Capture only part of a scrolling window

[DaleB]

Hi:

I am new to this program, and have been experimenting with it.

Say that I am viewing a web page that fills multiple screens (vertically) on my laptop in order to view the entire web page.

Now, say that I want to capture the scrolling window...but not all of it.

Example:
Say that I only want to capture the first one and a half pages out of 7.
And, I want the captured image to be the same size as you would see when viewing the web page:
not scrunched (reduced) to fit the captured information on one page, vertically.

It's OK if the captured image takes more than one page (or more than one sheet of paper when printed).

How can I do this ?

Thank you

DaleB

[tomos]

Using manual scrolling capture:
(which is fairly new so I'm not sure how well it is documented)

• Click in your window
• Ctrl+Shift+PrtScr
• Window will be framed with red line
• Ctrl+Click in window
• Click on Option 2 (Manual Scroll) in the dialogue that opens
• Follow instructions,
• Scroll as much or as little as you want
• Follow instructions (Guess margins; Guess overlap) best look at it @ 100% to see it's okay

Havent used it much but it's been 100% successful here so far.

[DaleB]

Hi Tom:

Thank you for your feedback.
I have tried it but am unable to make things work...what I see on-screen doesn't match your instructions.

Here are my details:


I open Screenshot Captor (SC): a new/empty window appears.


You say

1) "Click in your window"

Which window (SC or the one that I want to capture ?)

2) Ctrl+Shift+PrtScr

If I do this in the SC window, nothing happens.

If I do this in the window that I want to capture, nothing happens.

In SC, if I go under the Capture menu I can choose Grab Windows Object or Scrolling Window (Ctrl+Shift+PrtScr)  which matches your 2nd bullet.
It takes me to the window I want to grab (assuming it is open in another Chrome tab) and the complete window is outlined in red...
with a box near the top stating the "ojbect size (length x width), and says Ctrl_Click to capture ... or ... press right Ctrl or use menu at left".

This brings up a screen saying, "Ok, you've selected an object.  Now what ?"

There are 4 choices.

1 - Save the Selected Object/Region Imgae
2 - Save the Selected Object/Region Image and Choose Another
3 - Begin a Scrolling Window Capture on this Object
4 - Capture Multiple Images, One for each Child Control

I do not see your Option 2 (Manual Scroll)
If I click Option 2 (above), a screen snapshot is taken of only the current window.

Now I click in the window that I want to capture part of.
I am not presented with a way to capture part of a scrolling window, and the Guess margins; Guess overlap options
are presented if I select Option 3, but that option scrolls through the entire window, and it saves it as a picture that is
shrunk vertically to fit on one page when printed.
I don't see a way to capture just part of it,

What am I missing ?

Thank you

DaleB

[mouser]

if I select Option 3, but that option scrolls through the entire window, and it saves it as a picture that is
shrunk vertically to fit on one page when printed.

sounds like you may not have most recent version.

indeed option 3 is what you should choose, and then you should get a dialog that lets you select to do a manual scroll.

[tomos]

Hi DaleB
you dont need the SC main window open at all -
by click in the window, I meant the window you want to do a capture of.

You can update e.g. by right-clicking the tray icon.

[DaleB]

Hi:
Thanks to all for your replies, but I am still unable to grab a portion of a scrolling screen.

I had SC check for updates, and I am currently using Ver. 4.8.5  (It did need an update).

In the prior instructions,

• Click in your window
• Ctrl+Shift+PrtScr
• Window will be framed with red line
• Ctrl+Click in window
• Click on Option 2 (Manual Scroll) in the dialogue that opens
• Follow instructions,
• Scroll as much or as little as you want
• Follow instructions (Guess margins; Guess overlap) best look at it @ 100% to see it's okay

In order to get the red capture rectangle (frame), I have to press (HP laptop):

fn+Ctrl+Shift+PrtSc

or select Grab Windows Object or Scrolling Window (Ctrl+Shift+PrtScr) from the Capture drop-down menu.

