Unlike other applications, Snap does not immediately show a program window
after launch. Instead, you can access its features by moving the mouse
pointer over the bar at the top-center of your screen to expand it. Alternatively,
you can also right-click the program icon in the system tray next to
the clock to access most features. Depending on your Windows settings,
you may have to click the arrow first to reveal the icon.
In case of display issues, please disable GPU optimization in the program
settings.
The keyboard shortcut to stop scroll/interval/video captures is now Win+Esc.
Capture
There are three ways to activate the capture process: through the capture bar, through the program symbol in the system tray, or through keyboard shortcuts.Capture bar
Once Snap is launched, the capture bar will be automatically displayed as a marker at the top of your screen by default. Move your mouse over the marker to expand the capture bar. Move it outside the bar to hide it.
You can also have the toolbar use a rectangular shape through the program
settigs.
Functions
1: Capture screen region
2: Settings
3: Open editor
4: Capture all displays as screenshot
5: Starts Live Edit
6: Exit program
Context menu (system tray)
Once launched, you can access many capturing tools through Snap's context menu. Simply right-click the program icon in the system tray next to the clock.
The context menu also allows you to reopen the video editor, e.g., to
make additional changes to existing videos. This option is only available,
when the output folder you specified contains at least a single valid
video file.
Capture screen region
1: Create selection
2: Select target
3: Capture pointer
4: Fast screenshotting
5: Switch color scheme
6: OCR texts
7: OCR language
8: Palette
9: Switches to eyedropper mode.
The toolbar always appears at the top of the screen that currently has
the mouse.
Create selection
Use the cursor keys to move the crosshair in 1-pixel increments for added
precision. Click the X or hit Esc to stop capturing.
The toolbars are auto-hidden during drag operations so they don't obstruct
your view. Hit Space to temporarily hide the toolbars before drag operations.
They will then reappear once you release the mouse button.
Selection mode
Automatic (window detection)
In this mode, the progam auto-highlights windows below the mouse pointer and creates a rectangular selection on clicking.
Hold down the left mouse button and drag to instantly create a rectangular
selection, ignoring any detected window.
Rectangle
Hold down the left mouse button and drag to create a rectangular selection. Drag the edge markers to adjust its size. Drag inside the rectangle to reposition it.Ellipse
Hold down the left mouse button and drag to create an elliptical selection. Drag the edge markers to adjust its size. Drag inside the ellipse to reposition it.
Hold down shift while dragging the edge markers to equalize the height
of a rectangular/elliptical selection to its width. Hit Shift without
dragging to instantly set the height of the selection to its current
width.
Freeform
Hold down the left mouse button and drag to draw a freeform shape. The shape is always closed automatically.
If you've already created a selection, switching modes will auto-apply
the position and dimensions to your new selection, whenever possible.
For example, when you switch from a freeform shape to "Rectangle", the
new shape will reuse the existing size and position properties.
Eye dropper (Color recognition)
Move the pointer over a pixel and left-click to extract and copy its color value to the palette.Create selection (presets)
Current displayCreates a rectangular selection around the display area that currently has the mouse pointer.
All displays
Creates a rectangular selection across all connected displays.
Custom
Allows you to input width/height manually to create a value-based rectangular selection. See Custom selection
Repeat last
Recreates the most recently confirmed rectangular/elliptical/freeform selection.
The label reflects the most recently confirmed selection. If you confirmed
a rectangular selection at the location 100,100 with a size of 320x240,
the new label will be "100,100 320x240".
Select target
Select the desired output target for your captures here.
Editor: Shots are automatically opened in Snap's built-in editor upon creation.
Folder: Shots are only stored a image files in the output folder.
Clipboard: Shots are immediatly copied to the system clipboard.
Other application: Shots are sent to custom application. You can specify the application in the program settings.
Ashampoo Web: Shots are uploaded to Ashampoo Web. The affected link will open automatically in your default web browser once the upload is complete.
The icon of the button changes depending on the selected target so you
can always see what will happen with your shots.
Finished video captures are always open in the built-in
video editor.
Capture pointer
Enable this feature to capture the mouse pointer as part of your screenshots.
