Access capture tools from the capture bar, or by right-clicking the taskbar notification icon.
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Speed capture When the predictive object finder automatically outlines the area you want, just click to capture that exact area fast. Otherwise, drag the mouse to capture any random area. See tips below about canceling or adjusting the selected area. |
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Full screen capture This tool captures the full screen. |
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2-point capture Capture any area by clicking two corners, or by dragging the mouse. Great if you have an unsteady hand because you don't have to hold the mouse button down. |
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Frame capture The frame tool is an open rectangular ruler that shows the dimensions of your selected area in pixels and inches. It opens fast, remembers its position, and lets you interactively prepare applications below it - even through the middle of the frame. Position the frame over the desired material and click OK. Move the frame by dragging its inside edge, resize the frame by dragging its outside edge. Or, use the keyboard arrow keys. To hide all sticky notes, on the capture bar click Misc / Hide Stickies. Click again to make them reappear. This function is also available on the taskbar notification icon context menu. |
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Auto scroll capture Automatically capture oversize content that extends outside a window by scrolling vertically and/or horizontally. More about full auto scroll |
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Manual scroll capture Capture a column of information that extends below a window by scrolling down manually. You control the left, right, top and bottom of what’s captured. More about manual scroll capture |
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Video recording Record video and audio, then convert to WMV, AVI or GIF files. More about video recording |
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Audio recording Record sound to a WAV file. More about audio recording |
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Last program capture This tool captures the last active application (that’s usually the one you want). |
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Window capture Capture window components with one click. |
Capture tips
Screen goes blank immediately after clicking the Area button
If your captures have blank spots or missing graphics, increase the time CaptureWiz waits for other programs to draw. Large windows and slow graphics cards need more time. On the capture bar, click Misc / Options, select the Misc tab, and increase Delay before capture.
Some security programs, particularly Zone Alarm Force Field and Norton Internet Security, intentionally block screen capture when online. To stop this problem, see this::
http://pixelmetrics.com/Tips/SecurityAps/SecurityApsBlockCapture.htm
Blank, black or transparent captures from media players
Screen captures from media players like Windows Media Player, Real Player and QuickTime will turn out blank, or confusingly transparent, if the original media is projected on a "hardware accelerated overlay layer". The trick to capturing this media is to force off hardware acceleration. Here are some tricks for doing that.
Turn off the player's acceleration following instructions here: http://www.pixelmetrics.com/Tips/VidBlank/index.php
Play the media on a different media player, such as the VideoLAN player: http://www.pixelmetrics.com/Tips/VidBlank/VideoLanPlayer.php
If the player ignores, or doesn't offer an acceleration setting, turn it off globally as shown here: http://pixelmetrics.com/Tips/VidBlank/GlobalAcceleration.php
Search the source application for a save function, including the right-click context menu.
Try setting the playback to full screen.
Though Vista's aero glass interface is slow, it eliminates the blank capture problem.
Canceling a capture
To cancel a capture, right-click anywhere or press the ESC key.
Capturing an exact area
Press the keyboard arrow keys to set the precise position. Hold down SHIFT while pressing arrow keys to set the precise size. Press ENTER to finalize your selection. Mix clicks, drags, ARROW and ENTER keys in any order.
Capture the mouse pointer
| 1. | Position the mouse pointer where you want it. |
| 2. | Hold down the CTRL key, press F10, then release both keys. |
| 3. | Move the mouse a short distance. |
| 4. | Press and hold down the left mouse button. |
| 5. | "Drag" the mouse over the pointer, creating a red box around it. |
| 6. | Release the left mouse button. |
| 7. | On the output toolbar, select an output, such as Print, Save or Copy. |
Capture open menus, drop down lists, CaptureWiz and other elusive objects
Press theF10 hot key. For more information, see Hot keys.
Capture games
Games usually offer several different display modes, some of which cannot be captured. We suggest playing the game “in a window”, or if that doesn't work, “full screen”, to make it easier to capture. Modes that are closest to normal and avoid special video card features work best. Press F10 at the moment you want to take the capture.
Capture screen savers
To capture a screen saver, press the F10 hot key. In Windows XP, the computer must have a single user, the screen saver Show Welcome on Resume setting must be unchecked, and several tries may be needed if the screen saver is animated.
Capture DOS programs
The trick to capturing a DOS program is to run it in a window, instead of full screen. Then, capture its output like any other program. To switch from full screen to in a window, press ALT+ENTER.
Also, note that pressing the PRINTSCREEN key in full screen DOS mode captures the entire DOS screen to the Windows clipboard. You can then open a Windows image editor or word processor and paste in the screen capture, usually by clicking Edit / Paste.
To crop images appearing in the viewer
1 On the capture bar, click Area.
2 Select the desired area.
Switching tools
During capture, press the CTRL key to switch between capture tools - from speed capture to 2-point capture to window capture and back.
See also: