I just installed Windows 7 on my computer yesterday. We’ve been using it around the office for some time, but I’m just getting around to updating mine. I skipped the Vista wave, as many others did, so this is my first experience with these features. Many of which debuted in Vista. These functions are more powerful versions of earlier functions, but the added features are very worthwhile.
The first one is the Snipping Tool which replaces the old screenshots using the Print Screen button. In the past, you would get the whole screen, menu bar and all. Usually this was fine because you probably didn’t use it all that often. If you needed to do a clean version, you could maximize the browser and set the menu to auto hide. It worked good enough. Rarely would you need to fire up Photoshop or Paint to crop it down.
These days, it’s a little more complicated. With multiple monitor setups, it’s nearly impossible to get a good clean image with the old print screen function. There is just too much going on around the edges or on the other monitor screen.
The Snipping Tool solves these issues by allowing you to use crosshairs to mark the areas that you want to capture. This comes in very handy for making client training documentation. Screen shot by screenshot, you can build the end user manuals. For the last three years, we have been using Tech Smith’s SnagIT to perform this action. Works great, but it’s an added license and piece of software that we have to update. Now it’s just included. We covered more about it in the December AgniTEK newsletter. If you didn’t get a copy, please
email us and Bekah will be happy to forward one out to you. You can also signup for the newsletter on the front page of the
website.
As a side note, if you’re into making manuals from screen actions you might also check out
Tech Smith’s Camtasia or a lighter open source free version,
CamStudio. Programs like these allow you to record streaming video while you walk the user through as if you were sitting at their computer. It does both audio and video so it’s very complete. We use them to train our
website hosting and BlazeCMS
web site design client administrators. We have also used it to build end user and administrator tutorials for
custom software and detailed
electronic document management roll outs. Works great for teaching users to fish.
Have a great day!