When the list of 4 options appears, I still get

1 - Save the Selected Object/Region Image
2 - Save the Selected Object/Region Image and Choose Another
3 - Begin a Scrolling Window Capture on this Object
4 - Capture Multiple Images, One for each Child Control

> indeed option 3 is what you should choose, and then you should get a dialog that lets you select to do a manual scroll.

I do not get the dialog box for a manual scroll in this list of options.

If I click on Option 3 (above), the I get a new window with two buttons near the top.

Button 2 is Let Me Manually Scroll the Window.

I am presented with  dialog box titled, Manual Scrolling Capture Instructions.  (see 2 attachments)

Maybe we are now on the same page (?).

When I click Button 2 and follow the instructions , I do not get a red rectangle whose width and length
that I can change by "pulling on its corner", so that reshapes up/down and left/right to capture the screen area that I want
to capture. 

An instruction dialog box It tells me to Manual Scroll and take successive screen snapshots which it will stitch together.
This didn't work well...the stitching had lines of texts missing (cut-off horizontally, the letters weren't capture to full height).
And the picture was  captured to fit on a single page, so that it would small (unreadable) when printed.

Maybe I am misunderstanding something, but...shouldn't I be getting a red rectangle whose length and width I can control by dragging it edges or corner to select the area of the scrolling window that I want to capture ?

And what do I need to set so that the captured image is not scrunched to fit the size on a single piece of paper ?

Thank you

DaleB

[mouser]

When I click Button 2 and follow the instructions , I do not get a red rectangle whose width and length
that I can change by "pulling on its corner", so that reshapes up/down and left/right to capture the screen area that I want
to capture.

By default the red box will be in OBJECT mode which will autosize to the window region defined by the window control under the cursor automatically.
But if you click on the gear button in the top left you can switch it out of Object selection mode and then resize that window to the exact size and position you want.

[DaleB]

Hi:

Thank you for the feedback, but I am still having problems.

Here's what I am doing.

• Open Window that I want  capture
• Press:   fn+Ctrl+Shift+PrtSrc
• Click the gear drop-down menu and make selection...say 50%
• Resize box to what I want for the 1st window
• Press Ctrl-Click within the window

*** My red box disappears ***

A box pops-up with 4 selections in it.

• Select option 3:  Begin a Scrolling Window Capture on this Object.

New window pops up: Object and Scrolling Capture Tool.

• Select Button 2: Let me Manually Scroll the Window

Window pops-up : What kind of Scrolling is Required ?

• I select the first bullet (Vertical scrolling).
• Click Next

A window pops-up with the screen capture Instructions in it.

How can I select what to capture when the red box has disappeared ?


Thank you

DaleB

[mouser]

The manual capture mode is brand new, and could use some refinement; the red box disappears but the area you selected the first time is the area used during the capture, even though the red box is no longer shown.
(I'll try to fix that and leave the red box on screen for the next release).

[ScreenManiac]

(I'll try to fix that and leave the red box on screen for the next release).

-mouser (July 07, 2014, 09:05 AM)

Good idea. Actually, I had similar problems - came to late to this thread to respond sooner.
It also took me quite a while to figure out the manual scrolling procedure - but once I had it all written down - my workflow with all possible side-tracks I had encountered - it proved to be a very reliable method to scroll even the most stubborn windows - inside programs where all other (commercial) products fail to scroll.

[mouser]

Thanks for saying so, ScreenManiac 

[DaleB]

OK...the red box is missing (for now)...I can see that (  well, actually,  I can't see it  ;-)  )

How can I gauge what area I am going to be capturing ?

Example:
Say that the total screen width is X, and the the total length of the web page (down the screen) is Y.

Say, I want to capture an area, x by y ;   where   x = 30%(X)  and    y = 70%(Y)

How can I visually determine what is going to be captured and how many scrolls that I will need to do ?

