Useful Free Screen Capture and Annotator Tool for the Testers – qSnap Review

Recording screen grabs of errors is a routine job for software testers. There’s a good chance you’re utilizing either free or subscription-based applications for this. However, in this piece, I’m going to introduce a screen capture and annotator tool rich in features and easy-to-use, which will make your job easier.

No-Cost Screen Capture Utility

For those in search of a fully free browser-based screen capture extension, qSnap by QASymphony is a viable option. This tool can be handy for a wide variety of users.

Analysis Of Screen Capture Utility

What you can do with it:

• Record a screenshot of your browser
• Annotate the screenshot
• Share the screenshot

In order to assess its capabilities, we ourselves experimented with qSnap.

Installation

qSnap can be available for any of the main four internet browsers: Chrome, Firefox, Safari, or Internet Explorer. It can be directly downloaded from the website of qSnap or from the Chrome Web Store or Mozilla Firefox Add-ons site. The download size is quite small and usage of it can start relatively quickly.

Characteristics of qSnap

For a screen capture utility, simplicity is the crucial point and qSnap excels in this field. To record your browser window, simply click on the qSnap’s icon. A new tab will open displaying your screenshot with a toolbar at the top.

• Using the toolbar, you can devise shapes to emphasize specific areas, insert text, put arrows, blur private data, and even draw freely.
• You can also adjust the size of your image.
• In the crowd of other utilities, qSnap stands out by its unique function of capturing multiple screens., which is hardly found in others. For capturing multiple screenshots, keep clicking the icon of qSnap, all the screen grabs would be added to a timeline.

Features of the Toolbar:

• For customizing your screenshot’s appearance, you can tweak the thickness of the line, color and font size.
• For convenience, it also comes with undo and redo choices.
• It’s easy to manage, well-structured and its usage is straightforward.
• In the top-right angle, you can find options to create your own keyboard shortcut for screen capture, get access to support documentation or send a support ticket.

Timeline Features:

At the bottom, a timeline of your recorded screenshots can be found as shown in the image above.

• You can choose a screenshot to view it on full screen.
• There’s a choice to record a new screenshot or add files.
• In the bottom right, there’s a “Screen sharing” button that provides a menu for sharing individual screenshots, all screenshots from one session or to print directly. Clicking “Screen sharing” gives you a URL you can copy and paste.
• qSnap also stores every screenshot onto a hosting service, thus forming an archive of your images.

If you wish to share screenshots directly from qSnap, a free qSnap account should be made and logged into. You can use your pre-existing accounts on Google, Facebook or Twitter, or create a new account. Alternatively, screenshots can simply be saved onto your device, and these will be saved in the Downloads folder as files in JPG format.

A sample screenshot that illustrates its features: (click to enlarge the picture)

Ease of Use

As described earlier, qSnap is extremely simple to use. Its interface is intuitive and clear which could be easily navigated by even a beginner computer user. Professionals are going to appreciate saving time with keyboard shortcuts.

Sharing of Group Screenshots – qSnap differentiates itself from other screen capture utilities by letting you conduct a session and share your screenshots in a group.

Once a screenshot is taken via qSnap, it opens in a new tab. As long as the tab is kept open, all the successive screenshots will appear on the same timeline. Creating practical guides step-by-step becomes easy with this feature, which comes very handy for testers.

Yet another amazing attribute is support across various browsers. Regardless you’re using varying browsers on your tablet or laptop, qSnap remains consistent on all platforms. Testers can really benefit from this who are required to try out websites or applications on multiple browsers.

Areas to Improve

qSnap is intentionally designed to be straightforward and user-friendly, therefore spotting areas for improvement can be tough. However, there are a few minor suggestions. It would be more convenient to export the timeline comprising all screenshots combined, as a complete session can be recorded, as a PDF.

About the hosted service, it is obligatory to open each image individually for deleting it. It could be beneficial to have the choice to delete many captures all at once.

Final Conclusion

If a free browser-based screen capture utility is what you’re looking for, qSnap is an option that’s lightweight and everybody can use. The timeline of the session, keyboard shortcuts, and sharing options make this tool appealing to a wider range of users, not only testers. This adaptable image capture extension for the browser is free to use, hence there’s no reason to not provide it with an opportunity.

qSnap can be download from this page.

About the Author: Simon Hill, a game development background, has obtained his Master’s Degree in Scottish History from the University of Edinburgh. He has several years of industry experience in gaming and presently, he is living with his wife and two kids in Edinburgh.

You may also want to check =>> How to Record a Screenshot on Windows

Do you utilize any other commercial or free screen capture tools? Which one, if yes? Share your experience with qSnap or any other instrument in the remarks below.