KSNIP

Nick Peers reveals how easy it is to take screengrabs and annotate them using a combination of Ubuntu’s built-in tools and third-party utilities.

Credit: https://github.com/ksnip

OUR EXPERT

Nick Peers has taken more screenshots than he cares to admit over the past .

Screen capture tools are a useful in anyone’s armoury. You don’t need to be a Linux Format writer to benefit from being able to show someone part or all of your screen. Whether trying to demonstrate a particular feature or get help from an expert by sharing a visual representation of your computer’s ills (such as a specific error message), a screen capture program is the tool you need.

The ability to grab your screen is an integral part of the Linux desktop, whichever one you use. However, the built-in screenshot tool doesn’t always have all the features you need, so in we’re going to take a look at not just the default tools for GNOME and KDE, but also a selection of third-party programs that take screen captures to the next level.

The quickest way to capture your current screen is with a single keypress: the aptly titled Print Screen or PrtScr key. In older versions of Ubuntu – including 20.04 LTS – pressing this key results in the sound of a camera shutter, the screen will flash and an image of your entire desktop titled Screenshot from YYYY-MM-DD HH-MM-SS.png will be saved to your Pictures folder using the GNOME Screenshot tool. Double-click this to view a picture of your desktop sans mouse cursor.

It’s quick, dirty and not particularly elegant. For starters, a 1:1 screen capture of a typical Ubuntu desktop produces a file around 2.1MB in size. That’s fine if you need to capture the entire desktop, but in many cases you’ll only want to capture a specific part of it, such as a program window. The good news is that GNOME Screenshot has anticipated this very need: press Alt+PrtScr and only the currently active window will be captured. But what if you want to select a specific part of the screen – say one with overlapping windows? You’re covered here, too: press Shift+PrtScr, then click and drag to select the area you want.

If you need more control over your screen captures, there’s a separate screenshot portal tool accessible via the Launcher. This displays a dialog enabling you to select what you want to capture – full screen, application window or rectangular selection – but it also makes it possible to add a delay to the capture, so you’ve time to set things up as you need to. It also gives you the option of including the mouse pointer and a border around your application window if required. After capture, you’ll also be able to save the screenshot to a specific folder with your choice of filename.