Taking Screen Caps: ALL Platforms. DIALUP BEWARE!(many imgs)

Should Dino make more guides?

Sure!	72.8%	[ 2318 ]
Nah.	4.9%	[ 156 ]
Indifferent.	11.2%	[ 356 ]
Guides?	11.1%	[ 354 ]
Total Votes:			[ 3184 ]

[Dino]

Mods: If you want to add information, you are more than welcome to append to any of the posts (such as when new software that's free comes out). This'll keep the thread more current and up-to-date. Please just add and don't remove the information. Thank you! biggrin

PLEASE don't bump this thread. It's linked in multiple locations, such as the tektek toolbar, the newbie guide thread, and all sorts of other places as a useful resource. I really appreciate that people like the guide, but bumping it clutters the thread, and makes it difficult for me to see when people post content to it.

Taking Screencaps

Screencaps are used for various reasons; primarily for proper proof in reporting in Gaia. With a screen capture, you can take a "picture" of whatever it is that's on your screen, upload it to a web server, and then PM it to a moderator when you're reporting abuse or harassment over PM. If someone is harassing or abusing you via your PM, you would take a screencap of that PM, save it, upload it to the internet, and then fill out a harassment report with a link to that image.

So far, there are guides all over the place on how to do this on a Windows machine. I'm on Mac OSX Tiger. I didn't even know it was possible, until I sat down and did some logical thinking. For one thing, Mac has always been all about the graphics thing. For another, it was supposed to be easy to use. So I did some poking around. Imagine my surprise when I found out how easy it is!

Table of Contents

Because Gaia is trying to kill our eyes with the very light coloured links, I've put the name of the post in green next to the links.

(Mac OSX) Screencaps for Mac OSX

(Mac OS9) Screencaps for OS9

(Windows) Screencaps for Windows

(New Windows) Screencaps for Windows Vista

(Linux, BSD, Solaris) Screencaps for Linux, FreeBSD, Solaris, etc.

(Contributors) Contributors

(Report Abuse) Reporting Abuse

(Host Images) Hosting your Images VERY useful for QnAers who want to quickly explain how to upload images to the internet. Thorough and detailed. Complete with screenshots.

Cool Events/Updates

08 - 03 - 05:
Realised that I'm now listed on the Gaia Directory.
http://www.tektek.org/gaia/
Anyone who does a search for "Screen Shot" or "Screen Capture" will now see this thread. You all can send in links to the Gaia Directory if you want. If it's accepted, you can even earn a little gold for it.

10 - 10 - 05
Got a complete keyboard shortcut guide for Mac.

09 - 01 - 06
I'm really slow, and it took me this long to realise that I'm also listed in the Newbie's Guide to Gaia, in the Welcome to Gaia forum. Pretty nifty.
http://www.gaiaonline.com/forum/viewtopic.php?page=1&t=10529735#542077482
I'm also listed in the Tektek toolbar plugin for Mozilla Firefox. :O Apparently, this thread has been quite useful for people.

15 - 11 - 2006

First poll, that started when the thread opened, and closed at 10:46 AM has results:

What OS do you take screencaps on?
Unix 2% [ 66 ]
Mac OSX or OS9 7% [ 185 ]
Windows NT 4.0, 3.1, XP, 2K, ME 64% [ 1594 ]
Linux 2% [ 69 ]
BSD, BeOS, OS/2, Solaris 0% [ 13 ]
ninja I already have Longhorn, or another unreleased OS, and that's what I use! 21% [ 532 ]

Total Votes : 2459

[Dino]

Screencaps on a Mac OSX

Click on your finder. Your finder is the smiley faced guy that's always the first icon in your dock. Here's a picture of the finder icon:



Click on it. Then, click on the "Applications" folder on the right, and double-click the "Utilities" folder, as shown below.



Then, open up the "Grab" utility.



With the Grab utility, you have a number of options. First, go to the Capture menu. You'll see four items there:

Selection
Window
Screen
Timed

All of these allow you to choose how you can take the screen shot. Selection lets you select a specific region of the screen to allow you to be specific about what you'd like to capture. For example, if I only wanted to use a particular area of this screen, I'd go to

Capture --& Selection

My cursor shows a tiny box next to it that has this text in it (A three-digit number, A three digit number). This is just to show you what coordinates you're on in your screen. It's not important really. You can ignore that. However, you know you've done it right when you see the little numbers. Drag a box around the area of the screen that you'd like to capture, and let go of the mouse button. You will now notice a new window popping up with the image on it. To find out the size of the image, go

Edit --> Inspector

and click on the window of the picture you want to know the information for. It'll come out with the size of your image. ^_^

If you want to capture an entire window (for proof to a mod), go

Capture --> Window

and click on the window you want captured.

