This is a step-by-step process for taking a Screen Capture using a Ubuntu application named GIMP, saving that screenshot and inserting it into a WordPress post or page. Before I switched to Ubuntu I would have done this using SnagIt but it did not install properly for me under Wine so I went searching for another solution.
Searching online for +”screen capture” +ubuntu turned up How to take a screenshot or region capture like Snagit in Ubuntu. Thanks to Richard Baxter at SEOGadget for taking the time to share this process. This post elaborates on his by adding how to insert the captured image into a WordPress post.
I already had GIMP installed and using the directions provided at the SEOGadget link I was able to grab a piece of a screen using this step-by-step process:
- Go to Applications, Graphics, GIMP Image Editor
- Click file, acquire, screenshot
- I selected “Select a region to grab”, left delay at 0, and clicked snap. (You can also select a specific image or an entire Web page.)
- The cursor changes to a cross that allows you to place a box around the area of the screen you wish to capture.
- That area is imported into a work area in a new window.
- Click “file”, then “save as” and name your new screen capture. The save will default to .xcf but you can change that to .png by adding the .png extension to the file name you use, i.e., save the image as imagename.png
- You can edit or change the image using the GIMP program, but for our purposes today we’ll simply take that captured area and add it to this blog post.
- In this blog I have an upgrade called Kitchen Sink so I click on the Add an Image icon just to the right of Add media. This opens a window that allows me to “Choose file” and under “From Computer” click “Browse”, find the file and click upload. Selecting the .png image I saved, typing a caption, and leaving all the defaults the image now appears as you see immediately below in step 9.
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Screen Captured Image
- If I hit enter twice, this post resumes at step 10 or I could hit enter three times and go to a new paragraph. As you can see above, this function places the image within a border and adds a caption.
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Happy to help! enjoy!
Twitter: @GrowMap
@Richard Good to see you here. I may have just linked to one or more of your posts from my new post about organic traffic. I’ll link it to this comment. There will be at least two follow-up posts on that subject that you may be interested in.
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GIMP is an awesome image editor. It’s very similar to Photoshop, except GIMP is free, and Photoshop is very expensive. Although I haven’t used Ubuntu very much, I’ve been very impressed with what I’ve seen from it. I like that it comes bundled with useful software like Openoffice.org, Firefox, and GIMP.
Twitter: @GrowMap
Hi Ralph,
The main difference is PhotoShop is more difficult to use – at least for me. It is far easier to figure out how to do a screen capture in GIMP. Any time you see a screen capture and most logos and images in this blog are done with GIMP.
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Personally I think that Photoshop is easiest. PS CS4 have a really easy interface and a lot of not so easy tools for more advanced users.
I absolutely love gimp, been using it for years and have never looked back
Twitter: @GrowMap
Hi Steph,
If you know how to make layered images maybe you’d like to write a guest post on that for me? Just the other day I wanted to take one image and put the red circle with a slash over it that means not but don’t know how so I just used a different image.
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Twitter: @mixmax01
I like gimp, but i prefer photoshop.
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I had used Ubuntu in the past for a month or two and I was missing photoshop for a while until I got to know that there exists one for Ubuntu too. And it was in the form of GIMP! I was so excited when I saw it working. It really works great for ubuntu. I have even seen people say that GIMP is about 75 % Photoshop, which is absolutely amazing for the average and newbies like me. Maybe it won’t suffice the needs of a pro like the poster here,:) , but is good enough for people like me for the basic imagediting needs.:)
Twitter: @GrowMap
Hi Learning,
Good to have a photoshop expert drop by. Maybe you’ll start writing up how to use GIMP for those of us who are graphics-challenged? Maybe you could start a new site for GIMPGurus?
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Gimp is okay but it´s hard to switch from photshop to GIMP since most Menu-Shortcuts are all different. I had a hard time with those shortcuts at first but after like 2 weeks i memorized them all and now GIMP is my buddy =)
This is really useful! I like to point people to this how to when they need to learn how to capture the screen in Linux. It may be second nature to us old hacks, it is still tough to show people who are new to Linux. This is probably because it is so hard to do in Windows.
shae@Linux Forum´s last blog ..Wine’s release is late; good news?
Twitter: @GrowMap
Hello Shae,
Thank you so much for being willing to assist people who are new to Linux and sharing this post with them. I sincerely appreciate it and will go share some of your other work to ensure more people know about your efforts.
One of the major reasons I originally built sites and now have blogs is to document tasks as I learn them. Although I haven’t had to refer to this recently because I have used GIMP frequently enough that I have the process down cold, I will always keep it here for others (and for me – should I forget)!
I’m off to check out your post about Wine to see if there is any good news. The only drawback to switching totally to Ubuntu is not being able to view GoToWebinars and run niche programs I once used. So far I’ve had little success getting any of them to run using Wine.
P.S. I wish the Linux Forum logo was shareable at StumbleUpon and FriendFeed. If it were you would get more clicks from my sharing your content on those Social Networking sites.
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I just use Ubuntu’s built-in screen capture facility, hitting the ‘Print Screen’ key or ‘Alt+Print Screen’ (the latter captures the window that has focus). Then I optionally use Gimp to trim the resulting image.
Thanks for that. I have been trying to get pictures to work and was pulling my hair out trying to get it to work
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high job!
Thank you for Good explanation about GIMP.
i will try it soon.
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Twitter: @jimiadam
Gimp is one great software in Linux. It comes in default installation for most Linux distributions. People with Photoshop experiences should have no problem using it. However, I wish there are more contributors for the Gimp documentation.
Btw, you can take screenshot in Ubuntu using ‘Applications – Accessories – Take Screenshot’ program. The program allows delay capture so you can highlight text, etc.
Twitter: @muqtada123
Thanks Richard for the nice sharing, its indeed a great help to our knowledge, now Using GIMP i can really get rid off from hectic postings of images directly
see, linux has future for desktop computing… way to go ubuntu!
I like ubuntu and I’ve been doing my test over it, just wish that its compatibility will soon expand…
nice article thanks!
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