Snipping with Windows 7 | TechnoEnclave

Windows 7 ships with a tool called Snipping, which enables you to capture screenshots easily. You can capture a dialog, screen and any other stuff on the Windows desktop in a single click without using any third party tool.

It can be activated from Start | All Programs | Accessories | Snipping Tool. You will view a small user interface as shown below

Figure 1 – Snipping Tool

There are four different ways by which you can capture the screen in Window 7 using Snipping tool. You will know them if you click New drop down arrow. In order to capture the screen using any of the four modes, select your choice and work on the Windows 7 desktop.

Free-form Snip

As the name indicates, you have to draw the portion of the screen which you need to capture and the tool will display it on the screen. You can then save the file in any format.

Figure 2 – Free-form Snip in Action

As you can see from the above screenshot, I have captured a portion of the desktop and captured the screen.

Rectangular Snip

In this mode, the tool will capture the portion of the screen that you select in rectangular format as shown below.

Figure 3 – Rectangular Snip in Action

Window Snip

In this mode, you will have to just select the option and click on the screen. The active window will be captured.

Figure 4 – Window Snip in Action

Full-screen Snip

Here the whole screen will be captured automatically. This includes Taskbar as well. Normally, I doesn’t prefer Taskbar to be captured in a screenshot. Hence, you will have to hide it from the screen by right clicking on the Window 7 Taskbar and selecting Properties.

The corresponding Window will be opened in a new Window as soon as you capture using the tool. You can modify properties by clicking the Options. You will view a Window as shown below

Figure 5 – Snipping Tool Options

Moreover, the tool automatically embed a small watermark when you capture a web page using Window Snip.

Microsoft provides new tools and features in Windows 7. Although the snipping tool is not as powerful as TechSmith’s SnagIt, it can still be used in certain emergency situations and will be highly useful for those who are unable to invest to buy a license for SnagIt or other third party freewares.