If you are looking for a powerful tool to capture screenshots for your online course then GreenShot is one of the best available. I will show you how to take advantage of its helpful functions.

To use GreenShot you have to perform the following steps:

Understand The Basics

Setup The Application
1. Download Installer
2. Install The Software

Configure The Application
Capture Your Screen
Edit The Image

Export It
Setup Multiple Captures
Using Captures For Documents

Speeding Up Your Work

Now that you know which are the exact steps of using GreenShot let’s take an in-depth look at each one of it.

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Step 1 – Understand The Basics

GreenShot is one of the most popular screen capture tools. When it was first launched, it was only compatible with Windows OS (Operating System). After some time (in 2017, to be more specific), a MAC GreenShot version was released. It featured the exact same functions as the initial one.

Being an open-source tool means that anyone can download, install, and use it without paying any subscription fee. If you are planning on using it on MAC devices then you will have to pay a one-time fee. At the moment, to download the MAC version of GreenShot users must pay $1.99. It is not much but it allows the software developers to cover their expenses.

The application is capable of capturing high-quality images of your screen. It also comes with a built-in image editor that allows you to make necessary adjustments. We will discuss later the actual functions of the image editor.

Step 2 – Setup The Application

This is the first actual step you need to perform in order to use GreenShot. I have divided it into two smaller steps so that it will be easier for you to understand the exact activities.

Step 2.1 – Download Installer

The installation kit can be easily downloaded from the GreenShot official website. To do so, you have to follow a set of 4 simple steps:

Go To GreenShot.org
Click On The Downloads Button
Choose Your OS

Press The Appropriate Download Button

Go To GreenShot.org

This one is clear enough and does not need any further instructions.

Click On The Downloads Button

The Downloads button is placed in the menu at the top of the page.

Choose Your OS

You will have to choose between Windows and MAC.

Press The Appropriate Download Button

After determining the operating system you are running you will have to click on the appropriate button. The Windows button will start the downloading of the installer. The MAC button will take you to the GreenShot application in the Apple Store.

Step 2.2 – Install The Software

Depending on the operating system you have chosen, the installation process will require you to perform different steps. I will show you what steps are necessary to install the application on both platforms.

Windows

To install GreenShot on Windows you have to:

Save the Installer by clicking Keep as per the image below on the bar at the bottom of your browser

2. Run the executable by clicking on its name when it has finished downloading

3. Choose the desired language

4. Carefully read the license agreement and accept it.

5. Read the ChangeLog and click Next.

6. Define the additional tools you want to install.

7. Choose whether GreenShot should start every time you turn on your computer.

8. Review the installation details and press Next.

9. Wait a couple of minutes for the software to install, and then click Finish.

MAC OS

If you are planning on using the MAC version of GreenShot then you will have to perform the following steps:

Go to GreenShot (Apple Store)

Click on the Install button
Fill in the payment information
Confirm the installation

Wait a couple of minutes for the installation to complete.

Step 3 – Configure The Application

Before proceeding to actually capture screenshots you need to properly configure GreenShot. To access the Settings dialog you have to:

Run GreenShot

Right-click the GreenShot icon in the tray

3. Press the Preferences button

Let’s see which are the settings you can configure using the Preferences dialog.

General Settings

Setting	Description	By Default	Observation
Language	The language of the interface	English	DeutschEnglishNetherlands
Icon Size	The size of the tray icon	16	The dimension is in pixels
Hotkeys	Hotkeys for the most commonly used actions	Ctrl + Prnt ScrnAlt + Prnt ScrnPrnt ScrnShift + Prnt ScrnCtrl + Shift + Prnt Scrn	Full ScreenWindowRegionLast RegionInternet Explorer
Proxy	Whether to use a proxy or not when uploading files	Enabled	Hide your real IP (internet protocol) from the hosting service
Update Check	The interval between update checks	14	days

Capture Settings

Setting	Description	By Default	Observations
Capture Mouse Pointer	Make mouse pointer visible in screenshots	Enabled	none
Play Camera Sound	Play a shutter sound when you capture a screenshot	Disabled	none
Show Notifications	Show notification when an action is performed	Enabled	Notifications will be shown for plenty of activities (e.g. capture, save, upload, edit)
Show Magnifier	Show a magnifier to determine the margins of your screenshots	Enabled	It proves to be very helpful, especially when you need accurate screenshots of a certain window
Ms before capture	The interval between key pressing and the actual capture	100	Take into account that the window may change its content within the specified interval
Window Capture	Desired window capture technique	Window Capture Mode – Automatically	none
Internet Explorer Capture	Allow GreenShot to capture Internet Explorer	Enabled	none
Match Capture Size	Make the image editor to match the screenshot size	Enabled	It is easier to work with the image editor when it features the same size as the screenshot.

