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SnagIt Learning Center

SnagIt Preview Window

ID:

7101

Product:	SnagIt
Platform:	Win 98 and above
Version:	7 and above

The Preview Window is an easy way to preview a screen capture before it is saved to a file or inserted into your document or email. But, the Preview Window is also much more than just a simple viewer; it is a very advanced capture editor that allows you to apply finishing touches before completing the output.

A few of the editing options include flip, mirror, shear, rotate, crop, and cut. You can also adjust the color depth, edit your text, or view the frames of a video capture. Add custom edge effects such as drop shadow, torn or faded edges, and enhancements such as arrows, cursors, lines, text, and much more.

Within the Preview Window, you can constantly view your work as you make an unlimited number of changes. Once the preview has been viewed and any desired edits have been made, you can then redirect the capture to the desired output.

Preview Window allows you to preview and edit a screen capture before it is saved to a file or inserted into your document or e-mail. Choose from an array of professional quality effects to get just the right look.

Screenshot of the Preview Window - click to enlarge.

Finish / Cancel Capture. Click Finish to send the capture to the output. The output type is given within the button for easy reference. Choose Cancel Capture to discard this capture.
Output Options. On the Outputs toolbar, click on any tool to perform that output operation. Tool tips let you know what each tool is. Beneath the Outputs toolbar you will find another toolbar containing basic editing options such as Crop, Cut, Copy, and Paste.
Paint Tools. This is the Paint Tools pane. Enable anti-alias to give a smooth look to your drawing lines. Enable drop shadow to give your drawing a 3D, professional look. Click on the color block to change the drawing tool's color.
Enhancements. Use the Image, Colors, and Effects menu options to enhance your captures in an unlimited number of ways. Let your imagination run wild and have fun creating!

These enhancements are available in both the Preview Window and SnagIt Editor.

Viewing a Capture in the Preview Window

Note: While the Preview Window is available for all types of captures, for this short tutorial, you will be instructed on the use of the Preview Window while you are in Image capture mode.

Start SnagIt. If SnagIt is reduced to an icon in the system tray, double-click it to make it full-sized.
Within SnagIt, choose Preview Window from the Options toolbar.
Make sure Image mode is selected.
Perform the SnagIt capture by selecting the Capture button or pressing the hotkey.
Your image, text, video, and printer captures will appear in a separate viewing window (the Preview Window) prior to being output, as seen in the following graphic.

Note: You will only see the Paint Tools if you are in Image or Printer capture mode. You will not have access to the Paint Tools if you are in Text, Web, or Video mode.
Once your captured image is displayed, from the Preview Window menu bar, use the various menu options to edit or apply special effects to your captures. The selection of available options will be determined by the capture mode that is enabled. For a complete description of each of these options along with their use, see the SnagIt online help.
Once the capture has been reviewed and changed if needed, you can continue processing capture output by clicking on the Finish button .You can cancel the output at any time by clicking on the Cancel button.

Saving an Image or Text from within the Preview Window

If you have captured an image or text, you also have the option of overriding the current output destination and sending the capture to the printer or a file.

To redirect output to another destination, click File > Print or File > Print Preview or click the Print button or Print Preview button from the Preview Window toolbar. SnagIt will use the current Printer Output settings to compose the image or text in the Preview Window.

Image files can be saved to a different file format (other than the one selected during capture) by selecting File > Save As or clicking the Save As button from the Preview Window toolbar. You can save these changes to the original file (using the same name) or to another copy of the file (save as a different file name).

Preview Window Tools

Several of the most often used options have been added to the Preview Window's toolbar. Placing these commonly used options on the toolbar allows you to access them more quickly.

Note: The tools that are present in the toolbar will differ according to which capture mode is in use.

To aid in your navigation around the Preview Window, each time your cursor touches a button, a tool tip will appear. The tool tip gives you the name of the tool.

The toolbar options that are displayed may change slightly depending on which capture mode is selected or which view of SnagIt (Normal, Compact, or Classic) is displayed.

The following table describes each of the SnagIt tools that can be found on the Normal view's toolbar. The selection of available tools will be determined by the capture mode that is enabled.

