The reason I love is that I can create pixel-perfect screenhots and precisely pick what I want to cut out and, if necessary, add arrows, text, etc. It also allows you to copy into the Clipboard and now Facebook and others allow me to paste images, which saves me the effort of going through the file system.
Amazingly useful, definitely powerful and easy to use software.
I know I sound like I am just repeating the title, but that's my honest, user opinion too. Does what it says it does, does it well, and stays out of your way until you want to use it.
I have been using it recently and like it. It is MUCH better than Windows native snipping software. It is also open source and free, so that's an added bonus.
Having said that, I wish we can select the objects (e.g., text box, arrows) we have created and move them around. Right now, we can only undo and if an arrow is drawn a few steps before and now you want to reorient its head, you are out of luck.
In the past (4-5 years ago), I used to use Jing (now called TechSmith Capture) and liked it a lot: https://www.techsmith.com/jing-tool.html and liked it. But I think the company decided to remove some features and/or require some sort of account creation; on top of that, it (if I remember correctly) kind of lost its earlier simplicity, so I stopped using it.
I think you can move objects around but I believe you have to de-select the tool first. Try pressing ESC first to deselect. Going off of my poor memory.
> Having said that, I wish we can select the objects (e.g., text box, arrows) we have created and move them around. […]
On Windows I like to use Greenshot because the editor opens up in a dedicated window and gives me full control over the objects I place (move, resize, change colors, duplicate, cut-copy-paste, reorder, save objects to file for reuse...). It's also open source, but seems unmaintained for some time now (but there is a fork implementing zoom in the editor).
Having briefly tried it I have to say it's not as clear or easy to use as ShareX (another open-source screenshot tool). The monochrome icons are really not intuitive or easy to discern at a glance.
Another commenter asks why it's not possible to trigger with the PrtScn key and I would also think that is an essential feature.
I found it to be the exact opposite. ShareX has a lot of features which makes it hard to quickly get your head around all its clutter, when sometimes all you want to a screenshot utility.
Flameshot has key bindings just like any other screenshot program. If the shortcut is already bound by another program, then it will not let you bind it to Flameshot, I believe.
I have been using Flameshot portable for years and it isn't without missing features but I keep coming back to it. I generally use the copy function, sometimes save to location. It would be good to have a built in editor that can be loaded after the action.
My apologies as I was not clear. Copy or Save after crop, and arrows, numbers etc.
Thank you for pointing out that ShareX has an editor. I was aware that it has that feature but I do not remember the specifics on why I went back to Flameshot.
The lacking features of Flameshot is that once you move away from the editor, you can not go back and make alterations. Not that I am aware of anyway.
I've used ShareX and Greenshot, and the latter is more straightforward. I don't want to upload retouched/annotated screenshots, but ShareX is a image sharing application at its core, so it had too much unused baggage for me. Greenshot hits the sweet spot for my use cases perfectly.
Also, Greenshot is lighter and snappier than every other Windows screenshot application I've tried.
Is that on Windows 11? The Windows 10 tool doesn't, though there is a PowerToys feature to select an area and copy text (not accurate enough to be useful though).
I discovered this when I was playing around with i3wm a few years ago. It's a really nice piece of software that does what you need it to do, and it stays out of your way otherwise. I mostly use it for screenshots, but it can edit and annotate, and pin images.
It's been the best option for a while now on Linux IMHO. I was a long time SnagIt user on Windows and when I went Linux full-time, I tried all different options but the ability to snapshot and markup quickly are key.
Works well in XFCE, KDE Plasma, and Cinnamon - notso in Gnome because, well, Gnome. I wish it did video too. Until it does, I am using SimpleScreenRecorder - which is okay.
I use the following script (activated by a system-level shortcut key) to take a screenshot, upload to S3 bucket (using the minio client[0]) and place the URL in the X selection buffer, ready to be pasted:
I forget, do you pay for bandwidth serving from S3 in this case? I have been looking for a good screenshot hosting solution to replace Cloudup, which was perfect and still usually works but I figure it might stop any day now. My only worry would be the unlikely case of a surprise high bill from a screenshot gone viral or something along those lines.
