Software Review – SnagIt 9 from TechSmith

SnagIt 9 is the latest release of TechSmith's screen capture program. With this version there have been quite a number of changes since the previous iteration, and this time it is really as much of a makeover as it is an upgrade. In fact, they have rebuilt SnagIt from the ground up.

SnagIt 9 runs on Microsoft Windows 2000 or later, requires Internet Explorer 6.0 or later, 1 GHz Processor (2.4 GHz is recommended), 512 MB RAM (1 GB Recommended), and 60 MB of Hard Drive space.

TechSmith originally started out in 1987 as a custom software company who developed for the Windows platform. Responding to a demand for screen capture utilities, they created SnagIt in 1991. Over time, SnagIt offered some video capture capabilities and these, in turn, became Camtasia in 1999. The current version of SnagIt (9.0) was released in June 2008.

SnagIt enables Windows computer users to capture anything they see on the screen. You can then edit and combine those screenshots and share them by using your favorite applications including Microsoft Office and via e-mail.

With SnagIt, if you can see it, you can capture it. Depending on the mode that you use it in, you can capture a small section of a screen, a whole window, multiple windows, or a whole scrolling webpage. There are 11 preset buttons that let you target what you want to capture, whether it's just a region, some text, or the whole enchilada. You can even create your own custom presets.

SnagIt lets you edit your captures by adding things like text and arrows, highlighting sections of your image. You can output to a printer, clipboard, file, e-mail, PDF, and Flash as well.

So what is new with SnagIt 9?

• New more fluid workflow – replaced the old linear workflow and now gives much more freedom to use SnagIt the way you want to. If you want to capture screen after screen, you can without having to save each shot before you go on to the next. If you want to capture and edit, you can. This is one of my favorite updated features to this version.

• Combining multiple images – now much easier using the open captures tray. You can drag and drop screen captures on to the canvas and make your edits, enhancements, and off you go.

Article Author: T. Michael Testi

T. Michael Testi is a writer and a photographer out of Edmond Oklahoma. You can see his photographic and art work at T Michael Imaging as well as on Facebook.

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