Snagit has it
Rating: 10 out of 10
May 02, 2016
DJ
Vetted Review
Verified User
7 years of experience
Our IT and business development departments use SnagIt, mostly for screen captures. For IT, we use it mostly for snagging screenshots for helpful user documentation during training. We also find it extremely useful for documenting screen captures of error messages during software deployments for our help desk to address. The built in capture profiles that allow us to easily capture a scrolling window make that so much easier than it would be otherwise, leaving us with one image of the entire error message instead of multiple images we attempt to paste together ourselves. We've used the video mode several times to document a simple how to process for user training and to document a sequence of events that produced errors for software vendor support departments. Our business development department just implemented a new company website this year and they used the web page captures to easily communicate our issues and overall performance to our developers.
- My favorite feature is the image capture called Scrolling Window. There are lots of applications that open an error message screen that only displays a few lines, then gives you a scroll bar and a window that you can't resize. Using this Scrolling Window capture allows me to not only get a screen shot of the entire message for myself to read more easily, but to quickly send on to support as one image to upload to a support website instead of three or four. It's super simple and it always works.
- For documentation, the best feature is the Styles section. It allows you to enhance your screen capture and instantly make it look more professional. There are brilliant features like edges (torn, wave and fade...) or effects (page curl, perspective...) that can make it look like your screenshot is three dimensional and actually ripped off the page so that it stands out to your audience. There's nothing worse than a user training document where you can't tell where the screen ends and the instructional page begins because the images just end at a white section. With these features, which you can add to any or all sides of the image, you can make it clear which part of the image is "ripped" away from the rest of the screen.
- Sometimes you're not interested in the entire image, but you captured a larger image simply for the audience to use as a reference point, like where a button might be located on a toolbar. The focal point however might be a little small, but SnagIt has an answer for that! Just use the Spotlight & Magnify option and it's like having a magnifying lens that focuses in on that one section for your audience.
- Stamps are also a great feature. There are more you can download on their website than get installed with the software directly. While there are really cute things for the seasons (Fall, Winter Holiday...), my favorites are actually the cursor and numbers. I use the combo on my screen captures to number the click here step 1, 2, 3.... in our user training handouts. Our users find them so easy to follow, they love it!
Cons
- This is both a strength and a weakness. I love the library. It not only keeps all my captures easy for me to find in one place, but it automatically groups them by year, month and date - way before the iPhone started doing it. Being able to go back and find my captures from the last version of a software installation to compare to the upgrade has made it easier to show my users what's new or looks different. What I don't like, is that the library isn't easy to locate or just pick up and move to another computer. Sometimes I would like to be able to do the captures, then quickly and easily move that folder over so someone else can make the documentation to go with it, leaving the snags as they are in their editable SnagIt form. It's not easy to locate the documents for us to do so via Windows Explorer.
- If I take a screen capture, then save it as a JPG, my capture is now a JPG. I wish it kept the snag in the SnagIt format AND created a copy as a JPG. Some features are only available to use on the actual SnagIt format - because other formats flatten the image so now you can't edit those SnagIt features on that image anymore.
- Some of the image modify options like color effects (invert colors, halftone, monochrome...) aren't very good compared to other applications like Adobe software, but that's not what we use this software for anyway.
- This is so much quicker than the built in Windows Snip feature. Just for that one feature alone, we've saved hours in our IT Department on just one large training guide.
- The ability to go beyond a simple screenshot and make the snags jump off the page with the built in effects have saved not only hours per training document we develop, but saved tremendously on the cost of purchasing every person in the department a full blown out graphics program like Adobe Illustrator. SnagIt has everything we need at a fraction of the cost.
The built in Windows snip it feature is basic, cumbersome to use, requires you save each image separately (not automatically like SnagIt) and it has no extra features, so it leaves you with a flat basic picture. Larger programs like Illustrator or Photoshop are great, but they are very expensive compared to SnagIt and have features meant for a graphic designer, which most departments don't need.
5
Business Development, Marketing and our IT Department use SnagIt for screen captures for everything from documentation, training materials for end users, documenting installation processes and errors messages for our Help Desk, working with vendors on designing custom software solutions and our company website, adding captures to social media or using images for our own intranet.
1
Even our not so computer friendly marketing person uses SnagIt with little to no effort or support. Our IT Help Desk person supports SnagIt, but we have no documented support tickets for this software since its original install seven years ago and we've upgraded it every year without any training for the users - they didn't need it. It's that easy to use.
- Documentation
- Error Reporting
- Vendor process reporting
- How to videos for our intranet.
- Technical Support error messages to vendors.
- Designing our company website captures the entire page as one image for a print out since we can't actually view it on the screen all at once.
- Technology Tip emails for users sent weekly
- How To Training Guides
- Break Room Posters
Yes
We were using the Windows 7 Snip It tool, but having to manually save every capture, then import it into something else like PowerPoint or Illustrator in order to doctor up the graphic and make it ready for professional level training materials was ridiculous. For very little money, it's all in one place with some amazing effects to make the graphics stand out and vibrant on the page or email. Our users loved the new look of the documentation and we've never looked back.
- Price
- Product Features
The auto-save of the screen captures was the most important feature to most of us. Our trainer's most important feature was the built in Stamps, especially the numbers and cursor sets, so that she could "stamp" the screen captures for 1, 2, 3... how-to's. This drastically increased the picture readability for the users and our training materials can now be mostly picture steps and it's easier and faster for the user!
I wouldn't. We couldn't be happier.
- Implemented in-house
No
Change management was minimal
- We purchased the individual licensed software (not an enterprise level), so each machine had to be manually installed. But we only have a few licenses so it wasn't a big deal.
- Automatically saves for you in your library
- Quick keystroke with automatically start your screen capture
- Built in styles so just click it to make your capture look professional and don't have to spend time making a fuss yourself
- Backing up your captures
- Video editing - best left to another type of application
No