June 27, 2012

Techbits #17: Screengrab from Browser

What is a Screengrab?

As the term itself indicates, it is like a screenshot and grabbing the screen into the form of something like an image.

What is it useful for?

The screens can be used in a variety of scenarios like presentations, documentation, troubleshooting and so on.

How is this (screen grabbing from browser) different from PrintScreen / Alt+PrintScreen?

While PrintScreen/Alt+PrintScreen can be used to capture screenshots of the entire desktop/window, screen grabbing from browser means taking a snapshot of the webpage/website as it appears when you visit it. That means, you’ll be able to capture and save a webpage as an image. Depending on the tool, there are additional options which can be used to determine:

  • if the visible portion of the webpage is to be copied/saved
  • if the entire webpage is to be copied/saved
  • if a selection is to be copied/saved i.e. it prompts you for a selection and you’ll be able to select an area of a webpage
  • type of the image like PNG/JPEG/GIF/BMP

Alright; now that I understand the concept, which tools can I use to screengrab?

Provided below is a sample list of Firefox add-ons that can be used:

Screengrab - http://www.screengrab.org/
FireShot - http://screenshot-program.com/fireshot/
Pearl Crescent Page Saver - http://pearlcrescent.com/products/pagesaver/

If you use some other browser like Chrome or IE, you can search for similar or equivalent add-ons in respective browser's add-on library.

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