Output Settings

Setting	Description	By Default	Observations
Storage Location	The location where all the screenshots are saved.	C:\Users\user\Desktop	You can set your preferred one.
Filename Pattern	Use a specific pattern to rename all the files	${capturetime:d”yyyy-MM-dd HH_mm_ss”}-${title}	Best leave by default.
Image Format	What graphic format to use when saving captures	PNG	BMPGIFJPGPNGTIFFGREENSHOTICO
Copy file path to clipboard	Automatically copy the file path to your digital clipboard	Enabled	none
JPEG Quality	Set a specific image quality	80%	Can not be modified from this dialog box
Show quality dialog	Show the quality dialog every time you capture a screenshot	Disabled	none
Reduce the number of colors	Reduce the number of colors to a maximum of 256 to enhance the processing speed	Disabled	Higher processing speed results in lower image quality.

Destination Settings

You can set the desired destination for all the screenshots you capture. It is best to leave Select Destination Dynamically enabled. This way, you will be prompted to select a destination every time you capture a screenshot.

Printer Settings

Setting	Description	By Default	Observations
Shrink printout	If larger, shrink the printout to fit paper size	Enabled	May affect image quality
Enlarge printout	If smaller, enlarge the printout to fit the paper size	Disabled	May affect image quality
Rotate printout	Rotate the printout in accordance with your paper	Disabled	Best to enable
Center	Center the printout on the paper	Enabled	Best to leave enabled
Print date/time	Print a timestamp t the bottom of the paper (date + time)	Enabled	Helps you determine when the screenshot was taken / printed
Color Settings	Choose what colors to use when printing	Full Color	If you want to set-it-and-forget-it, set it to Full Color
Show print dialog options	Show options every time you print a screenshot	Enabled	It is best to leave it enabled so that you will be prompted to make necessary adjustments every time you print a screenshot.

Plugins

Using this dialog you can configure the additional plugins. There are plenty of plugins that make Greenshot compatible with other software tools.

Expert

I suggest not getting into this tab because if you do not know what exactly you are doing you might mess up the entire configuration. Make sure you understand all the included functions before making any changes to the Expert tab.

Step 4 – Capture Your Screen

After you finish configuring the tool you can start capturing screenshots. To do so you can either press the Prnt Scrn key or right-click the Greenshot tool and select Capture. Depending on the portion of the screen you want to capture you can select one of the five available options:

Specific Region
Last Region

Full Screen
Window
Internet Explorer

Specific Region

You can select a specific region of your screen to be captured. To do so you have to press the Prnt Scrn key and make use of your mouse / touchpad to select the desired area. If you decide to capture a screenshot of a certain window you can use the Spacebar to switch between Region and Window mode.

To move the margins of the screenshot you can either take advantage of the arrows on your keyboard or of the Ctrl + Arrow. The latter will move the margins by 10 pixels, whereas the first option will move them by 1 pixel at a time. If you are not happy with the selection, you can click the Return button to reverse to the initially selected area.

Another great hotkey is the Magnifying Glass (press Z to activate). It allows you to make necessary adjustments and capture the perfect screenshot.

Last Region

This option allows you to capture again the last region you have selected. For example, if you take a screenshot of a certain window, by using the Last Region option you can capture another screenshot of the same window. The associated hotkey is Shift + Prnt Scrn.

Full Screen

If you want to capture your entire screen, all you have to do is to press the appropriate hotkey (Ctrl + Prnt Scrn) or select the Capture Full-Screen option.

Window

Just like the above-mentioned specific region, you can capture a screenshot of a certain window. To do so you will have to press Alt + Prnt Scrn. The selected window will be highlighted. You can switch between the available windows using your mouse buttons.

Internet Explorer

This option is relevant when you capture a screenshot of a specific website that is opened using the Internet Explorer browser. By pressing Ctrl + Shift + Prnt Scrn you can take a screenshot of the webpage that is currently opened.