Capture --> Screen captures everything on your screen.
Capture --> Time lets you schedule a delay before a screen is captured.

Now that you've captured to your heart's content, you need to save it. Go to

File --> Save as

so that you can choose the location and the name for your file.

Another point of interest is that in the Edit menu lies a "Special Characters" option. This is the same thing as the Windows "Character Map" tool.

Keyboard Shortcuts for Screencaps

[_caustic_]

I didn't see this anywhere in your guide, so I thought I'd mention it. It's a lot quicker to know your keyboard shortcuts for screen capture than it is to use Grab each time.

With OS X you can go to Keyboard Shortcuts (Applications--> System Preferences --> Keyboard and Mouse --> Keyboard Shortcuts) and see what your shortcuts for screen capture are. It also tells you how to change your shortcuts.

And if you hover over the shortcut it tells you what keys they are. (Note: command shift fn 4= command+shift+4 You don't have to press fn.)

I use Capture Screen to Clipboard as control+command+X and Capture Selection to Clipboard as control+command+Z.
If you need anymore information or screen shots I can get them for you 3nodding

Marius_Th

How to Screen Capture with your Mac!

It's really simple actually, just press and hold: "Command + shift + 3" (Command, also known as the apple key for the picture of the apple it holds) and a picture of your screen will automatically appear on the desktop, depending on the version of your OS this might be either a '.pict' or 'picture' file type on pre-OSX otherwise known as 'Classic' computers, a PDF file type on panther and below, or a PNG one with the latest OS: 10.4 Tiger!

Also, depending on the key's you press you can also make a shot of a specific window or a specific area, which will then appear as pictures on your desktop in the same way as a screenshot would

Here are the combinations:

"Command + Shift + 3" = Screenshot to file

"Command + Control + Shift - 3" = Screenshot to clipboard

"Command + Shift + 4" = Area Shot to file

"Command + Control + Shift - 4" = Area Shot to clipboard

"Command + Shift + 4" + "Spacebar" = Window shot to file

"Command + Control + Shift + 4" + "Spacebar" = Window shot to clipboard

And in case you're wondering, the command key is the one with the apple, the control is the 'ctrl' key, and shift is the one with a white arrow 3nodding

[Dino]

Screencaps on Mac OS9

AnarchistPoptart

In OS9 and below, you use Shift+Command+3, hear a clicking camera shutter sound, and find a .png image on your hard disk.

The shift+command+4 will save in the same fashion in OS9, but it'll give you a marqee took to select different areas of the screen with, rather than capturing the full thing.

[_caustic_]

I found this website: http://www.wellesley.edu/Computing/MacOS/macOS9tips.html
It has shortcuts for screen caps and a bunch of other things too 3nodding

[Dino]

Screencaps for Windows XP, 2000, ME, 98, 95

To take a screenshot on Windows XP or 2000, press the "Print Screen" button on your keyboard.

(Image courtesy of Chema)




This will take a snapshot of your entire screen, and put the information into your clipboard. You will still need to save it somewhere.

Go to:

Start --> Program Files --> Accessories --> Paint

(Image courtesy of [Sparrow])


Then:

Edit --> Paste (or ctrl + v).

On Windows 2000, it will prompt you to increase the size of the image. Click "Yes." On Windows XP, the image size is increased automatically. You can either save this as-is, and have a full image of your whole screen, or you can use the Lasso or + selection tool to select an area that you want to keep. Once you've got the exact selection of what you're keeping go:

Edit --> Copy

File --> New

Click on Don't save

Now you've got a blank file. Go:

Edit --> Paste

You're now left with the exact thing you'd like to save. Go to:

File --> Save as ...
(Image courtesy of -Listan-)


Where it lets you choose the type of file, I would reccomend using a JPG, unless the image's quality matters. In that case, save it as a PNG to maintain as high an image quality as you can possibly get. For most cases, a JPG will do the trick. Remember the location you saved it in, and hit the save button.
(Image courtesy of -Listan-)


Go to www.tinypic.com for a free image hosting site. Choose the file you'd like hosted, and click "host it!" Tinypic will give you all the links you'll need to share your picture with others.

Because I am on a mac, I don't have screenshots for the Windows machines. If someone has those screenshots avaialable, I'll add them in here, and I will credit you.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

AnarchistPoptart

I also just found this nifty little program, from the founders of ImageShack hosting: http://reg.imageshack.us/content.php?page=quickshot

It's called Quickshot, and acts just like The GIMP's "Aquire Image" function, but it's much less complicated. The GIMP requires things like the GTK Runtime Environment, and it's also a bit bulky to download if you're on dial-up. Quickshot is only five megabytes, and doesn't require any additional downloads.

