Shutter 0.88.1

Overview

Shutter 88.1 is a powerful screen capture utility for the Gnome Desktop within the Linux operating system. The program lets you quickly take a picture of your entire screen, a specific window, or a designated area of the screen.

Installation

The installation process for Shutter is similar to every other application in Linux, as the installation can quickly be performed within the proprietary Ubuntu package manager. The Shutter website provides easy access to all past versions of Shutter installation packages for Ubuntu. If you've never used a Personal Package Archives (PPA) to install a program in Ubuntu before, you may want to review the installation help documentation provided in the “FAQ & Help” section of the Shutter website.

Interface

The Shutter user interface is so well-integrated into the functionality of the Gnome desktop that you rarely ever have to access the main window to perform a function. All features have quick commands/hotkeys assigned to them, so you can quickly snapshots and adjust settings. Perhaps the most impressive aspect of the interface is the built-in image editor, which gives you complete control over the finished product by letting you add effects and change every basic aspect of the screenshot. Thanks to its open source code, you can also expand the capabilities of the Shutter interface suing third-party plugins.

Pros

• Quickly print, copy, capture, save, delete, and rename screenshots on the fly

• Supports adjustable time delays for screenshots

• Fully integrated with the Gnome Desktop

• Built in drawing tool lets you quickly edit screenshots after capturing; blur out sensitive information, crop image size, add text, shading, outlines, shapes etc

• Provides a plethora of advanced features not found in other Gnome screen capture utilities.

• Functionality can be extended using plugins, which gives you extra features, like the ability to automatically add effects to screenshots

• Provides two ways of adjusting the screenshot area, as well as a quick and easy whole screen capture option.

• Select a window to capture using your mouse, or by browsing through a list and selecting the desired window

• Unlike other screenshot utilities, Shutter makes it easy to capture context menus and tooltip areas of a program. Instead of closing the context menu when you try to take the screenshot, the program gives you a predesignated amount of time (customizable) to open the window before the picture is taken.

• Capture websites without ever opening a web browser using integrated Gnome-Web-Photo technology.

• Automatically copies most recent screenshot to clipboard so you can instantly paste it into an image editor or webpage editor.

• Built-in upload feature lets you quickly upload screenshots to websites on the fly

Cons

• Installation process is a bit more manual than the conventional wizard-style setup that most Windows users are used to, but long-time Linux users will find it a breeze.

Alternatives

There are a number of suitable alternatives to Shutter if you're using Windows or Mac but as far as Linux is concerned, Shutter is the way to go. Clip2net is worth mentioning as a Linux screen capturing app, while for Windows you could choose from Zscreen, CollabShot, and Greenshot. See our screen capture reviews section for more.

Conclusion

If you're looking for the best way to take screenshots on the Gnome desktop, Shutter would definitely be the ideal selection.