(Am I correct that I have to Manually scroll each page to capture: that the red box can't be stretched down multiple screens to  make  single capture ? )

If you look at my series of steps (posted earlier this morning) what do I need to do ?

Right now, I am not sure if my current steps are correct, let alone, what needs to be added to them.

Thank you

DaleB

[mouser]

You move the red box initially to cover the area of the screen that the content will be scrolling through -- so usually it will cover the entire size of the window on the screen; you will be able to trim off scrollbars and stuff later so don't even worry about that.  The fact that you almost always want to capture the entire window contents is why normally you leave the red box to autosize to the window.

Then you follow the instructions and scroll the contents of the window with the mouse or keys, and hit prtscr after each scroll.

Did you watch the video here: https://www.donation...c/3ds/sc29/sc29.html

In the end Screenshot Captor will stitch all the images together and let you tweak how they are stitched.

[DaleB]

Hi:

OK...I have watched the video link that you posted regarding manual scrolling.

It was nicely done.

But I still have some issues.

First, let me recap what I had to do since my key-clicks differed from what was stated in the video.
Again, I am using an HP laptop, which involves having the use the function (fn) and Alt keys.

Open SC (via the Start menu, or double-click its shortcut icon)
Its icon appears in the system tray, with a blue screen background.

Press   fn+Ctrl+Shift+PrtScr   to obtain the red area-capture rectangle.
The SC's system tray icon, with a red screen background

If necessary, move your mouse pointer so that it is in the window area to be captured,
otherwise the red rectangle will select a different (possibly larger) rectangular area.

Press fn+Ctrl+Click

Select Item 3: Begin a Scrolling Window Capture on this Object.

Select Item 2: Let me Manually Scroll the Window

Click top bullet (if needed): Target Window with Vertical Content

Click Next

Minimize or move dialog box outside the window to be captured.

Press fn+Alt+PrtScr to capture the first screen

Press the Page Down button on your keyboard to scroll down an entire page.

Press fn+Alt+PrtScr to capture the next screen

Repeat the Capture/Scroll process until you capture all of the screens that you want.

Click Done in the Dialog box that you had Minimized/Moved.

Press Start Here: Guess Margins
Press Then: Guess Overlaps Given Margins

Press 100% then Preview now to view the capture in the small window pane area.

Press    OK, Save built image button.

A dialog box appears with options to Discard, Save, Print, ... the image.
If you save the file, change the file extension to say jpg is desired.
It defaults to file type, png.


If I select to print the image, the entire captured image does not get print.
In my case, only Page 2 of 3, printed.

I saved the image to a jpg file, then opened it to print it.
The program only prints Page 1 normal size, or the entire capture as "fit-to-page",
so that it is small, thus hard-to-read.

If I copy & paste the jpg file into a Word document, it only keep one first page,
based on the margins set for the Word document.

Similarly, if I save it as a pdf file , Adobe Reader can print the entire image in "fit-to-page",
not the normal/captured size.  If you select to print "Actual Size", it only prints the first page of the entire
screen capture in actual size.

So, I am unable to print the entire screen capture, unless it is at a reduced sized (fit-to-page).

And, by capturing an integer number of successive full-screen snapshots, I am capturing more information than what I may want.  Example:   I may only want to capture the area of 2.25 screens, but in order to do so, I must capture 3 full screens; thus, I have extra information that I may not want.


What I would like to be able to do, is drag the bottom edge of the red rectangle so the page scrolls upward until I reach the length-down-the-page where I want the capture-area to end.

Thus, only the selected area of the scrolling screen would be captured, not an integer number of screens to be sewn together.

Does SC allow for this type of capturing ?

If not, how do I remove the "excess area" (over capture) of the screen capture that I do not want ?

Any other ideas ???

Thank you

DaleB

[tomos]

First, let me recap what I had to do since my key-clicks differed from what was stated in the video.
Again, I am using an HP laptop, which involves having the use the function (fn) and Alt keys.