Step 5 – Edit The Image

After capturing the desired screenshot it is time to edit the image so that your students will be able to easily understand it. The integrated graphic editor allows you to highlight certain portions of the screenshot, add text, and even draw custom shapes.

Let’s see which are the most commonly used functions of the Greenshot built-in image editor.

Shapes Drawing

Using the drawing toolbox you can easily draw shapes. You can use one of the pre-defined shapes that can be selected using a hotkey, such as:

Rectangle
Elipse

Line
Arrow

If you want to draw a custom shape for your screenshot, you can take advantage of the freehand line drawing using the F key. There are plenty of additional tools that you can make use of when drawing shapes. Below I have listed the most important of them.

Function	Hotkey
Rectangle	R
Elipse	E
Line	L
Arrow	A
Move Element	Arrows + Shift
Select Multiple Elements	Shift
Resize Element	Shift + Left-Click
Anchor an Object	Ctrl
Freehand Drawing	F
Exit Editor	Esc

Add Text

You can use the Text Tool (press T) to add labels to your screenshot. This has multiple uses when teaching online. For example, you can point out different aspects of a specific portion of code. You can easily change the font, the color, and many other aspects regarding your text (e.g. bold, italic, underlined, etc.).

To add a new line press Shift + Enter or Shift + Return.
To select the entire text press Ctrl + A

To delete the previous word press Ctrl + BackSpace
To mark the text as Ready press Enter

Highlight

Take advantage of the Highlight Tool to draw your students’ attention to a certain portion of your screenshot. To enable this tool you have to press H and then select one of the available working modes. There are four different highlighting methods:

Highlight Text – apply a bright color to the selected text
Highlight Area – increase the brightness of the selected area and blur the rest of the screenshot
Grayscale – only the selected area remains normal while the rest turns into grayscale (black and white)

Magnify – add a magnification effect to the selected area

Hide Certain Portions

If your screenshot includes sensitive information (such as phone numbers, bank accounts, etc.) you can make use of the blurring functions available in the Greenshot toolkit. You can choose between two obfuscating methods:

Pixel – increases the pixel size in the selected area

Blur – decreases the clarity of the selected area

To enable this tool you have to press O.

Adjust The Size (Crop)

Using the integrated image editor you can easily crop your screenshots. Press C to enable the cropping tool. You will be able to decrease both the width and height of your image while maintaining the resolution and DPI (dots-per-inch).

If you press Shift and + button at the same time you will enlarge the screenshot by 25 pixels in all four directions.

Add Pictures

You can add another image (Picture-In-Picture) by dragging the new image into the Greenshot editor. This will overlap the two graphics and then you can adjust the cropping, placing, and other key aspects.

Step 6 – Export It

After you finish editing your screenshot it is time to export it. To do so, click the File button and select one of the available exporting options.

The first two options will save your screenshot on your device’s storage. Save as displays a new window that allows you to select the desired place where to store the screenshot. Save directly will use the predetermined storage space to save the image. You can export the screenshot in one of the following file types:

GIF
JPG
TIFF

GREENSHOT
ICO

Copy to clipboard allows you to Copy and Paste your screenshot into plenty of applications. For example, you can open Google Docs and press Ctrl + V to paste the screenshot directly. This skips the saving process and allows you to upload the file faster into the text document.

As you would expect, pressing Ctrl + P will send your screenshot to the printer. A new dialog box will pop-up and you can adjust certain settings for the printed version (e.g. landscape/portrait, color/grayscale, etc.)

The next four options allow you to export the processed screenshot into one of the supported Microsoft tools. These tools include:

MS Outlook (Email)

MS Powerpoint (Graphic Presentations)
MS Word (Text Editor)
MS Excel (Spreadsheet Editor)

MS Paint (Simple Graphic Editor)

Last but not least, you can upload your screenshot directly to Imgur. This way you will be able to share it with your students using the unique link that is generated. Make sure to connect your Imgur account to the Greenshot tool so that it will be uploaded under your name.

Greenshot Alternatives

There are plenty of screenshot capturing tools available on the market. The most popular are:

Lightshot
SnagIt
Windows Snipping Tool

How To Set Up Multiple Captures

If you have a set of captures that you want to use together then you have a few options to choose from. The most commonly used possibilities are:

Making a Collage
Creating a Slideshow

Making a Collage

If you are planning on creating a collage using the previously-captured screenshots then you can take advantage of heaps of collage-making tools. Most of them are available for free, while several do not require you to install any third-party application (online-based collage-making tools).

