Newsletter Archives

• Make the most of the snipping tools in Windows

  Posted on February 10, 2025 at 02:45 CST by Mary Branscombe • Comment in the Forums

  

  ISSUE 22.06 • 2025-02-10

  WINDOWS 11

  

  By Mary Branscombe

  When you need a record of something you see on screen, Windows has multiple tools — plus ways to get images you saved on other devices, too.

  As usual with Windows, there isn’t just one way to snip, clip, or capture a screenshot of part of your screen. There’s a handful of options in Windows 10 and a more powerful new tool just for Windows 11.

  Windows 10 comes with an update of the Windows 7 Snipping Tool. You can open that from the Start menu, but it’s very basic and has a broken link to Paint 3D.

  Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (22.06.0, 2025-02-10).
  This story also appears in our public Newsletter.

  Windows 11 Edge, Newsletters, OneNote, Screen capture, Snipping Tool, Windows 10, Windows 11

• Mastering the art of screenshots

  Posted on July 22, 2024 at 02:45 CDT by Peter Deegan • Comment in the Forums

  

  ISSUE 21.30 • 2024-07-22

  MICROSOFT 365

  

  By Peter Deegan

  We should all know how to capture screen images from our devices.

  The ability to capture such images — screenshots — is built into nearly every computer, regardless of brand, size, or type. Screenshots are especially useful in support situations, in which one image of a problem or of a system’s error message is more helpful than a verbal description or a written explanation.

  A picture is, quite literally, worth a thousand words.

  Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (21.30.0, 2024-07-22).
  This story also appears in our public Newsletter.

  Microsoft 365 Android, Apple, Newsletters, Screen capture, Screenshots, Windows

• Snagit for great screenshots

  Posted on June 10, 2024 at 02:44 CDT by Peter Deegan • Comment in the Forums

  SOFTWARE

  

  By Peter Deegan

  Snagit is the Rolls-Royce of screen-capture tools.

  If you take a lot of screen images for documents or presentations, then Snagit is the tool with the most options for both capturing an image/video and enhancing it.

  There’s a lot in Snagit, and it would be foolish to even attempt to cover it all. I’ll focus on the parts of Snagit that I’ve used almost every workday for the last 20 years.

  Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (21.24.0, 2024-06-10).

  Software Image Editor, Newsletters, Screen capture, Snagit, Software Review, TechSmith

• How to take screenshots in Windows 11

  Posted on February 20, 2023 at 02:43 CST by Lance Whitney • Comment in the Forums

  WINDOWS 11

  

  By Lance Whitney

  The ability to take a screenshot in Windows can come in handy, both for personal and professional reasons.

  Maybe you’re documenting a certain process. Perhaps you need to share an image of an error message. Or maybe you’re making certain changes in Windows and want to capture the before and after. I take screenshots to supply images for the articles I write.

  Whatever the reason, Windows 11 (and 10) provides several methods to take a screenshot of an app or window.

  Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (20.08.0, 2023-02-20).

  Windows 11 Newsletters, Screen capture, Snip & Sketch, Snipping Tool, Windows 10, Windows 11

• Getting everything you care about into OneNote

  Posted on December 12, 2022 at 02:44 CST by Mary Branscombe • Comment in the Forums

  ONENOTE

  

  By Mary Branscombe

  OneNote becomes increasingly useful as you put more and more of your information into it, and there are many other ways to do that besides typing or using copy and paste.

  Last time, I looked at why you might want to pull different kinds of information into OneNote. There are lots of tools in OneNote itself for doing that, as well as browser extensions and third-party services that can help.

  You can also do many of these things in the Windows 10 OneNote app, but because that won’t be getting new features, I will discuss only how to do them in the desktop OneNote app.

  Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (19.50.0, 2022-12-12).

  OneNote Newsletters, Notes, Office, OneNote, Screen capture

• Freeware Spotlight — ScreenToGif

  Posted on June 29, 2020 at 01:10 CDT by Tracey Capen • Comment in the Forums

  BEST UTILITIES

  By Deanna McElveen

  Usually, when an app becomes one of my favorites, I just assume everyone else knows about it.

  So there I was, working with Nicke Manarin’s ScreenToGif utility on a simple task: creating instructions for a client on how to change Windows from double-click to single-click. And then it hit me: this handy-but-relatively-unknown app is … article material!

  Read the full story in AskWoody Plus Newsletter 17.25.0 (2020-06-29).

  Best Utilities AskWoody Plus Newsletter, Screen capture, Screen videos

• Freeware Spotlight — A Thousand Words

  Posted on March 30, 2020 at 01:00 CDT by Tracey Capen • Comment in the Forums

  BEST UTILITIES

  By Deanna McElveen

  As we’re all dragged into this new pandemic reality, PC-service clients are going to need remote assistance more than ever.

  Unfortunately, many of those folks are not as computer-savvy as we might wish. So when users run into problems, they might find it difficult to convey what exactly is going awry. In many cases, simple screen shots will illustrate the problem far better than will describing it over the phone.

  The aptly named A Thousand Words (ATW) is a handy screen-capture app from developer Andrew Lambert. The tool is specifically designed to be easy to use — suitable for PC users of any skill. If a problem can be seen on-screen, the machine’s user can launch ATW and follow a simple wizard to quickly grab shots of the fault. The user can then annotate the images and email the shots to a service tech (or the unofficial family IT person).

  Read the full story in AskWoody Plus Newsletter 17.12.0 (2020-03-30).

  Best Utilities AskWoody Plus Newsletter, Deanna's Freeware Spotlight, OlderGeeks, PC service, Screen capture

• Windows 10 gets better at taking screenshots

  Posted on July 29, 2019 at 01:05 CDT by Tracey Capen • Comment in the Forums

  WINDOWS 10

  By Lance Whitney

  Starting with Windows 10 1809, the legacy screen-capture Snipping Tool became Snip & Sketch — with great new capabilities.

  Ages ago, most of us downloaded third-party screen-capture apps because they were far superior to anything built into Windows. And it’s still true that products such as the paid Snagit and the free/paid PicPick offer extensive screen-capture and manipulation tools you won’t find in Windows.

  But the new, built-in Snip & Sketch is an excellent — and free — option. The app lets you capture an entire screen, any rectangular area, or an area that you draw freeform. And with Win10 Version 1903, you can also capture a specific window.

  Read the full story in AskWoody Plus Newsletter 16.28.0 (2019-07-29).

  Windows 10 AskWoody Plus Newsletter, Screen capture, Snip & Sketch, Win10 1903