Help for Xfce4 Screenshooter

Introduction

This application allows you to capture the entire screen, the active window or a selected region. You can set the delay that elapses before the screenshot is taken and the action that will be done with the screenshot: save it to a PNG file, copy it to the clipboard, or open it using another application.

A plugin for the Xfce panel is also available.

Using the application

Via the user interface

To launch the application, use the "Take a screenshot" item in the "Accessories" category of Xfce's main menu.

This window will be displayed:

The window of the application

Region to capture

The "Region to capture" section allows you to set from what the screenshot will be taken:

Delay before taking the screenshot

The "Delay before taking the screenshot" section allows you to set the delay that will elapse between pressing the Take the screenshot button and taking the screenshot. This delay will allow you to open menus or to do whatever action you want to see displayed on the screenshot.

Action

The "Action" section allows you to choose what should be done with the screenshot. Three choices are available.

Save

The "Save" option will save the screenshot to a PNG file. If you check the "Save by default to" checkbox, the screenshot will be saved to the folder on the right after you press the "Take the screenshot" button, without showing any save dialog. Otherwise, a save dialog will be displayed, which also shows a preview of the screenshot. You will then be able to set the save location, and the name of the file.

Copy to the clipboard

The "Copy to the clipboard" option allows you to paste the screenshot in another application, such as a word processor. You must keep the application running until the paste is done, since the clipboard is often lost once the application has been exited.

Open with

The "Open with" option saves the screenshot to the system's temporary directory and opens it with the application set using the dropdown list below. Applications which support images are automatically detected and added to the dropdown list.

Via command line

Command line options allow you to take screenshots quickly. They also allow you to configure the Prt Scrn key on the upper right of most keyboards so that it takes screenshots. To do so, configure the keybindings of your desktop environnement so that it launches xfce4-screenshooter with one or several of the following options when the Prt Scrn key is pressed.

The command line options

The -w option

The -w option allows you to take a screenshot of the active window.

The -f option

The -f option allows you to take a screenshot of the entire screen.

The -d option

The -d option followed by a positive integer allows you to set the delay before taking the screenshot when the -f or -w option is given.

The -s option

The -s option followed by the path to an existing folder allows you to set where the screenshots are saved. It only has an effect if the -f or the -w option is given. Combined with the -h option (see below), it can be used to save a file to a given path, without showing any save dialog.

The -h option

If you give the -h option, the screenshot will be saved without showing any save dialog. The -s option allows you to set the save location if needed.

Using the plugin for the Xfce panel

Adding the plugin

To add the plugin to the panel, right click on the panel and select "Add New Item". Select the plugin named "Screenshot", and add it.

Setting the plugin up

You can configure how screenshots are taken by right clicking on the extension and selecting "Configure". A preferences dialog similar to the dialog of the main application will appear. Please have a look above for the different preferences.

Using the plugin

To take a screenshot, just click on the plugin.