Free lightweight Windows screen capture tool
LightShot is a hassle-free, simple, and free screen capture program that lets you take screenshots on a PC. The tool has been developed by Skillbrains and has become a good alternative for the Print Screen (Prt Sc) button. With LightShot, you can quickly upload captured files on a range of social media websites and storage services.
With the LightShot download, you don’t need to open a third-party image editing tool to work on the screenshots. The hassle-free screen recorder comes with a built-in image editor, quick share function, and other useful features. It’s worth mentioning that you need an account on prntscr.com to share files over the internet. Still, compared to AMCap, Lightscreen, and Snagit, this tool is a much better choice.
How’s the interface?
LightShot has a simple and clean interface, which focuses on a single-screen layout. In the selection area, you’ll notice all the available functionalities and tools. In order to edit images, you can access shapes, text, markers, colors, arrows, and more.
The program has sharing and saving options, such as printing, social media sharing, Cloud upload, etc. Everything in this tool can be managed from the main window. Once you download the software, an executable file isn’t visible on the desktop, but instead, you will find the tool as a hidden app within the taskbar. Therefore, there’s no need to access the screenshot folder to capture images on the screen.
LightShot has been quite popular among users for easy upload, save, and capturing the screen functions. In fact, you can take multiple screenshots one after another without clicking the button over and over again. Most screen capture tools don’t have this preset functionality.
In addition to this, you can conveniently check the entire screenshot history after creating an account on the developer’s official website. This acts as a full-fledged gallery to keep track of your screenshots.
Overall, the program’s interface is perfect for beginners as well as techies. When it comes to usage, there’s nothing too difficult about LightShot download. It’s a reliable, efficient, and fast tool to take screenshots on Windows PCs.
How to use LightShot?
If you want to record a PC screen, using this tool will be a hassle-free process. Simply click the Prt Sc button to activate the software. As an instruction stating ‘Select Area’ pops up right next to the cursor, the screen will dim. You’ll have to click and drag the cursor on the selected screenshot area.
Next, the screen recorder will open the image in a built-in editor. In order to leave the selection area or the editor, you can click Ctrl + X, Esc Key, or the ‘Close’ button on the bottom-right corner of the screen selection.
What are the features?
LightShot has a basic image editor with some useful functions. It can be found on the right-hand side of the selected or highlighted area. You have access to three shapes to be added to the screenshot. These include a rectangle, a line, and an arrow. Using a marker or pen, you can choose to draw freeform figures on the image.
Once you ‘capture PC screen’, you can insert a text box to include uniform text. Unfortunately, the program doesn’t have any formatting options. With the ‘Color Picker’, you can view the color wheel and default settings. Last but not least, there’s an ‘Undo’ button to fix any errors or mistakes.
Along with the image editor, LightShot gives access to some other features too. These are located at the bottom of the selected or highlighted area. With these features, you can share the screen capture to social media, upload it to prntscr.com, print the image, search similar pictures on Google, save the image offline, create a duplicate image, and perform some other functions.
Since the upload feature creates a shareable link, it’s easy and quick to use. With its help, you can also instantly save images to the gallery. It’s important to note that LightShot doesn’t let you upload screenshots that are illegal or NSFW.
While using LightShot for features like ‘Record PC Screen’, you don’t need a third-party app to share screenshots. The tool supports a range of social media and storage websites to share images with friends, colleagues, and family. In addition, the screen recorder’s quick upload process comes in handy for low-bandwidth connections.
Apart from the ‘Capture PC Screen’ feature, the program comes with a ‘Similar Image Search’ functionality. It lets you find similar images to the screenshots on Google. This is a unique addition, which you won’t commonly find in other free screen capture tools.
The usability of the program isn’t limited to the software. The development team has introduced various browser extensions for Google Chrome, Opera, Internet Explorer, and Mozilla Firefox. This makes it easier to access and use the features on multiple devices.
Are there any drawbacks?
With LightShot, you can’t record videos. It’s one of the biggest drawbacks of the program. Moreover, if you want to screen capture in full screen, you need to go through a pop-up option. However, a hotkey combination would have been better. The editing tools are also basic, and deleting images on the official website requires you to contact the customer support team.
A hassle-free program to capture your screen
LightShot application is a lightweight program allowing you to capture the PC screen without much effort. With a single click, this screen capture program lets you take screenshots, store them on the computer, or share files online. The only drawback is the lack of customization options. It’s worth mentioning that Skillbrains sends regular updates, ensuring bug fixes and improvements in the interface.
