SnagIt 8.2 Review

During the week I have to take a lot of screenshots.  I usually need to capture a variety of images of either new desktop skins, applications windows, and entire desktops.  For years I would use probably the most basic way to do this, which is to hit the "Prt sc" button and paste into an image editor to save.  After a while this just got to be too much of a hassle, and I tried a few applications to see how they can improve my workflow.  After trying quite a few screenshot applications I went ahead and purchased SnagIt 8.2 by TechSmith. 

SnagIt can be purchased directly from the TechSmith store, and a registration key will be e-mailed which can convert the trial into a full version product.  Once installed you have access to the various options through an icon in the system tray (which can be disabled).  In the main window you will see a variety of profiles for common captures.  Examples would be taking shots of the entire desktop, a window, entire web page, etc.  It’s also possible to create your own profiles that can include custom hotkey combinations, and a profile wizard is available to help you create your own.

One of the best features of SnagIt is what it can do after you take the image capture.  After you take a capture, the SnagIt Editor comes up and allows you to modify and save the images in quite a few ways.  There are a wide variety of editing tools available along with the basic functions such as zooming and cropping.  SnagIt allows users to place Callouts and Stamps in their captured images, which is great for an image where you need to show a specific area.  Other effects include drop shadows, edge effects, watermarks, borders, captions, and much more. 

Image output is by far the biggest advantage to applications which perform similar functions.  Obviously you can save the image in the usual image files types (.jpg, .png, etc.), but SnagIt also has seamless integration with application like Microsoft Word, and the web based image service Flickr.  SnagIt can also upload your images to an FTP site, e-mail them, and open the capture in a program of your choice.  Many of the output plugins are included with SnagIt, or can be downloaded for free from the TechSmith website.

If image captures aren’t enough, then SnagIt also has the ability to take quick video recordings of your desktop.  This is a perfect feature for doing quick tutorials or applications demos.  There isn’t much in the way of editing the videos taken, but for a quick solution I didn’t expect much.  Video quality isn’t the greatest, but if you need really high-quality videos then SnagIt isn’t the answer.

Another feature which isn’t advertised much is its ability to batch convert images.  This is a handy feature to batch rename, resize, or modify images.  This is something I was using another application to do until I realized SnagIt was able to do this as well.  SnagIt is compatible with Windows Vista, although running SnagIt on two Vista machines has produced mixed results in reliability.  One machine I encountered quite a few application crashes, and the other worked flawlessly.  Overall, if you only take image captures occasionally then SnagIt might not be worth it, but if taking screenshots and other captures is part of your routine, then SnagIt will not disappoint. 

• SnagIt 8.2 by TechSmith

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