FastStone Capture

FastStone Capture is a powerful, lightweight, yet fully featured screen capture tool and screen video recorder.

FastStone Capture Version 10.4 (December 21, 2023)

• Enhanced Screen Recorder:
  • Simplified the Start Recording window. Switch between simplified mode and detailed mode with just a single click
  • Enable/disable devices like Microphone, Speaker, and Webcam directly within the Start Recording window
• Enhanced Eraser in Draw tool:
  • Show a circular cursor to indicate the area to be erased.
  • Right click mouse to pick a screen color
  • Scroll mouse wheel to adjust eraser size
• Enhanced the Save dialog in the Scan tool with improved functionality and user interface.
• Added "Save All (same name)" option (Ctrl+Alt+S) to the File menu in FastStone Editor, allowing you to save multiple images with the same name and a sequential number
• Many other small enhancements and bug fixes

Version History

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I've been testing FastStone Capture. It's a very light image and video capture utility that has much more functionality than I expected. I won't go into a lot of detail, but instead let the screenshots do most of the talking.

The first thing you'll notice is the toolbar. The default size is very small, but it can be enlarged in the FastStone Capture settings -> Toolbar tab. You can also add more buttons to the toolbar in those settings. The toolbar skin color can also be changed to one of four preset colors, or you can choose your own custom color. The toolbar skin settings are available in the toolbar settings menu. Incidentally, the toolbar is not where most of the functionality resides.



A lot more functions can be accessed via the tray icon context menu.



The default output setting is the FastStone Capture Editor, but that can be changed via the tray icon context menu depicted above or by the FastStone Capture toolbar Output button. There are several different options to choose from.



As stated above, you can change the output, put there is also a "FastStone Capture Draw" button in FastStone Capture Editor where it takes you to FastStone Capture Draw where you can easily add annotations. Pressing Print Screen button (PrtSc) or Alt + Print Screen opens up the image in your selected output.



Below are all the FastStone Capture settings that are available.





I've enabled a minimized auto start, so when Windows starts, the tray icon is always available. You don't notice that it's started, except for the tray icon.

FastStone Capture is a very functional screen capture application that supports images and videos while being very light on resources.

On the weekend, I test-drove FastStone Capture and was so impressed I bought a lifetime license. I shared my experience here in recent this post.

I highly recommend the product. It has a lot of features, and it is easy to use.

Have a great day.

Regards,
Phil

The last free version 5.3 from many years ago works fine. It doesnt have quite as many features as above.

garioch7 said:

On the weekend, I test-drove FastStone Capture and was so impressed I bought a lifetime license. I shared my experience here in recent this post.

I highly recommend the product. It has a lot of features, and it is easy to use.

Have a great day.

Regards,
Phil

Click to expand...

It has lots of functionality and very easy to use.

It's a good program!
I find the "Auto Reset to 0" after one delay capture very clever!
I've never seen that in any other program!

Edwin said:

It's a good program!
I find the "Auto Reset to 0" after one delay capture very clever!
I've never seen that in any other program!

View attachment 83188

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So, it automatically resets to "No Delay".
I've just enabled that setting.

Edwin said:

It's a good program!
I find the "Auto Reset to 0" after one delay capture very clever!
I've never seen that in any other program!

View attachment 83188

Click to expand...

Have you tried the Screen Ruler or Screen Crosshairs? I'm not sure what to do with Screen Crosshairs, but the Screen Ruler comes in handy at times.



I'm also still trying to find a use for Screen Focus and Screen Magnifier.

Stigg said:

I'm also still trying to find a use for Screen Focus and Screen Magnifier.

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Accessibility or Presentation features, I figure.

This program is feature packed! And, lots of clever options within each feature category!
Well worth $20 bucks!!!

One thing though, I'm trying to figure out why the Editor and Drawing Board couldn't be combined into one UI.

Edwin said:

One thing though, I'm trying to figure out why the Editor and Drawing Board couldn't be combined into one UI.

Click to expand...

I wondered about that when I first started using it, but I think it's to allow you to choose either output destination.

I have been using it from couple of years. Maybe from its version v4.

FastStone Scrolling Capture is flawless!

That's a good comparison, @Edwin .

Stigg said:

That's a good comparison, @Edwin .

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Makes me wonder if the other guys just use a simple front end overlay, while FastStone employs something a bit more sophisticated!

Edwin said:

Makes me wonder if the other guys just use a simple front end overlay, while FastStone employs something a bit more sophisticated!

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I'm not sure, Edwin. That's above my pay grade.

Stigg said:

That's above my pay grade.

Click to expand...

Same here, I'm just speculating. Could be a site specific thing too!

I'll be sticking with Share X although FastStone looks good. As for rolling capture I use the browser for that.

Edge,



Firefox,