Wouldn't it make more sense to separate the screenshot functionality and dump that into a separate editor - configurable which editor. Or do these utilities combine the functionality in some inseparable way?
I actually rebound my windows keys to use this instead of default windows snippet tool. Sure, if I need a high level of editing I’ll bring it into some other program (still using flame shot to take a capture). 95% the built in arrows, boxes, numbers, etc do the quick attention calling I need.
Bonus, this was a piece of ‘bloatware’ an admin rebuilt my computer with, but I came to love.
This is my go-to screenshot tool for Linux; I've been using it almost daily for years now.
It's by no means as feature-rich as ShareX for Windows, but it works perfectly for what I need. It covers the essentials like simple annotations, blocking out areas of screenshots, saving local copies, etc.
I made some tweaks to support my own custom image uploader API, and similar to the comment by geoka9, I have it set up to take a screenshot, upload to my app, and copy the URL into my clipboard all behind a single shortcut.
131 comments
[ 2.6 ms ] story [ 196 ms ] threadThere was a period where any screenshot/recording app didn't work at all, including Flameshot, due to limitations in Wayland implementations.
I quickly started using it for myself, it's very very convenient.
I know I sound like I am just repeating the title, but that's my honest, user opinion too. Does what it says it does, does it well, and stays out of your way until you want to use it.
Having said that, I wish we can select the objects (e.g., text box, arrows) we have created and move them around. Right now, we can only undo and if an arrow is drawn a few steps before and now you want to reorient its head, you are out of luck.
In the past (4-5 years ago), I used to use Jing (now called TechSmith Capture) and liked it a lot: https://www.techsmith.com/jing-tool.html and liked it. But I think the company decided to remove some features and/or require some sort of account creation; on top of that, it (if I remember correctly) kind of lost its earlier simplicity, so I stopped using it.
On Windows I like to use Greenshot because the editor opens up in a dedicated window and gives me full control over the objects I place (move, resize, change colors, duplicate, cut-copy-paste, reorder, save objects to file for reuse...). It's also open source, but seems unmaintained for some time now (but there is a fork implementing zoom in the editor).
Another commenter asks why it's not possible to trigger with the PrtScn key and I would also think that is an essential feature.
Flameshot has key bindings just like any other screenshot program. If the shortcut is already bound by another program, then it will not let you bind it to Flameshot, I believe.
I have been using Flameshot portable for years and it isn't without missing features but I keep coming back to it. I generally use the copy function, sometimes save to location. It would be good to have a built in editor that can be loaded after the action.
ShareX can pop up an editor after a screenshot which I do use a lot.
Thank you for pointing out that ShareX has an editor. I was aware that it has that feature but I do not remember the specifics on why I went back to Flameshot.
The lacking features of Flameshot is that once you move away from the editor, you can not go back and make alterations. Not that I am aware of anyway.
Also, Greenshot is lighter and snappier than every other Windows screenshot application I've tried.
And configuring it to a the print screen button just involves assigning it, and in the case of Ubuntu, overriding system defaults.
Perhaps it's harder on Windows?
I use Windows native screenshot tool because it supports OCR.
https://www.pcworld.com/article/2070861/windows-snipping-too...
I press Win+Shift+S then select the region of the text.
Flameshot v11.0.0 - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30071766 - Jan 2022 (30 comments)
Flameshot – Simple, powerful screenshot tool for all major operating systems - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26446070 - March 2021 (125 comments)
Flameshot – Superb Screenshot Tool - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26113753 - Feb 2021 (83 comments)
Works well in XFCE, KDE Plasma, and Cinnamon - notso in Gnome because, well, Gnome. I wish it did video too. Until it does, I am using SimpleScreenRecorder - which is okay.
Bonus, this was a piece of ‘bloatware’ an admin rebuilt my computer with, but I came to love.
Click click click, paste in email and reference the numbers… much more clear than arrows and scribbles all over the place.
It's by no means as feature-rich as ShareX for Windows, but it works perfectly for what I need. It covers the essentials like simple annotations, blocking out areas of screenshots, saving local copies, etc.
I made some tweaks to support my own custom image uploader API, and similar to the comment by geoka9, I have it set up to take a screenshot, upload to my app, and copy the URL into my clipboard all behind a single shortcut.