Open SC (via the Start menu, or double-click its shortcut icon)
Its icon appears in the system tray, with a blue screen background.

Press fn+Ctrl+Shift+PrtScr to obtain the red area-capture rectangle.
The SC's system tray icon, with a red screen background

If necessary, move your mouse pointer so that it is in the window area to be captured,
otherwise the red rectangle will select a different (possibly larger) rectangular area.

Press  fn+Ctrl+Click

Select Item 3: Begin a Scrolling Window Capture on this Object.

Select Item 2: Let me Manually Scroll the Window

Click top bullet (if needed): Target Window with Vertical Content

Click Next

Minimize or move dialog box outside the window to be captured.

Press fn+Alt+PrtScr to capture the first screen

Press the Page Down button on your keyboard to scroll down an entire page.

Press fn+Alt+PrtScr to capture the next screen

Repeat the Capture/Scroll process until you capture all of the screens that you want.

Click Done in the Dialog box that you had Minimized/Moved.

Press Start Here: Guess Margins
Press Then: Guess Overlaps Given Margins

Press 100% then Preview now to view the capture in the small window pane area.

Press OK, Save built image button.

-DaleB (July 08, 2014, 12:12 PM)

-
yes, laptops can be troublesome if you want to use the more 'exotic' keys.
That's a good description/tutorial - could be added to the help file.

A dialog box appears with options to Discard, Save, Print, ... the image.
If you save the file, change the file extension to say jpg is desired.
It defaults to file type, png.

-
png makes a much better image, hence the default -
default format can be changed in options (Advanced>)

If I select to print the image, the entire captured image does not get print[/i].
In my case, only Page 2 of 3, printed.

-DaleB (July 08, 2014, 12:12 PM)

-
this sounds like a bug.
I thought a workaround would be to save and then print, but you say:

1 I saved the image to a jpg file, then opened it to print it.
The program only prints Page 1 normal size, or the entire capture as "fit-to-page",
so that it is small, thus hard-to-read.

2 If I copy & paste the jpg file into a Word document, it only keep one first page,
based on the margins set for the Word document.

3 Similarly, if I save it as a pdf file , Adobe Reader can print the entire image in "fit-to-page",
not the normal/captured size.

-DaleB (July 08, 2014, 12:12 PM)

-
I numbered the above:
1) I'm unclear here: when you say 'Page 1', what do you mean - it should be one single image
2) same as above
3) PDF in Adobe Reader will print a large image here if my printer page-size is big enough for the image - otherwise it can print a detail, or 'fit-to-page'.

And, by capturing an integer number of successive full-screen snapshots, I am capturing more information than what I may want. Example:   I may only want to capture the area of 2.25 screens, but in order to do so, I must capture 3 full screens; thus, I have extra information that I may not want.

-DaleB (July 08, 2014, 12:12 PM)

-
capture only as much as you want - you will have a bigger overlap with the last two shots if you only want a quarter of a screen. SC seems to manage this quite well here.
EDIT// no, not as successful as I thought - easiest solution would be to crop your image

[DaleB]

Hi:

Thank you for your reply.

Before I get started...
How are you making previously posted comments/replies appear in aqua colored boxes ?
It does make things easier to read.

Below, between the  2 =========== lines are previously posted comments.
My new comments appear after each post, within the 2 ========= lines.
My replies each begin with Reply:

===================i=================================================

I numbered the above:
1) I'm unclear here: when you say 'Page 1', what do you mean - it should be one single image

Reply:
When viewing the pdf file for the captured image, the image takes 3 screens/pages in Adobe reader, in order to view the entire saved image.
In other words,, I must scroll down in order to view the entire captured image.

When I copied the file info and pasted it into a Word document, only Page 1 of the pdf file (when viewed in Adobe reader) appeared pasted into the Word .doc file.  The document (image) was truncated.