It might be a good alternative to add. 3nodding

There's also some frivolous things like Quickload, which will upload any image on your computer with a single right-click. http://reg.imageshack.us/content.php?page=quickload

The above-mentioned applications are all for Windows, however. sweatdrop

Zack Powers

Printkey

Just download it, install it, and open it.

It should appear on your taskbar.

[Dino]

Screencaps on Windows Vista

There is a new tool in Windows Vista known as the Snip tool. It allows you to fire up the application, much like Grab on OSX, and take a screen capture of either a small region of text, a window, or the whole screen. Then, once you have your capture in the snipping tool, you can crop it, save it in any format, and even scribble on the capture with a pen tool that is built in to the tool. I have the screen caps for this tool somewheres, but I can't find the bloody thing. I will post them as I get them.

If you can't find the Snipping Tool, you have to enable it!



Click on the round Start button, and go to Control Panel.
Click on Programs.
Click on Turn Windows features on or off link. If User Account Control pops up for confirmation, click on Continue button.
Scroll down the features list in the Windows Features dialog window.
Mark the check box for Tablet-PC Optional Components to enable and show the Snipping Tool.

Agent NR

Start Menu>All Programs>Accessories>Snipping Tool


Standard Snipping




Snipping Options



General Options

AND Straight from the windows help:

Use Snipping Tool to capture screen shots

You can use Snipping Tool to capture a screen shot, or snip, of any object on your screen and then annotate, save, or share the image. Simply use a mouse or tablet pen to capture any of the following types of snips:

Free-form Snip. Draw an irregular line, such as a circle or a triangle, around an object.

Rectangular Snip. Draw a precise line by dragging the cursor around an object to form a rectangle.

Window Snip. Select a window, such as a browser window or dialog box, that you want to capture.

Full-screen Snip. Capture the entire screen when you select this type of snip.

After you capture a snip, it's automatically copied to the mark-up window, where you can annotate, save, or share the snip.

[Dino]

Screencaps on Linux, Free BSD, Solaris

StealthgamerPSX

There are a lot of ways to get a screenshot in Linux, but here are 2 of the easiest ways:

1. If you have KDE, you can use PrtScrn/Alt+PrtScrn to capture a screenshot just like you would do in Windows. Then, all you need to do is open a KDE paint program (such as KolourPaint) and select Edit --> Paste, or press Ctrl+V. It will paste your screenshot and then you can edit/cut/resize it as you feel necessary.

2. If you don't have KDE, or want to have more control over your image, you can take a screenshot using gimp. Start up gimp, and select File --> Acquire --> Screen Shot:



Then, you will have options to grab a single window or the whole screen, and options to delay the shot by a few seconds (useful if you want to move a window out of the way before taking the shot). Just select which option best suits your needs. In my example, I decided to take a shot of the whole screen:



Select grab, and a few seconds later a window will open that has your screenshot in it:



That's it. mrgreen Just edit/cut/resize your image to fit your needs, then save it.

That's really all there is to it rofl I hope that this is somewhat useful to somebody. Also, both of these methods should work in all versions of Linux, all versions of BSD, Solaris, and any other *nix/Unix-workalike but I only tested it in Linux. You can use my images if you want to, but I'd appreciate it if you hosted them somewhere else, since it would save me a lot of bandwith. pirate

Gimp is a free image manipulation program that is open to any user of ANY platform that exists (even mac). This particular tutorial may be used for any operating system currently in existence. It can be downloaded from the Gimp project site at www.gimp.org

surprised

AnarchistPoptart

Alright, well in the Gnome GUI, using ALT+PRT SC will give you a screenshot of the selected window. Just make sure whatever you're trying to screenshot is in the foreground, and it'll give you a "save as" screen, with the default file type and location being .png and the desktop respectively. It will give you only the selected window, no cropping required. If you need to capture the full screen, make sure you've clicked and selected the desktop. All of these screenies are using the default "Human" theme.
Selected window
Save Screen used to create the above screenshot
Complete desktop selected

I also just made an interesting discovery. KDE allows you to screenshot file menus and such when using the PRT SC or GIMP screen capture method, as per your example shown Here. However, if you try it using Gnome, you'll receive this error. I don't normally use Linux, so I could be doing something wrong, but I've tried a few different methods to no avail. Just a side note~ X3;;

If there's any other shots you need, I can get those as well. ^_^ I'm trying to get my ibook to turn on, but it keeps clicking off on me; I need to get it fixed. sweatdrop

EDIT: Oh, duh, I forgot System>Take Screenshot. xp

Deciare

Hello! I just found this thread through tektek's Gaia Toolbar. I'd like to submit a minor correction to StealthgamerPSX's instructions for taking a screenshot under KDE.

StealthgamerPSX

If you have KDE, you can use PrtScrn/Alt+PrtScrn to capture a screenshot just like you would do in Windows.