Button	Tool Name	Available in Capture Mode	Description
	Finish (Output)	Image Text Video Web	Choose this tool to finish your capture and send it to the desired output format.
	Cancel Capture	Image Text Video Web	Choose this tool to cancel the capture output process. This will delete the capture and close the Preview Window.
	Save As	Image Text Video Web	Choose this tool to save this capture as a file.
	Print	Image Text	Choose this tool to print this capture.
	Print Preview	Image Text	Choose this tool to view the capture in print preview format.
	Copy entire image to the clipboard	Image	Choose this tool to copy the entire image to the clipboard.
	Send capture via E-mail	Image Video	Choose this option to attach the capture into an e-mail message.
	Start Studio	Image	Choose this tool to open SnagIt Studio. The capture will be available in Studio for you to annotate.
	Save capture in Catalog Browser	Image Video	Choose this option to save the capture as a file and store it in a special folder called the Catalog. You can then quickly access these files using the Catalog Browser tool.
	Send using FTP to a web server	Image Video	Choose this option to save the capture as a file and transfer the file via FTP (File Transfer Protocol) to any Web server on the Internet. You will need to specify the address of the server and provide the necessary login information.
	Zoom In	Image Video	Choose this tool to zoom in and show better detail of the capture.
	Zoom Out	Image Video	Choose this tool to zoom out and move further away from the capture.
	Crop	Image	Choose this tool to decrease the size of the capture to a size selected by the mouse. To crop a capture: Select an area in the viewer to crop to by drawing a frame around the area that you want to keep. Move the selection rectangle with the mouse if necessary or change the size of the selection rectangle using one of the grab tabs around the edge. To de-select the selected area, click outside the selection rectangle. Click on the Crop Region tool or select Edit > Crop. The selected area is preserved in the viewer; the area outside the drawn rectangle is cropped or discarded. The cropped image file is not actually changed until you save it or send it to the desired output.
	Cut	Image Text	Choose this tool to cut out a part of a text file. To cut part of the text file: Use the mouse to highlight or select the text to be cut. (To de-select, click outside the selected area.) Click on the Cut tool or select Edit > Cut. The selected area is cut from the text file and stored in the Windows clipboard.
	Copy	Image Text	Choose this tool to copy the entire capture or a portion of the capture to the Windows clipboard for use in other applications. Use Edit > Select all to select the entire capture and then click on the Copy tool to copy to the clipboard. Drag the cursor on the capture to select just a portion of the capture to copy and then click on the Copy tool to copy to the clipboard.
	Paste	Image Text	Choose this tool to paste the contents of the clipboard onto your capture image.
	Undo	Image	Choose this tool to undo your actions.
	Redo		Choose this tool to redo your actions.
	Help	Image Text Video Web	Choose this tool to access the on-line help system.
	Play	Video	Plays the video in your designated media player.
	First Frame	Video	Returns you to the beginning (the first frame) of the video.
	Previous Frame	Video	Moves the video back one frame.
	Next Frame	Video	Moves the video forward one frame.
	Last Frame	Video	Takes you to the end (the last frame) of the video.
	Video Frame Seek Bar	Video	Moves along as the video plays.
	Modify Web Filters	Web	Choose this tool to access the Web Capture Filters dialog box to set filter options for the scan when capturing web images.
	Rescan Web site	Web	Choose this tool to rescan the Web site. You might want to do this after changing the filter settings or removing web pages and images from the list of captured pages.

Preview Window Paint Tools

The following table describes each of the Preview Window's Paint Tools along with their description and use.

Tool Name	Description & Use
Pan	Navigate the entire image using the mouse rather than the scrollbars for quick viewing
Zoom	Zoom in and out using the left and right mouse button. The mouse wheel will also zoom in and out.
Selection	Select a portion of the image for copy, cutting, pasting, image effects, etc. Selections may be rectangular, elliptical, polygonal or freehand. Support for moving selected areas with a transparent color or as strictly opaque.
Paintbrush	Draw freehand on the image. Control the brush's color, shape, width, opacity, anti-aliasing and drop shadow.
Line	Draw a line on the image. Control the line's color, shape, width, opacity, anti-aliasing and drop shadow. Also draw Bezier curved lines. To draw a curve, click and drag the end points of the curve. Click again to set the point that the line will pass through. Click a second time to specify another point for the curve to follow.
Arrow	Draw an arrow in the image. Same attributes as line including setting the arrowhead style and size.
Eraser	Freehand erase. Control the color, width, opacity and anti-aliasing.
Text	Type text on the image. Control text font, size, style, layout, drop shadow, anti-aliasing, color, frame, box style and fill color.
Stamp	Apply the selected image as a stamp. Select the desired image in the image thumbnail list and click on the image. Support for setting transparency, moving, resizing, flipping and mirroring. Add or remove the drop shadow property. SnagIt comes with four categories of stamp images, Accents, Arrows, Callouts and Cursors. Download additional professional stamp images for use by selecting the Download category. Add your own stamps by selecting the Custom category and specify a folder of images (BMP, GIF, PNG, and JPEG files).
Fill	Flood fill an enclosed area using any color. Control the fill tolerance and opacity.
Shape	Draw any rectangular, rounded rectangle, elliptical or polygon shape. For example, to draw a polygon, click and drag a line, click again to draw another line segment. Continue to click to draw line segments. Double-click to finish the polygon.
Airbrush	Spray paint can. Control color, size, density, opacity and drop shadow.
Eyedropper	Select any color from the image by clicking the left and right mouse buttons. Left mouse button sets the Foreground color; the right mouse button selects the Background color.
Highlighter	Highlight any rectangular region of the image with any selected color.

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