The pointer is captured the moment you confirm your selection, ideally
by clicking into the selection at the position you want the pointer to
appear.
Fast screenshotting
If enabled, the selected area will be captured as soon as you release the mouse button without the need for manual confirmationn and without the ability to readjust the position/size of the selection.Switch color scheme
You can toggle the color of the crosshair and guidelines here to adjust their display for best readability.You can also use the mouse wheel to switch between colors.
The selected color will initially be used for the selection rectangle
and live annotations during video capturing. You can always change it
there later.
OCR texts
Extracted texts are stored here. Move the pointer over an entry and use the buttons to delete or copy its content to the system clipboard. Click a text entry to edit it.
More (…)
ClearDeletes all text entries.
Export TXT
Exports all texts as a single text file.
The most recently recognized text gets always copied to the system clipboard
automatically.
OCR language
Use this menu to quickly switch between OCR languages. Click "Add language" to add additional OCR languages.
Ashampoo Snap relies on language packs provided by your Windows installation.
Adding new OCR languages therefore means installing the associated display
languages through Windows' display language settings.
Palette
Colors that have been extracted using the eye dropper tool are collected here. Move the pointer over a color and use the buttons to delete or copy its value in different notations to the system clipboard.
More (…)
ClearDeletes all color entries from the palette.
Export CSS (Photoshop
Exports the current hex values as CSS file prepared for Photoshop. Use "Import swatches" via the "Swatches" tab in the palette tool to add the colors to your Photoshop project.
Export PNG (Affinity)
This function exports all colors as single pixels to a PNG file. Use Affinity's "Create Palette From Image" to import the colors into a project.
Confirm selection
Use the context menu (…) to confirm your selection and apply an operation. Alternatively, right-click the selection to access the menu. The most frequently used operations are also accessible through dedicated buttons below the selection.
If all you need is a simple screenshot, you can also left-click into
the selection or hit Enter to confirm it.
Scroll-capturing
If you use window detection, e.g., to capture a website, make sure to
adjust the selection rectangle to only include the content you wish to
capture. Titel bars, tool bars, and scroll bars must not be included
in your selection!
Snap can capture scrolling content vertically or horizontally. This is achieved by taking multiple screenshots between scrolling and assembling them into a coherent image at the end of the process.
During capturing, the mouse pointer will snap into a predefined location
and should not be moved.
Here's a few pointers for a successful scroll capture:
- Your selection must not contain window elements, like scrollbars, because these will interfere with the assembling of the screenshots.
- Make sure your selection does not contain sticky elements. These are elements that move with the content to stay in a fixed position, like web banners.
- If you need to capture a website that dynamically fetches new content during scrolling, make sure to manually scroll the bottom of the page before you start capturing from the bottom. This will ensure the content is instantly available.
Example
A browser window was detected and selected in the image above (red box). The selection contains multiple window elements (title bar, top/right toolbar, right scrollbar, window border). In addition, the website contains a navigation element at the bottom right that stays fixed during scrolling (white upward arrow on dark circle). For a successful scroll-capture, the selection has to be adjusted to only surround website content without window and navigation elements (green box).
Hit Alt+Esc to stop a running scroll-capture operation. The operation
terminates automatically when the content stays unchanged for a predefined
time.
Websites in particular can be long, and scroll-capturing can lead to
massive images in these instances that push even modern PCs to their
limits. The maximum supported width/height is therefore internally limited,
with content that exceeds the limit being ignored in the assembled image.
Timer-based capturing
This function allows you to capture one or multiple shots after a custom time period specified in seconds. Use the buttons to adjust the time span or use your keyboard.
Hit Alt+Esc to stop a running operation.
Capture video
See Capture videoCustomize selection
This dialog allows you to create or modify a selection based on the specified width/height. Use the buttons or your keyboard to adjust the values individually.
Custom presets
Click "Add preset" to create a preset based on the current width/height. Click an existing preset to apply its values to the current selection. Click the trashcan to delete a preset.
Clear selection
Aside from the menu item you can also hit Backspace to delete an existing selection.Custom file names
You can adjust the file naming scheme that will be used for exported images/videos in the program settings. Simply place the cursor at the desired position under "Output file name" and click the below buttons to add the associated placeholders.