2) same as above

Reply:
See my comments to 1) (above)

3) PDF in Adobe Reader will print a large image here if my printer page-size is big enough for the image - otherwise it can print a detail, or 'fit-to-page'.

Reply:
OK...let me ask a different question.
The captured image is a pdf file.
When viewed in Adobe reader, it fills about 2.5 screens on my laptop...I must scroll to view the entire capture.
If I try to print this, its either does a fit-to-page and prints a reduced image...or... only prints one page (of 3).
I believe that it only printed Page 2 (of 3).  Why page 2 ?  I have no idea.
It did not print the entire captured image.
Should it ???

Say that I have a pdf file that is some type of document, like a chapter for a book that is 15 pages long.
If I select Print, it will print the 15 single sided sheets, unless specified otherwise.
Why doesn't the image captured as pdf file (shown as 3 pages in Adobe reader) print on 3 sheets of paper ?
Should it ???


Quote from: DaleB on July 08, 2014, 12:12:02 PM
And, by capturing an integer number of successive full-screen snapshots, I am capturing more information than what I may want. Example:   I may only want to capture the area of 2.25 screens, but in order to do so, I must capture 3 full screens; thus, I have extra information that I may not want.
-
> capture only as much as you want - you will have a bigger overlap with the last two shots if you only want a quarter of a screen. SC seems to manage
> this quite well here.
> EDIT// no, not as successful as I thought - easiest solution would be to crop your image

Reply:
EDIT// no, not as successful as I thought - easiest solution would be to crop your image
I do not understand what your reply.

The problem with cropping is that I cannot see the red rectangle to scroll down the screen

Say that the screen's horizontal width is X, and its vertical length is Y
Say that I want to crop a width x < x and a length y < Y.
After initial view of the red rectangle, it disappears.
So, I have no idea where it is if I am trying to scroll down the screen,

Am I doing something wrong ?

Thank you

*** UPDATE: ***

I just went back to look at things again...the pdf , jpg , and png files captured.
If I open the pdf file on Adobe reader, it fills about 2.5 screens (vertically) on my laptop,
yet, when I look at the top Adobe menu bar, near where it shows the % magnification,
it shows that it is viewing Page 1/1 : so there is only 1 page ... but it is long.

If I try to print it without using shrink-to-fit (fit-to-page), it crops a smaller area, vertically and horizontally to print.

If I drag & drop the pdf file into a Word document, it gets truncated vertically (along it length), and it is offset to the horizontally
to the right based on the doc's margins.  I must resize the file (grabbing its resize tabs at its corners) to make it fit within the Word document.

If I drag & drop the jpg file into a Word document, the file automatically gets resized (fit-to-page) basd on its length.

Similalry, for a png file.



==============================================================================================

[tomos]

Hi Dale,

*** UPDATE: ***

I just went back to look at things again...the pdf , jpg , and png files captured.
If I open the pdf file on Adobe reader, it fills about 2.5 screens (vertically) on my laptop,
yet, when I look at the top Adobe menu bar, near where it shows the % magnification,
it shows that it is viewing Page 1/1 : so there is only 1 page ... but it is long.

If I try to print it without using shrink-to-fit (fit-to-page), it crops a smaller area, vertically and horizontally to print.

If I drag & drop the pdf file into a Word document, it gets truncated vertically (along it length), and it is offset to the horizontally
to the right based on the doc's margins.  I must resize the file (grabbing its resize tabs at its corners) to make it fit within the Word document.

If I drag & drop the jpg file into a Word document, the file automatically gets resized (fit-to-page) basd on its length.

Similalry, for a png file.

-DaleB (July 15, 2014, 11:53 AM)

okay, that answers my questions about 'page 1' etc.
It's important to understand that SC creates a single image from your manual scroll.
You probably have an A4 printer - if the image is bigger than A4, it cannot print at full size on your printer - so it offers to print at fit-to-page, or it offers to print a selection/detail. When printing a detail, it will select the centre part of the image (that's why it picks page 2 of 3 pages) unfortunately this cannot by changed in Adobe Reader.

