Blogging Secret…{Snipping Tool for Windows & Mac}

Ever wonder how other bloggers can “snip” ANY object off of their screen like this?

Or capture their entire screen like this?

This tool is a life saver!  No more taking a picture of your computer screen with your camera! =)  {Yes, I’ve done that before!}  And, since I use both a Mac and Windows, I’m showing you both!

For Windows…

You’ll need to find the Snipping Tool on your computer, which as far as I can tell is only available for Windows 7 users.  {If you do not have Windows 7, I found another program here that lets you do the same thing.  I haven’t tried it, but it got good reviews and looks like it has the same capabilities.}

Now that you’ve found your snipping tool, you’re ready to go and it’s oh so easy!

1.  Open your snipping tool.

2.  Click on the arrow to the right of the new button.  You have several options of how you would like to snip your image.  I always use the rectangle snip when I’m capturing an image or a screen because it lets me capture everything perfectly!

3.  Using the rectangle snip, it will pop up with a small cross icon.  Simply use the crosshairs to draw a box around what you would like to copy (sort of like a text box).

4.  Your snip will automatically be copied to a clipboard where it then be copied into Windows Live Writer or Word document.

5.  Or, you can save your snip to your computer as an HTML, PNG, GIF, or JPEG file.  To do this, simply click the save snip button in the window it pops up after you’ve snipped your image.

Any questions?  Please let me know! =)

For Mac…

You’ll need to find the Preview application on your computer.  The icon looks like this:

1.  Open preview. 

2.  Go to File and hover your mouse over Take Screen Shot and click on From Selection. 

3.  Using the crosshairs that are now on your screen, simply drag a box around the image you would like to capture.

4.  Your captured image is now shown in a preview window.  To copy it into another application click on Edit at the top and then select Select All.  Now that it is selected, once again click on Edit at the top and select Copy.  Your image is now copied and ready to paste to another application.

5.  To save your image, select File at the top and then select Save As.  Just as in the Windows version, you can also change the format of your selection to an HTML, PNG, GIF, or JPEG file type.

Any questions? Please let me know! =)