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Alex
Asked: 2010-12-01 19:55:38 +0800 CST

How to take screenshots of sections of the screen?

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On Mac OS X, there is a handy key combo for taking a screenshot of any arbitrary rectangle section of the screen(Command-Shift-4).

Is there something similar(maybe Compiz plugin) for Ubuntu/Gnome?

gnome compiz screenshot

10 Answers

  1. Press shift + printScr and then a click drag to select the area you want a screen shot of

    It is possible that the key combination shift+PrntScreen may not be the short cut to do this, then -

    1. Open System Settings (also known as gnome-control-center)
    2. Go to Keyboard
    3. Click the shortcuts tab
    4. Click on screen shots
    5. Click on the key combination corresponding to "take a screenshot of an area"
    6. Press the desired keycombination ( such as shift + printScreen )
    7. use the key combination, your cursor arrow turns to a '+' like sign.
    8. click and drag to select the area you want a screen shot of.

    Command line interface way( i.e through terminal)(you need dconf-editor for this) -

    1. open terminal using ctrl+alt+T
    2. enter gsettings get org.gnome.settings-daemon.plugins.media-keys area-screenshot to get the key combination currently assigned to get a screen shot of an area.
    3. If you want to change it entergsettings set org.gnome.settings-daemon.plugins.media-keys area-screenshot "[<Shift>Print']" Simly replace "[<Shift>Print']" with your desired key combination.

    This is a link to ubuntu wiki about keybindings and is handy

    Note: I have tried this method on Ubuntu 13.04, and I remember using it on Ubuntu 12.10. I know very little about the possibility of using these ways in Ubuntu versions before that..

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  2. Best Answer

    Shutter is a good screenshot tool that has this feature, among others.

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  3. Have you tried compiz screenshot option!
    Enable screenshot in your ccsm and then use Super Key (the Windows Key) + drag to get a screenshot of whatever area on desktop you like. The shots are saved on desktop (/home//Desktop) or wherever you choose when you enable the Compiz tool.

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  4. If you use GIMP for image editing, File - Acquire - Screenshot - Select a region to grab will do the trick.

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  5. Alt+PrtScrn grabs just the active window. Not exactly the box you requested, but useful if you only want to grab the app you are using.

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  6. use Taksi...

    Taksi is screen/video capture with a twist. It is designed to capture live video from your 3d based games and other 3d applications. Taksi can even perform real-time compression to popular video formats such as xvid, divx, etc - or save it uncompressed. it also takes screenshots..

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  7. In KDE I like to use KSnapshot Spectacle (renamed). It's much simpler and faster than Shutter, so it's useful in those cases where you don't need to edit anything (for which Shutter is way more powerful!).

    enter image description here

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  8. For 14.04:

    • go to System Settings
    • choose Keyboard button, Shortcuts tab
    • choose 'Custom Shortcuts'
    • click the + button
    • name: 'Screenshot of selection', Command: 'gnome-screenshot -a -c'
    • hit apply
    • click the word 'Disabled' to change the shortcut whatever you like -- I like CTRL-SHIFT-minus

    Now, I you hit the shortcut, the cursor changes to a big +. Select an area, and the screenshot is saved to the clipboard.

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  9. you could "map" a key combo to do a gnome-screenshot -w to grab a window or gnome-screenshot -i for interactive options.

    and of coure, PrintScreen key grabs everything. :)

    Someone else may have a better way.

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  10. Use Flameshot, a free software available in the repository

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