Three different ways to take screenshots in Linux

Screenshots in Linux

A few days ago, a contact of mine wanted to pass a screenshot of his PC to a Telegram group. He captured the screen, yes, but he did it with his mobile, taking a photo of it. It is not the first time that something like this has been sent to me, and there are people who do not know how to take screenshots, especially some Windows users who have seen how the process has changed in the latest versions of the Microsoft operating system.

Here we are not going to explain how to take screenshots in Windows. Yes we can say that the best way is to use the snipping tool that the operating system has installed by default, but here we are going to focus on how to do them in linux. We will explain three different ways: with keyboard shortcuts, with the terminal, and with third-party software, like GIMP (yes, you can with GIMP).

Shortcuts for taking screenshots in Linux

The normal method, the shortcut method, will vary depending on the Linux distribution we are using. What we are going to explain next works, for example, in Ubuntu, but they do not apply to Kubuntu. The shortcuts keyboard They are valid for many Linux distributions and are as follows:

  • Print Screen: Save a screenshot of the entire desktop in the "Pictures" folder.
  • shift + Print Screen: allows us to select a piece of the screen and saves the capture in "Images".
  • Alt + PrintScreen:  Save a screenshot of the active window in "Images".
  • Ctrl + PrintScreen: Copies the entire screen capture to the clipboard.
  • Shift + Ctrl + PrintScreen: Copy the screenshot of a piece of the screen to the clipboard.
  • Ctrl + Alt + PrintScreen: Copies the screenshot of the active window to the clipboard.

The above shortcuts may stop working in any update, when a Linux distribution decides that it doesn't seem like a good idea to use those particular shortcuts. As we have mentioned, Kubuntu uses its own keyboard shortcuts for Spectacle, and this is something that can happen in any other distribution. That is why there are other methods that we will also explain.

Capturing the screen with the terminal

This option is especially for terminal lovers. It is not my favorite, but it had to be commented. We can use GNOME-Screenshot, ImageMagick or Deepin Scrot, which are supported by most Linux distributions.

GNOME Screenshot

To make an instant capture on operating systems like Ubuntu, we will open the terminal and type:

gnome-screenshot

If we want to delay the capture, we can do it by adding a "D" (for "delay") and a number that will indicate the seconds of delay, which would look like this for a delay of 5s:

gnome-screenshot -d -5

If your Linux distribution does not have the package installed, it can be installed with the following command:

sudo apt install gnome-screenshot

Imagemagick

Imagemagick it is installed by default on many Linux distributions. If it is not in yours, you can install it with the following command:

sudo apt install imagemagick

The command to take screenshots with ImageMagick is harder to remember. It would be as follows to make a complete capture:

import -window root NombreParaImagen.png

From the previous command, we will change "NameParaImagen.png" by a name and extension of our choice.

If what we want is to capture only a specific area, we can do it with the following command:

import NombreParaImagen.png

Deepin scrot

Deepin Scrot is a tool more powerful than the previous ones. It is installed in many Linux distributions, but if it is not your case, you can install it with the following command:

sudo apt install scrot

Once installed, the command to take a screenshot of the entire screen would be:

scrot NombreParaImagen.png

To capture a specific area:

scrot -s NombreParaImagen.png

Screenshots with tools from the distribution and third parties

The best way to take screenshots is with the tool that our Linux distribution comes with by default. Many of them can be opened by searching among the "Screenshot", "Screenshot" or similar applications. This will open the window of the tool in question, where we will see all the options it offers us. But we can also use third party toolsas GIMP, the all-rounder of image editing.

Screenshot with GIMP

To take a screenshot with GIMP we just have to follow these steps:

  1. If we don't have it open, we open GIMP.
  2. We go to the File / Create menu and choose «Screenshot ...».
  3. In the menu that opens, we choose the desired option.
  4. Finally, we click on «Exchange».

If we are going to use GIMP to take our screenshots, we must bear in mind that the option is old, that is, it was available when GIMP was presented in three different windows. I mention this because if we have the app open in full screen we probably won't be able to capture what we want. It may be worth resizing the GIMP window so that it allows us to capture what interests us before taking the screenshot since, once the option is chosen, we will not be able to do it. I think it goes without saying that this option will only be worth it for those of us who use GIMP a lot.

Other options for taking screenshots are Flameshot or KSnip, the first best for capturing and the second best for later editing.

What is your favorite method of taking screenshots on Linux?


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  1.   Tony Hortal said

    Sense cap mena de dubte, Shutter: http://shutter-project.org