Screen capture software is a valuable tool for bloggers, online content creators, and honestly just about anybody who has to do any kind of work on a computer. It can be used to take pictures of your computer screen, or to capture a specific area of a website. There are many different screen capture tools available, but one of the best is the free Awesome Screenshot extension for Chrome.
Are you looking for an easy way to take screenshots and record videos of your computer screen? If so, the Awesome Screenshot chrome extension is the perfect tool for you. This free extension allows you to take screenshots of any part of your screen, as well as record video of your screen. You can also use it to annotate your screenshots with text and arrows.
The Awesome Screenshot extension is very easy to use. After installing it, just click on the Awesome Screenshot icon in your Chrome toolbar to start taking screenshots or recording videos. The extension also includes a variety of tutorials that can help you get started quickly.
If you need to take a screenshot or record a video of your computer screen for work or school, the Awesome Screenshot chrome extension is the perfect tool for you. Did I mention it’s free?
To install the free extension, go to the Chrome Web Store which automatically display the extensions section.
Search for Awesome Screenshot and select “add to chrome.”
When you add a new extension to your chrome browser, it may not show up right away in your extsions bar especially if you have a lot of other extensions already. You’ll need to pin it. To do that, select the puzzle icon (which is the icon for your extensions, and select the pin next to Awesome Screenshot. Now it will display.
Next, you’ll need to go through a few more housekeeping tasks to get the extension up and running. These are one-time tasks…however if you log out and back into into your chrome browser, you’ll have to do this again.
After clicking Grant Access, you’ll need to allow Awesome Screenshot to access your camera and microphone. This is a standard notification that always pops up by the URL of your browser when a site or tool requires access to your camera and/or microphone.
Depending on your computer’s security settings, a message like the one below may then pop up. Again, if you intend to utilize the camera/mic recording features, you must ensure your computer’s privacy settings allow it. In this example, I’m using a mac and all I need to do is Open System Preferences…
…head over to the Privacy tab in Security & Privacy, and give Google Chrome permission to record the contents of my screen.
Now we can use Awesome Screenshots any time. There are two tabs–one for screen capturing and once for screen recording. The capture tab allows us to capture the visible part of the screen, the full page, a selected area, or even the entirety of your screen & app window (in other words, what you see on your monitor including things outside of Chrome). You can even set a delay which is super useful for capturing drop-down menus!
The Record tab is somewhat similar — record the desktop, just the tab, a custom area, or even just your webcam. You can turn your webcam on for simultaneous recording of yourself and your screen, turn the microphone only off, even turn on/off the tab sound!
Note: Free version users are limited to 720p resolution. This is good enough for a lot of people, but you’ll want higher quality if you want to record, say, lengthy how-to tutorials with lots of text.
When you select part of a screen to capture, you’re able to annotate it before taking the picture or wait till you take the snap.
All the annotation tools on the right and the text tool on the right are available to free users. These are very useful and more than enough for the average user. Pro users get additional tools like call outs, emojis, the and the ability to add an image to the screenshot.
When you make a selection, you can capture which will take you to the next workflow or just copy the screenshot. I personally use the copy features A LOT because it’s fewer clicks. One of my most common use case scenarios is inserting a screenshot into the body of an email, and selecting Copy is the easiest way to do that with the fewest clicks!
If you select Capture, Awesome Screenshots takes you to their own site.
Here you can annotate, download the image to your computer, download as pdf, copy again, and print. If you recorded video and the file is too big to attach to an email, a handy feature is the Get shareable link button which lets you quickly share a link to your recording (or image) without having to worry about file attachment size.
Finally, you can make use of the Awesome Screenshot’s service and actually store your files. However, unless you plan to upgrade to a paid account, this is completely unnecessary.
And if you are interested in leveling up, these are the prices. But for the average person who just needs a solid browser-based screen capture tool, free is more than enough!
Awesome Screenshot is an excellent tool for capturing screenshots and recording screen activity. It is easy to use and has a variety of features that make it a versatile tool for any user. Whether you are a student, teacher, librarian, business person, or just need to take a quick screenshot, Awesome Screenshot is the perfect tool for the job.
