Best screenshot app for Mac?

February 22, 2016 7:13 AM

I've been happily using Slingshot on my Mac for screenshots for years but it's been discontinued and is no longer being updated. What should I replace it with?

Here's what I want from a screenshot app:

• Menu bar icon
• Keyboard shortcut to capture a section of the screen
• Automatic upload to somewhere
• Automatic copying of the link (direct to image, not with branding around it) to the clipboard so I can quickly paste it elsewhere
• One time payment, no monthly costs

Any suggestions?

Thanks,
Kevin

posted by kdern to Computers & Internet (18 answers total)

From what I can tell, MacOS can do this by itself without a third-party program:
- Command-Shift-4 to file (defaults to saving on Desktop, but that can be changed)
- Command-Shift-Control-4 to Clipboard.
posted by ShooBoo at 8:12 AM on February 22, 2016 [6 favorites]

Best answer: I've been using GrabBox. It's free, and has all the features you asked about. The only annoying things is how it renames screenshots to random eight-character codes, and uses space in my Dropbox account. So I have to remember to turn it off when I don't want to share a screenshot.
posted by vasi at 8:13 AM on February 22, 2016

RIP Skitch. CloudApp can do this, but the free level is fairly restrictive and the paid levels are awfully expensive for what they are.
posted by Nelson at 8:31 AM on February 22, 2016

I've always liked Jing.
posted by Dansaman at 8:43 AM on February 22, 2016 [2 favorites]

I use Apple's native screenshot thing and set the key commands to be things that I could remember. Have the image saved to a Dropbox which will upload it (right click to get URL). The thing I really like about it is that there are options: selection, window and whole screen. The only thing it's missing is a menubar icon, is that a dealbreaker?
posted by jessamyn at 8:52 AM on February 22, 2016

Response by poster: Jessamyn and ShooBoo - the benefit of Slingshot was that it automatically copied the image link to the clipboard for quick pasting into an email or text. Is there a way to do that with Apple's native tools?
posted by kdern at 8:53 AM on February 22, 2016

I also have Dropbox integrated to automatically copy the link.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/zcg32nw4na7lrt9/Screenshot%202016-02-22%2011.54.41.png?dl=0

That was Cmd-Shift-4, drag, copy+paste.
posted by supercres at 8:55 AM on February 22, 2016

Response by poster: Supercres - the only way I know to copy a link from Dropbox is to find the file in the finder and copy the link from there. How do you have yours set up to copy automatically when you take a screenshot?
posted by kdern at 8:58 AM on February 22, 2016

I have some friends who like Monosnap. I don't use it myself, so I can't directly vouch.
posted by primethyme at 9:03 AM on February 22, 2016

I use Dropbox. It moves screenshots made using the apple shortcuts to a cloud folder, and automatically copies the link to the clipboard. To activate it there's just a checkbox in settings under "import" I think.
posted by advil at 9:14 AM on February 22, 2016

I misspoke-- I didn't even copy before. Link is automatically on my clipboard.

Here's settings, and here's the notification.
posted by supercres at 9:16 AM on February 22, 2016

Response by poster: OK - that's pretty cool. Had no idea Dropbox could do that. The only downside to this is that I can't embed the image in an email - the link is to a Dropbox page, not the image itself. Anyone know of a way around this?
posted by kdern at 9:19 AM on February 22, 2016

Response by poster: I've looked at all the recommendations and GrabBox does exactly what I need. Thanks for the suggestions (and for teaching me something new about Dropbox)!
posted by kdern at 9:53 AM on February 22, 2016

If the image is in the "Public" folder in Dropbox, then Copy Link will give you a direct link. I think this is a grandfathered feature in Dropbox though, so if your account is newer it might not work that way.

(the screenshots feature in Dropbox is relatively new -- added sometime last year.)
posted by neckro23 at 9:56 AM on February 22, 2016

I asked very similar Mac screenshot question last week.

Thanks to MeFi, I learned the in-built screenshot capability of Firefox in developer mode is awesome.

Bonus to this method is no new app plus this has the ability to do vertical scrolling screenshots of say, Newsletter emails or other docs/images too long to fit on one screen.
posted by caveatz at 12:20 PM on February 22, 2016

CloudApp, but the free level is restricting. Someone said that already. But it meets everything you want except the One Time Payment, unless you are low enough throughput to quality for the free level. You can refer friends to make free a little better.
posted by cmm at 12:43 PM on February 22, 2016

Seconding Jing. It allows you to quickly copy to your clipboard, save, and/or upload to their server to share. I use it all the time.
posted by anotheraccount at 2:19 PM on February 22, 2016

I have something that meets almost every need of yours: TinyGrab, which I have used for years.

• Menu bar icon - YEP
• Keyboard shortcut to capture a section of the screen - Same as native (Cmd-Shift-4)
• Automatic upload to somewhere - YEP (to TinyGrab's servers)
• Automatic copying of the link (direct to image, not with branding around it) to the clipboard so I can quickly paste it elsewhere - ALMOST (there is some branding, but pasting a link in Slack, for instance, will preview the image properly)
• One time payment, no monthly costs - FREE
posted by Conrad Cornelius o'Donald o'Dell at 9:12 PM on February 22, 2016