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It is difficult for me to imagine that there have been significant enhancements to SnagIt. I thought it had pretty much reached its zenith, but SnagIt 9 manages to improve an already superb product that captures screen shots of all kinds in a flash.

You may wonder why I am writing about desktop software in a handheld forum, but let me tell you that I don’t know how I would survive without SnagIt. It has so many applications that I use that enhance my handheld computing and writing.

Not only does SnagIt perform the expectable duties of copying anything on any screen and saving it in different formats or pasting it into another application, it also allows you to edit it with an array of publishing tools.

Of course it will capture static screen shots. It will record screen automations as well. It will even snag scrolling Webpages. You can also capture, edit, and email an image from within the application without having to go through the whole process of saving and inserting a file. It will output an image to many other applications such as Word, Excel, PowerPoint or save it as a file or send it to a fax, ftp, or printer.

New Features

• Tray shows recent captures as thumbnails for easy retrieval
• Work with multiple captures by dragging and dropping for combining
• Auto stores every capture along with where and when snagged
• Allows tagging and flagging captures for organization by keyword or category
• New menus and quick styles for easier access to existing powerful editing features
• You can customize the quick access toolbar with icons for operations you use most
• You can set up custom capture profiles

Suggestions

While you can capture video as in GIF animations and record your own screen shot sequences in movie form, it will not capture movies online or show animated transitions between pages. I hope this can be remedied in future iterations.

You cannot drag and drop another image on the SnagIt screen just anywhere you want; you must either drop it on top of an existing image on the work screen or expand the background. While you can fill the expanded background, you cannot fill the background of an existing image.

Another vexation is that I can’t seem to use SnagIt to capture screen shots of SnagIt. I think there’s a way to do it, but I haven’t figured it out yet. When you invoke the copy function, the SnagIt screen conveniently disappears to get out of the way so that you cannot copy it. I thought I could do it with the native Print Screen function, but that is cleverly linked to SnagIt upon installation. Guess I’ll have to use a competitor’s product for that purpose. Accordingly, there will not be any illustrative screen shots in this article.

Try, Buy, Ply

After 17 years at $39.95, the price has increased $10 to $49.95. However, if you are already a user, you can upgrade from Version 8 for only $19.95 until August 12. After that, upgrades will cost $5 more.

Check it out and download it at www.techsmith.com.

Frankly, I don’t know what I’d do without the power of SnagIt in my toolchest. I’m looking forward to a productive and enjoyable relationship with the new SnagIt 9.

Tim Hillebrand (105 Posts) - Website | Twitter | Facebook