I'm on a Windows 8 machine, with Adobe Reader X1 (11)
Here's the print dialogue I see:



in this version, there is an option to print 'Poster' - this will print the image at 100% and break it up in as many pages as necessary. Do you have that on your version?

----------------------------------------
Re the Word problems - if you want a screenshot to go over multiple pages, you have to take multiple screenshots. (See also next post)

[tomos]

@mouser: was that ever implemented where a scrolling capture could be saved to multiple images?
(I think not, but amnt sure)

[mouser]

was that ever implemented where a scrolling capture could be saved to multiple images?

no, but now might be a good time to revive the request.

you have posted the technique that I have used in the past when i needed to print out a long capture on multiple pages -- by using the "poster" function in the printer.

note that asking SC to save a scrolling capture to multiple images will NOT result in as good a breakup of pages as a poster printing function will do in your printer driver, since the pagebreaks may not fall locally.

however, another option would be to add a more involved function to SC that would print to multiple pages (or split to multiple pages) based on some aspect ratio page size.. still, poster printing option in your printer driver seems the best and most general solution.

[tomos]

still, poster printing option in your printer driver seems the best and most general solution.

-mouser (July 15, 2014, 06:43 PM)

good point

[DaleB]

Hi:

I have Adobe Reader X (10.1.10), and it does have the Poster Print Option.

I tried that, and it appears to have worked !

It prints the captured picture in Landscape mode, but at full-size...so this is good.

I understand you comment about having to paste sections of a capture into Word on different pages.
That makes sense, since Word is looking for syntax/commands...e.g., carriage returns, page breaks, etc., to process.


Regarding my reply your earlier comment (below), how can I select/see a portion of a multi-screen area to be cropped/captured ?

Reply:
> EDIT// no, not as successful as I thought - easiest solution would be to crop your image
> I do not understand what your reply.

The problem with cropping is that I cannot see the red rectangle to scroll down the screen

Say that the screen's horizontal width is X, and its vertical length is Y
Say that I want to crop a width x < x and a length y < Y.
After initial view of the red rectangle, it disappears.
So, I have no idea where it is if I am trying to scroll down the screen,

Thanks to all for your comments/suggestions !

[tomos]

The cropping would be done afterwards:

• Open the main SC window after you have saved your capture
• If your image is not already selected, select it in the thumbnail panel on the left
• Click and drag in the image to select an area you want to keep
• Click on the crop button on the toolbar on the right (see mouse pointer below)

Capture only part of a scrolling window

(click image to enlarge)

[DaleB]

Hi:

That worked ... thanks !

Can you edit a pdf file with SC ?

I tried editing a pdf file via Dragging & Dropping it onto the edit window.

I received this dialog box (jpg file attached), but I received no picture to edit...just a blank edit area.

Thank you

P.S.
I couldn't find a way to capture the pop-up Dialog Box.
I used the program SnapShot to capture the image of the Dialog Box, so that I could attach it.

Can I capture an dynamic window (e.g., Dialog Box) that pops-up in front of the image that I am trying to edit ?

[tomos]

1) you cannot edit a PDF unless you give Adobe about 500 dollars for the privilege even then it's often problematic - the format was designed as a final product that would (hopefully) look the same on every machine.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

2) Re taking screenshots of SC windows/dialogues/etc
Go to
Preferences: Basic Capturing > Capture options
and deselect "Hide SC window"

[DaleB]

Hi:

Thanks for your reply ... but your suggestion did not work.

The Dialog Box that pops-up over-rides control of SC functionality...I can't do anything.

Would I need to do I new Capture of the entire window and then crop it to get just the Dialog Box,
or should I be able to just crop the current screen in which the Dialog Box is appears ?

Either way, I can't ... I have no control of  SC.   
I have to make a selection which the closes the Dialog Box in order to regain control of SC.