CloudShot – Neat Screen Capture Tool

cloudshot-featureI thought I knew every type of free screen capture tool available, that was until I came across CloudShot. According to CloudShot’s changelog, the software has been around since late 2012 with the most recent version (5.1) released in March this year. Strange then that I’d never heard of it, especially seeing how it is actually a pretty neat tool.

As is the case with most free screen capture software, CloudShot’s built-in editor is fairly basic, however, it is a step above the pack in general and includes several nice sharing options plus a screen activity recorder to boot.

CloudShot – Download & Usage

CloudShot is available in both installer and portable versions, however, there is a minor caveat regarding the portable version – it does save some data in Users\UserName\AppData\Roaming\CloudShot. The installer version consists of a 3.1MB download, with the portable version weighing in at 1.8MB (zipped folder). I elected to check out the portable version – portable is always preferable, yes?

cloudshot-example

CloudShot’s capture options are accessible from a right click menu associated with its cloud-shaped system tray icon, and it also includes various hotkey combinations to initiate actions:

cloudshot-hotkeys

CloudShot Features

As I mentioned earlier, the built-in editor is fairly basic but does allow you to insert customizable text and shapes (circle, square, frame, arrow) which is probably more than adequate for most casual users. As you can see from the screenshot above, CloudShot also provides a quick and easy way to share captures through Dropbox, Imgur, and via FTP.

Unusually for freeware, CloudShot also includes a screen recorder to record screen activity. Again, it’s fairly basic and output format is limited to gif only, however, it is surprisingly effective.

cloudshot-screen-recorder

Verdict

In a genre where there are plenty of options, CloudShot is one of the easiest to use and most effective free screen capture tools I’ve tested. Well above average and definitely worth checking out.

4 thoughts on “CloudShot – Neat Screen Capture Tool”

  1. Thanks for sharing Jim. Think I will play with CloudShot. It does look like a keeper.

  2. Very interesting sofware, almost what I’m looking for.

    Simple, big menus where you expect them, not too many functions, contextual menus.

    I’m totally uninterested in the cloud functions, in fact I’m wondering what’s that sharing craze among screen capture tools. Snapshots of my screen are the last thing I want to wander around the cloud-thing. Do they monetize that as well ?

    Needs polishing. Not finished yet. Only one font for comments (and an ugly one at that).

  3. Nice App, thanks for the sharing. CloudShot works quite well for me. I used to capture screenshot with acethinker screen grabber, free as well. Share it here as an alternative to CloudShot.

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