerPoint (to name a few). Need to include the graphic with a description in a new Word document? Just choose “New Document” from the drop down.
Output files to email, FTP, documents and more. You can even customize outputs to specific programs. If that weren't enough, you can also download "stamps" for marking up images.
And, while I’ve always had an affinity for Google’s Picasa and Adobe Bridge, Snagit’s image library feature is more than sufficient for those wanting a single tool to handle it all.
I first used Snagit more than five years ago. Price wasn’t the deciding factor for me. After all, I have always needed tools that get the job done and save me time. It just so happens that Snagit fit the bill across the board.
Snagit is available for both PC and MAC, and is available for trial or purchase directly from TechSmith.
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