Example
| Input | Output |
| Screenshot$sc_$ds_$t_$wn | Screenshot72_2022.02.03_9h26m27s_Document1 - Word.png |
Supported placeholders
| Type | Input | Output |
| Date (short) | $ds | 2022.02.03 |
| Date (long) | $dl | Thursday, February 3, 2022 |
| Time | $t | 9h15m52s |
| Session counter | # | 1 |
| Sceenshot counter | $sc | 1 |
| Window name | $wn | Document1 - Word |
Edit image
Ashampoo Snap differs between project and image files. Project files
contain both image and object data (arrows, shapes, ...). They are stored
in a separate "projects" subfolder that lives in the output folder you
selected and show up as thumbnails in the
preview bar.
When you manually delete image files (e.g. MyImage.png) in your output
folder, this will not affect the associated project files so the associated
images will still show up in the preview bar.
Only project files from the current output folder appear in the
preview bar. Any time you select a new output
folder, only projects files inside the new folder will be visible the
next time you open the editor.
1: Toolbar
2: Quick access bar
3: Workspace
4: Tool/Object properties
5: Status bar
6: Preview bar
Use the arrow buttons near the edge of a pane to expand/collapse it.
You can also expand/collapse individual categories in the tool/object
properties pane.
Context menu
Right-click into the screenshot to open the context menu.
Copy to clipboard
Copes the current screenshot and all objects to the system clipboard.
Insert image from clipboard
Pastes the clipboard image into the screenshot as an object at the current mouse position.
Insert object from clipboard
Pastes the most recently copied object into the screenshot at the current mouse position.
Insert image from hard drive
Inserts an existing image file into the screenshot as an object at the current mouse position.
Select next/previous object
This entry is available, when there's already an object selected and moves the selection to the next/previous object.
With object
The functions in this submenu affect the object that belongs to the given index.Select object
Selects the current object.
Move object to front/back
Moves the object to the first or last position in the object hierarchy so that is either visually sits above or below all other objects.
Move object one level up/down
Moves the object one level up/down in the object hierarchy.
Copy project
Copies the object to the system clipboard.
Cut object
Copies the object to the system clipboard and deletes it from the project.
Delete object
Deletes the object from the project.
Working with objects
Left-click objects to select them. There are three types of objects:Type 1
Objects of this type display a selection rectangle around them. Drag the
Type 2
These objects also display a selection rectangle around them, once selected. Unlike type 1, type 2 objects can be dragged directly for repositioning but support neither resizing nor rotation.
Type 3
Type 3 objects do not display a selection rectangle when selected but can also be dragged directly for repositioning. Drag the edge markers (
Hold Shift during object resizing to adjust width and height proportionally.
For example, this allows you to scale down a clipart without distortions.
Toolbar
Select
Left-click an object to select it.Transformations
These functions allow you to adjust the size of the screenshot/canvas to your needs.Crop / Resize Screenshot / Resize Workspace
The handling is identical between these operations but you can hold down shift while resizing a screenshot to preserve the current aspect ratio.Combine layers
This function merges the current objects into the image, rendering them uneditable afterwards.Frame
Watermark
Enable "Use as default" in the right properties pane to add a watermark
to all future shots automatically. This is especially useful in tandem
with the "File name" option, that always includes the name of the image
file.
Pencils and markers
Pencil
Simply drag to highlight or draw over an area in your image.Highlighter
Use the highlighter to highlight image portions with lines/rectangles or freehand shapes. Toggle "Enable highlight mode" to invert your selection.Arrows
Click with the left mouse button on the starting position and drag the mouse to the end position to create the arrow. In the tool properties, you can switch between straight and curved arrows under "Type." Drag the square edge markers to adjust the start/end position of the arrow. For curved arrows, drag the additional markers to adjust the curvature. Enable the "Growing" option to automatically resize the arrowhead based on the arrow's length.Set "Arrowhead position" to "None" to draw (curved) lines.
