Mastering Screen Capturing on Linux

Unlike the simplicity of capturing screens on Windows-based systems, taking screenshots on Linux poses more challenges. Below, we'll present you with 4 methods for capturing screens on Linux, including using Gnome Screenshot, GIMP, ImageMagick, and Shutter.

Method 1: Utilizing Gnome Screenshot for screen capturing on Linux

Troubleshooting the Print Screen Key in Linux

Step 1: Press the Print Screen key to capture the entire screen. The screen image will display everything present on your device's screen. You'll then be prompted to choose the storage location for the screen image file.

- The Print key is located at the top right corner of the keyboard, usually between the F12 and ScrLk keys. Some keyboards label it as Print Screen, PrtScn, PrntScrn, ... all are the same.

Step 2: Press Alt + Print Screen to capture a screenshot of a window. Use this shortcut to capture a screenshot of the active window. The image file will be saved in the Pictures folder.

Step 3: Press Shift + Print Screen to capture a screenshot of the selected content. You can click and drag to select what to capture in the image. The screen image file will be saved in the Pictures folder.

Step 4: Open the Screenshot utility. The Gnome Screenshot utility allows you to perform additional screenshot functions, such as delaying the capture time. The Screenshot utility is located in the Accessories folder in the Applications menu.

Step 5: Select the screen capture mode. You can choose any of the modes introduced above: capture a window, the entire screen, or customize.

Step 6: Delay the capture time. If your screen capture depends on timing, you can use the Screenshot utility to delay the capture time before taking the screenshot. This allows you to capture the specific content you're looking for on the screen.

Step 7: Choose effects. You can add additional effects such as mouse pointer highlighting and borders to the screenshot if desired.

Method 2: Using GIMP to capture screens on Linux

Step 1: Install GIMP. GIMP is a free image editor available on several Linux distributions. If not already installed, you can download GIMP to your machine and install it here: Download GIMP for Linux

Step 2: Click on File menu =>Create =>Screenshot. The screen capture tool will open on the screen. This tool is very similar to the Gnome Screenshot utility.

Step 3: Select the screen capture mode you desire. There are 3 different screen capture modes: single window, entire screen, or custom. If choosing to capture a single window, click on the window you want to capture.

Step 4: Delay the capture time. You can delay the capture time to arrange everything precisely as you wish. If choosing to capture a single window or custom screen capture, you'll select the capture content after the countdown timer expires.

Step 5: Click on Snap to capture the screen. Depending on your settings, the screen image may be captured immediately. Once completed, your screen image will open in the GIMP editing window.

Step 6: Save the screen capture. If you don't want to make any edits to the screen image, you can save it to your hard drive. Click on File menu and select Export. Name your screen image and choose a storage location. Click on the Export button once more.

Method 3: Using ImageMagick for screen capturing on Linux

Step 1: Open Terminal. ImageMagick is a command-line utility used for screen capturing. Many Linux distributions have ImageMagick pre-installed, but if your distribution doesn't have it, you can download and install ImageMagick.

Download and install ImageMagick for Linux here

To quickly open Terminal in Ubuntu and other distributions, press the Ctrl + Alt + T key combination.

Step 2: Install ImageMagick. Type sudo apt-get install imagemagick in the Terminal window and press Enter. You'll be prompted to enter your admin password. If ImageMagick is not installed, it will start downloading and installing. If the utility is already installed, you'll be notified.

Step 3: To capture the entire screen. Type import -window root Pictures/fileName.png and press Enter. Note to replace fileName with the name you want to give to the screenshot image.

Step 4: To capture a specific window. Type import Pictures/fileName.png and press Enter. Note to replace fileName with the name you want to give to the screenshot image. The cursor will change to a crosshair, and you can click on the window you want to capture.

Step 5: Delay the capture time. Type import -window root -pause # Pictures/fileName.png and press Enter. Note to replace # with the number of seconds you want to wait before taking the screenshot. After the specified delay, the screen image will be captured, and you'll be returned to the Terminal window.

Method 4: Using Shutter for screen capturing on Linux

Step 1: Install Shutter. Shutter is a popular screen capturing program, including some advanced image loading and editing features. If your work involves frequent screen capturing and sharing, Shutter is a program you should try.

- You can search for Shutter through most distribution package managers. Simply search for Shutter and install the program.

- To install Shutter from the Terminal, type sudo add-apt-repository ppa:shutter/ppa and press Enter. Update your repository by typing sudo apt-get update, then install Shutter by typing sudo apt-get install shutter.

Step 2: Choose the screen capture mode you wish to perform. At the top of the Shutter window, you'll see 3 options: Selection, Desktop, and Window. Click one of these buttons to select the screen capture mode you desire.

Step 3: Capture your screen. If you choose the Desktop mode, your screen will be captured automatically. If you choose Selection, the screen will be blurred, and you can click and drag to create a selection box for the content you want to capture. Everything inside the box will be captured. If you choose Window, click on the window you want to capture.

The screen capture image will be saved in the Pictures folder.

Step 4: Edit the screen capture image. After capturing a screen image on Linux, open the preview image in the Shutter window. Click on the Edit button to open the Shutter editor window. You can use the editing tool to highlight content on the screen image or add annotations. Click Save when finished.

Step 5: Export the screen capture image. You can upload the screen capture image to an image hosting service or add an FTP server to upload the image. Click on the Export button to open the Export menu.

- In the Public hosting tab, you can choose to upload the screen capture image to your Dropbox account or a variety of other online image hosting websites. You will be prompted to log in to your account.

- In the FTP tab, you can enter connection information for an FTP server, useful for uploading screen capture images to blogs or websites.

- In the Places tab, you can move the screen capture image to different locations on your computer or network.

So, Mytour has just provided you with 4 methods for taking screenshots on Linux. Hopefully, after reading this article, you'll learn some additional ways to capture screenshots on Linux. Wishing you all success.