Overview

HyperSnap is a fast, powerful, and feature-rich screen capture application that not only facilitates the process of taking pictures of windows and areas of your operating system, but also gives you an extensive library of editing tools and resources within a centralized interface.

Installation

With a file size of about 11 MB, the software is quite large for a free screenshot utility, as most competitors are much more compact. Compatible with most versions of Windows, including 2000, XP, 2003, Vista, Server 2008, and 7.

Interface

The user interface is so much more robust than a typical screenshot utility, with a host of image and text editing features laid out in a fashion that appears to be similar to a combination between Microsoft Office and MS Paint. The imported screenshot takes up most of the main window, with editing options displayed in a neatly organized toolbar equipped with a variety of coloring, shaping, and drawing tools. Fortunately, if you're not comfortable with the default layout you can customize the location and appearance of interface components to your liking.

Pros

• Can take screenshots of any shape from any area of the screen, specific windows, multiple windows, and even from multiple monitors simultaneously

• Supports unlimited undo/redo edits, so you can go forward and back as much as you'd like until you're satisfied with the output preview

• Automatic color substitution enriches color hue and vibrancy for more stunning screenshots

• Button capture feature makes it easy to take small screenshots of individual buttons within a window

• Seamlessly integrates with the Windows clipboard to simplify copying and pasting images

• Can also serve as a powerful image viewer/editor, as well as an image format converter (supporting the viewing and conversion of 20+ image formats)

• TextSnap feature instantly captures all editable text fields from specified areas of the screen, and this text can then be pasted into a document for further editing

• You can create screenshots in any shape you'd like

• Personalize the user interface by rearranging menus/toolbars, assigning keyboard shortcuts to specific tasks, convert menus into toolbars for easy accessibility of certain features, and even assign VoiceCommands to HyperSnap functions

• Can integrate with FTP servers to instantly upload images to a Web server

• Is capable of taking elusive screenshots that other applications have a hard time capturing (i.e. – certain screens in Glide/DirectX games)

Cons

• The TextSnap feature cannot read ornate fonts

Alternatives

Suitable alternatives to HyperSnap include Greenshot, Jing (Win, Mac), Shutter, FastStone Capture, SnagIt, Screenshot Captor, ZScreen, LittleSnapper, FireShot, and Shotty. Of these alternatives, GreenShot is by far the most popular, and many believe that it offers a greater level of convenience than HyperSnap, yet without the advanced editing capabilities. Shutter is perhaps the best alternative for the Linux operating system.

Conclusion

With a myriad of editing capabilities, convenient functionality that can be automated and/or executed with keyboard shortcuts, and powerful screen capturing capabilities, HyperSnap is destined to become an industry-leading screenshot application.