The most commonly used collage-making applications are:

Online
Offline
- Adobe Photoshop
- CollageIT
- PixTeller
- PiCollage

Creating a Slideshow

If you want to turn the screenshots into a video that guides your students then you might want to consider creating a slideshow. You can take advantage of plenty of slideshow-creating applications. If you are using a Windows-based device then you can even use the pre-installed Windows Movie Maker video editing tool. Simply add the photos into the timeline and export it as a video.

Using Captures For Documents

If you take a series of screenshots of a certain process then you can put them in a document and add text in between them. This way you will be able to guide your students throughout certain processes. For example, you can take advantage of screenshots to provide your students with technical support.

To do so prepare a text document that contains instructions and demonstrations on how to use the software tools required during classes. If you are using Google Meet to conduct live meetings during your online course then you can provide your students with a manual including simple instructions on how to make use of the available functions. The topics can include:

How to make sure your audio-video equipment is ready for classes
How to log in Google Meet
What to do when the connection fails

How to adjust the quality of your video

You can use your screenshot for various purposes. For example, you can create tutorials, training manuals, or even user manuals. It is up to your creativity.

Speeding Up Your Work

It is up to you how you are going to take advantage of screenshots. When it comes to inserting your screenshots into documents, there are two viable options:

Copy From Clipboard
Save and Insert Manually

The first option is way faster than the latter. This happens because it only requires you to press two keys on your keyboard and your screenshot is inserted into your document. To do so you have to select the Copy to clipboard (Ctrl + C) function after capturing your screenshot.

After this, go to your document, click the exact spot where you want to insert the image, and press Ctrl + V (Shortcut for Paste). The image will be instantly pasted into your text document without having to previously save it on your storage and then upload it.

The other option requires a little bit more time. It is viable for those who want to separately keep all the captured screenshots for other purposes. Maybe you will use it in a slideshow, an animation, or as a reference for further classes. Regardless of your reason, you will have to click on the Save As button and select the destination path for your screenshot.

Then open your text editor and select the appropriate button for inserting a picture. Navigate throughout your storage and select the previously-captured screenshot. Click on the Open (or similar) button and you got your screenshot inserted in the text document.

Take Advantage Of The Available Hotkeys

Using keyboard shortcuts saves a lot of time, regardless of the activity you perform. Especially when capturing multiple screenshots it is a great idea to make use of the available hotkeys. If you can not remember the exact order of shortcuts you might want to customize them. To do so, perform the following steps:

Open Greenshot
Right-click on the icon in the system tray

Click on the Settings button
Navigate to the General tab
Set your desired hotkeys

My personal recommendations in terms of screenshots are:

Capture Full Screen – F2
Capture Window – F4
Capture Region – F3
Capture Last Region – F5
Capture Internet Explorer – F6 (not commonly used)

Make sure those hotkeys do not interfere with any of the predetermined hotkeys of the software tools you are using during your course. If there are any interferences then the Greenshot application will not allow you to set a certain shortcut and inform you that it is already used.

For example, I can not use the F1 key for Capture Full Screen due to the fact that most Windows applications have this key already assigned for the Help function.

Quick Screenshot Setup

When you have to take screenshots in a repetitive manner you will definitely observe that manually saving all the images is quite a time-consuming activity. To significantly reduce the time you spend dynamically setting the destination path for each screenshot I have prepared a Quick Screenshot Setup for your convenience.

Open Greenshot
Right-click the icon in the system tray
Press the Settings button
Navigate to the Destination tab
Uncheck Select Destination Dynamically
Navigate to the Output tab
Set the desired destination path (I suggest selecting a folder on Desktop so that it will be easier to find)
Press the Apply button
Close the Settings dialog box
Test your brand new Quick Screenshot

From now on, every time you use one of the previously-configured hotkeys to capture a screenshot it will be automatically saved to your desired destination path. This saves you plenty of time, especially when you take an increased number of screenshots for similar activities.

For example, when you create a tutorial about how to use the image editing functions available in the Photoshop toolkit you might want to use this Quick Screenshot Setup to rapidly take screenshots of the Main Menu and all the associated features.

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