Text
Left-click the workspace to add a text object. Once added, start typing to modify its text content. To edit an existing text object, select it and left-click its content.Share / Export
Use these features to share your image with others. Use the "…" button next to "Open with app" to select a target application (.exe) for the "send to" feature. If no application is specified, you'll be prompted to select an application when you first use this feature.
Use this dialog to print your current image and to individually customize settings such as scale and margins.
If you prefer the system-default dialog, click "Open System Print Dialog". Your current settings will be ineffective in this case.
Quick access bar
Use the quick access bar to swiftly access frequently used functions.
1: New project
2: Open project
3: Import image
4: Save project
5: Undo
6: Redo
7: Cut object
8: Copy object
9: Paste object
10: Delete object
11: Move object up by one in object hierarchy
12: Move object down by one in object hierarchy
13: Provide feedback
14: Open help
15: Open current output folder in Windows Explorer
16: Export project
Status bar
1: Resolution of the current image
2: Displays the current image in its original size
3: Zooms in/out to show all of the current image
4: Drag the slider for seamless zooming
5: Opens the folder that contains the image in Windows Explorer
You can also hold down Ctrl and use the mouse wheel to zoom into/out
of the current mouse position within the canvas.
Preview bar
The preview bar displays a miniature preview of your projects. An exclamation mark indicates that the affected project contains unsaved changes. Click the trashcan button to delete the affected project.
To delete more than one project, hold Ctrl and left-click the affected
thumbnails to (de)select them. Then, click either the delete button in
the toolbar or one of the delete buttons associated with a selected thumbnail
to delete the selected projects.
To rename a project, hit F2.
Combining projects
Use the plus symbol to combine several projects into one. This will append the selected project to the currently open project, expanding its workspace as needed. Objects contained in the added project remain fully editable.Keyboard shortcuts
Apart from the capture bar and the context menu, you may also use various keyboard shortcuts to access different capturing tools, some of which you can customize in the program settings.Capture
You can customize these shortcuts in the program settings.
| Capture |
Alt
+
Ctrl
+
S
|
| Capture rectangular selection |
Alt
+
Ctrl
+
N
|
| Capture fixed-size region |
Ctrl
+
Win
+
Shift
+
F
|
| Capture everything |
Ctrl
+
Win
+
Shift
+
A
|
| Capture current screen |
Ctrl
+
Win
+
Shift
+
S
|
| Capture active window |
Ctrl
+
Win
+
Shift
+
W
|
| Repeat last screenshot |
Ctrl
+
Win
+
Shift
+
R
|
| Open image editor |
Ctrl
+
Win
+
Shift
+
E
|
Capture: Screenshot
| Selection: Automatic |
1
|
| Selection: Rectangle |
2
|
| Selection: Ellipse |
3
|
| Selection: Freeform |
4
|
| Selection: Eye dropper |
5
|
| Selection: Repeat last |
6
|
| Confirm selection |
Ent
|
| Clear selection |
Del
|
| Cancel |
Esc
|
| Move cursor |
↑
↓
←
→
|
| Cancel scroll/interval capture |
Win
+
Esc
|
Image editor
| Deselect tool |
V
|
| Hand tool (move workspace) |
Space
+
Drag with mouse
|
| Undo |
Ctrl
+
Z
|
| Redo |
Ctrl
+
Shift
+
Z
|
| Cut (object) |
Ctrl
+
X
|
| Copy (object) |
Ctrl
+
C
|
| Paste (object) |
Ctrl
+
V
|
| Delete object |
Del
|
| Open/Load |
Ctrl
+
Shift
+
O
|
| Close |
Alt
+
F4
|
| Save |
Ctrl
+
S
|
| Export |
Ctrl
+
Shift
+
S
|
| Copy image to clipboard |
Ctrl
+
Shift
+
C
|
| Zoom in |
Ctrl
+
Plus
Ctrl
+
Mouse wheel
|
| Zoom out |
Ctrl
+
Minus
Ctrl
+
Mouse wheel
|
| Clear selection/Cancel |
Esc
|
| Rename project |
F2
|
Hold down Shift while dragging edge markers, to modify the width and
height of objects proportionally. For example, this allows you to scale
down a clipart while maintaining its aspect ratio.