If I were to give an award for the program I've used and valued the most throughout the years, TechSmith's SnagIt screen capture program would take the gold. It's one of those programs you immediately install to new PC as you don't want to work without it. SnagIt is more than a screen capture utility, but a means to capture, present and share information in many ways.

It's hard for me to recall when I got my first copy of TechSmith's SnagIt. I remember it was part of a software bundle from another program. My initial reaction before trying the program was "oh grand, yet another program to replace the PrtScr key". I was mistaken in thinking this was just an ordinary screen print program. I never envisioned I would be using SnagIt on such a frequent basis.

Countless Uses for SnagIt

SnagIt goes well beyond basic screen captures by allowing the user to annotate, highlight, or call out various picture elements. There is clearly beneficial for anyone who does software documentation, but here are some uses you may not have considered:

• Saving online receipts or EULAs
• Converting web pages or images to PDF
• Creating "how to" videos
• Documenting online account issues
• Resizing pictures
• Capturing program error message
• Sending web pages with live links to people
• Converting one graphic file format to another
• Making interactive screen shots

The Program in Action

To illustrate the program's features, I took a screen snap of a SBC Yahoo Help page and will show how you can enhance or change the image. The first example shows a screen snap of the program itself. The program presents itself in three sections. In the center section is the image preview. On either side of your screen snap are two defined panes. The left pane consists of various paint tools that allow me to draw attention to elements on the captured image. The right pane offers predefined tasks. Common examples include adding a border or trimming the image. Selecting an item from either pane reveals more settings where you can refine your request. For example, if you select Resize Image, you can provide your %, pixel or aspect information.

Using the paint tools, I can emphasize items on my screen capture. You'll see I've circled my test result speed and added my comment. Fortunately, the program allows multiple undo's while you're still editing the image. This is useful for those times when your first comments are more emotional than professional.

As is often the case when you do screen captures, you want to trim the image. SnagIt allows three types of trimming. The first type is automatic trimming where the program determines where the image should be cropped. The second option allows the user to do custom trimming on a pixel basis for top, bottom, left and right boundaries. The last trim method involves grabbing a sizing handle on the image and dragging it in your desired direction.

Although I've saved space by trimming the image, it looks a bit bare without a border. We'll also use a feature from Edge Effects called Torn Edge. This is a nice feature, but sometimes has interesting results. One several occasions, I've had people ask me more questions about this torn effect than the image.

Instead of using a conventional text overlay, I could add balloon comments and numbered callouts. These numbered callouts can be helpful when used with step-by-step instructions or a visual glossary.

Another important feature for many people is the ability to add watermarks. You can choose to have an underlay watermark which looks like an embossed image or an overlay which is what I used. In my example, I just loaded our logo as a .GIF file.

The above examples show some of the common features people are apt to use. One area we've not touched upon is what the program can capture. While you may be used to simply snapping the entire computer screen, SnagIt allows you capture everything from an object to a scrolling web page. You can also save web pages with links and convert them PDF. And if size isn't an issue, you can record actions in a window and create an AVI file. This is a quick and easy way to show someone how to do a task.

Saving Strokes with SnagIt Profiles

TechSmith realizes that users may want to apply certain features and tasks on a regular basis. They solve this problem through the use of profiles which can save a number of keystrokes. A SnagIt profile allows you to automatically assign input, output, effects and options on a global basis. For example, I might define a profile to always use:

• A 7 second delay in capturing the current window
• Exclude the mouse cursor
• Apply a 1 PX black border to the outside of the image
• Add a caption with date, time and computer name
• Send the output to a file and printer

Although you can only have one active profile, you can define many profiles to suit your needs. There is even an organizer with import and export capabilities.

SnagIt's Interactive Screen Shots

One of the new features I enjoy in SnagIt 8 is the ability to make an interactive image. The process involves two steps where you first capture the image and add the interactive features such as pop up captions when you hover over a section. This file is saved in a proprietary, but editable SNAG format. You can then convert that file into a flash file. You can see an interactive SnagIt image here. The results aren't as full featured as some flash programs offer since you can't edit the *.swf file directly, but definitely worth a look.

There are few "gotchas" I see in this program other than a spell check for my text entries. On the plus side, SnagIt is reasonably priced at $39.95 and offers an extensive feature set that allows add-ins for Microsoft Office, IE, Firefox and Adobe FrameMaker. And if that weren't enough, TechSmith offers an array of help ranging from tip of the day to a learning center. Now, if I could only find enough time to learn all the features.

• Product Page: http://www.techsmith.com/snagit.asp
• Version Reviewed: 8.0.0
• Free Trial: Full featured for 30 days
• Price: $39.95 (educational, volume and govt' discounts available)
• Rating:  ★★★★★

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