Greenshot 1.2.10.6

★ Winner of Best Screen Capturing Tool in 2017 and 2014.

Overview

Greenshot is a screen capture utility that aims to build upon the basic screenshot mechanism in most Windows operating systems. It comes with a bunch of options, such as capturing only specific regions on screen, the entire full screen or an active window only and directly saving images to a file without having to paste into an image editor, but read on to find out how well these options work.

Installation

Apart from choosing which plugins should be installed, the installation procedure is straightforward, and quick. No toolbars or adware of any kind were bundled, and no additional downloads were required to complete installation. Greenshot works fine on all Windows operating systems, Windows XP onwards.

Interface

Greenshot’s entire interface consists of a tray icon, apart from the configuration windows. All the features and settings can be accessed from there. This is actually a perfect interface for an application that you’re always going to have running in the background. Further, Greenshot uses the usual Print Screen key on your keyboard along with some modifiers as a shortcut to its most important features, so this makes using it really easy and intuitive. Pressing the Print Screen key alone allows you to drag a box around any part of your screen and capture a screenshot of that area. The screenshot is automatically saved. Apart from the screen capture utility itself, Greenshot includes a simple image editor that allows you to add annotations to your screenshots. This add-on is a breeze to use as well. Overall, Greenshot’s interface is thoughtfully designed, and shouldn’t cause any problems.

Pros

One of Greenshot’s strong points is how easy it is to use. Greenshot makes taking screenshots of a particular area far easier than the standard Windows method. In Windows XP, you would have to open up a screenshot of the whole screen in paint and crop the requisite portion. If you’re on Windows Vista or later, the Snipping tool makes things simpler, but not as simple as Greenshot. Another major plus point is the customizability Greenshot offers. There are plenty of options that allow you to control almost every aspect of its behaviour. Screenshots can be saved automatically, brought up in the image editor, or even directly printed. All the keyboard shortcuts can be changed as well. There’s even a setting that allows you to prevent the mouse cursor from showing up in screenshots. Greenshot’s functionality is now further extended by the plugins included in the latest release. Overall, the combination of plenty of useful features and ease of use makes Greenshot a solid screen capture utility. The fact that it’s both freeware as well as open source only sweetens the deal.

Cons

There are no major complains to be made about Greenshot, although more added tweaks are always welcome and should be expected in future versions. Since capturing videos is not Greenshot's goal, this can't be considered a minus.

Alternatives

Lightscreen is a popular alternative to Greenshot. It’s really light on resources, but isn’t as powerful as Greenshot.

Conclusion

Greenshot is a great screen capture application that is a rare combination of easy to use and powerful features. Highly recommended!