As of KDE 3.4 (and possibly earlier), the default keyboard shortcut for taking full-screen screen shots is Ctrl+Print Screen. Print Screen alone doesn't seem to do anything.

StealthgamerPSX

Then, all you need to do is open a KDE paint program (such as KolourPaint) and select Edit --> Paste, or press Ctrl+V. It will paste your screenshot and then you can edit/cut/resize it as you feel necessary.

As of KDE 3.5, I've been able to paste screenshots taken by KDE into any program capable of manipulating images, including the GIMP and even Microsoft Word running under Wine.

[Dino]

All Other OSes that I missed

This is reserved for the new OSes that come out that I don't have included in here.

[Dino]

Contributors

In the spirit of keeping things clean, I'm placing all contributors to my thread. Anything that I didn't write will have come from one of these wonderful people who helped me.

Chema
StealthgamerPSX
[Sparrow]
AnarchistPoptart
[_caustic_]
Zack Powers
Deciare
-Listan-
Agent NR

[Dino]

Other Uses for Screencaps

I'm leaving this open for other purposes that screencaps can fulfill. If y'all have any you'd like to add, just post it in here.

[Dino]

I'm having problems with a user!

Follow the instructions from above to take a screen cap. Then immediately go to this website:

http://www.gaiaonline.com/forum/index.php

and scroll down to the bottom.


You'll see those three links right there. Have your links to the pictures of the hacking, scamming, abuse, or harassment screen caps at the ready, and click on one of those links.



You'll be taken to a form like the one shown above (click for larger image) which will then allow you to tell the admins that you're having trouble with a user, and why. Copy and paste the links to the pictures into that window. All set!

WARNING!

Do not abuse this form. Only use it if you have proof that the user broke the ToS (found at: http://www.gaiaonline.com/info/tos.php). Make sure to read the ToS before using these forms. Abuse of these forms could result in a banning.

[Dino]

Uploading (Hosting) Your Images for Free!

For all OSes
Once you've saved it, now you need to host this image on the internet.

Go to www.imageshack.us. Image Shack will host images up to 1.4 MB in size, and will host JPGs, GIFs, TIFFs, PNGs, and SWFs. You may sign up for an account with image shack if you choose to, but you don't have to. It's 100% free, otherwise.



Click Choose, then find (browse to) the location of your pictures, and choose the files you'd like uploaded.



Then, click "Host it."


It's now hosted, and you have a full set of links to that file. That's what you'd use to let other people see your screen captures. (actual screen image will vary from what is shown below -- this is merely shown as reference. red text is my own addition).

AnarchistPoptart

xp This is just a nifty thing to toss in there:
http://reg.imageshack.us/content.php?page=widget

It's an ImageShack Widget for OSX, and it functions almost exactly like the Windows QuickLoader. You can upload images using the Widget directly, without ever touching browser window. ^^

[Chema]

I have this pic, but I don't know how much use it would be...




And I think imageshack does a better job than tinypic, but that's only an opinion in that case I guess~ blaugh

[StealthgamerPSX]

D!no

Screencaps on Linux, Free BSD, Solaris

If someone can enlighten me on how to screencap for Linux, Free BSD, and/or Solaris, I will make sure that you get credit.

There are a lot of ways to get a screenshot in Linux, but here are 2 of the easiest ways:

1. If you have KDE, you can use PrtScrn/Alt+PrtScrn to capture a screenshot just like you would do in Windows. Then, all you need to do is open a KDE paint program (such as KolourPaint) and select Edit --> Paste, or press Ctrl+V. It will paste your screenshot and then you can edit/cut/resize it as you feel necessary.

2. If you don't have KDE, or want to have more control over your image, you can take a screenshot using gimp. Start up gimp, and select File --> Acquire --> Screen Shot:


Then, you will have options to grab a single window or the whole screen, and options to delay the shot by a few seconds (useful if you want to move a window out of the way before taking the shot). Just select which option best suits your needs. In my example, I decided to take a shot of the whole screen:


Select grab, and a few seconds later a window will open that has your screenshot in it:


That's it. mrgreen Just edit/cut/resize your image to fit your needs, then save it.

That's really all there is to it rofl I hope that this is somewhat useful to somebody. Also, both of these methods should work in all versions of Linux, all versions of BSD, Solaris, and any other *nix/Unix-workalike but I only tested it in Linux. You can use my images if you want to, but I'd appreciate it if you hosted them somewhere else, since it would save me a lot of bandwith. pirate

[[Sparrow]]

This is a picture of going to paint for Windows. Do what you will with it:
<picture removed>

Edit: Sorry for sucky quality... sweatdrop

[HarperLady]

Thank you for posting this information. I have tried to get screen pics and all I previously succeeded in doing was to freeze my PC to the point that I had to reboot.