The Virtual Entrepreneur

As I’ve mentioned more than once in this blog, I have an aversion to paper. Paper copies are expensive to produce, difficult to find and never available when I need them. In their place, I use digital documents which cost me virtually nothing and can be filed in my digital file cabinets so that they are both easy to find and always with me.

 

Documents that I create are easy to store in their original format but there are lots of instances where I need to create distribution copies or convert information from the web or incoming documents for use in presentations or simply for storage. That’s where my favorite utility program comes in…..Snagit, my paper terminator.

 

I’ve been using Snagit (produced by TechSmith) since version 5 was released and in my opinion, it’s gotten better and more useful with each release. Currently in version 9, it has garnered rave reviews from CNet, Top Ten and File Forum to name a few.

 

Document Conversion

 

I probably use Snagit more for document conversion than anything else. Snagit includes a virtual printer that allows me to “print” a digital image of any document and save it as an Acrobat file. Like Adobe’s original Acrobat program, Snagit installs a printer driver that you only have to select when printing a document to generate a PDF file (or any common graphic file format) which is suitable for email distribution or ftp downloads. However, unlike Acrobat, Snagit is a much lighter application which loads fast and takes much less memory.

 

I also use this feature when I’m doing research, to create copies of relevant articles which I can study off line.

 

When an on line article includes a printer friendly format, capturing information is simple. Unfortunately many sites don’t offer this option. If the information I want to convert to a saved file fits into my browser window I can print from the browser’s file menu, capture the complete window or capture only the area within the window that contains the information. If the article runs beyond the depth of my browser window, Snagit provides a simple solution by providing a mechanism to capture the complete content of a page using the scrolling window option. Just select this capture mode, point to the content, click and watch as Snagit gobbles up the entire content on the page and converts it into a file that can then be stored in any format you might need.

 

Sometimes the most valuable information in a document is the built in links to additional resources. Snagit allows me to capture and save these links and any “clickable” objects in an active state. I can then use the links within the saved document to access the referenced URLs.

 

Snagit even allows me to convert paper documents to digital format as well, by providing me with direct access to my scanner. I can control and scan any hard copy from within Snagit and then convert the result to any convenient file format that fits my needs without having to load and run another program.

 

Image Captures

 

If Snagit was a basic screen capture utility there wouldn’t be much to talk about but basic captures are only the beginning of what this little gem can do.

 

Whether you’re creating a presentation or a document, illustrations bring your material to life. However, getting just the right visual reference can be a difficult and time consuming process. Windows has a basic “print screen” facility that captures your computers screen to your clipboard. Snagit takes this basic capability and expands it to include tools that allow you to capture only the images that you want in just about any way you can imagine.

 

Snagit’s basic capture profiles include “Full screen”, “Window”, “Region” and “Scrolling window”. Additional pre-installed capture profiles include “Menu”, “Objects” and “Web Images”. There’s even a profile to record a video which I frequently use to record webinars for off line viewing. I also use this feature to convert PowerPoint presentations to a video file with an audio track.

 

Snagit also includes a range of options such as including or excluding a mouse pointer, capturing images within a shape (useful for highlighting an area of importance as a blow up of an image with a lot of detail) and adding special effects. If you need to do specialized captures on a regular basis, you can even create customized capture profiles that include just the options you want. Once created, these profiles are available to select in the Profiles panel of the Snagit window any time you need them.

 

Editing

 

Snagit actually includes 2 applications that work synergistically. The primary Snagit app provides you with all of the tools to grab images and documents. The results are then loaded into the Snagit Editor (the second application) which opens as a second window.

 

In the Editor, you can save captured documents and images in just about any file format you can think of. You can add hot spots, crop out elements, modify colors, add text or apply an impressively wide variety of special effects.

 

I own a number of graphics editors including Adobe’s creative suite. There’s no question that specialized editing tools are more powerful but they are also much more expensive and complicated. For most of my presentations and documents, the Snagit Editor gives me everything I need in a small, easy to use package.

 

Support

 

Techsmith does a good job here as well. Incremental upgrades to the version you purchase are free of charge (major version upgrades There is a full user guide that can be downloaded from their site as a PDF document, a user forum and even a series of video tutorials. You can also get in touch with TechSmith’s technical support staff directly by email.

 

Perhaps best of all, TechSmith offers a 30 day fully functional, free trial of Snagit that you can download from their site to try out all these great features.

 

All in all, at a suggested price of 50 bucks, Snagit is one of my all time favorite utilities and a great value. If you’re looking for a simple, inexpensive image handling utility, I strongly suggest that you download Snagit and give it a spin.

 

Disclaimer

 

I have no affiliation with TechSmith and I have not received any compensation for this review. I have posted it here ONLY because I think it’s such a great utility and I thought you might be interested in checking it out!