FAQ & Help
July 28th, 2009
- I am using Ubuntu and cannot find Shutter in the repositories. How do I install it?
Shutter is currently available through our own apt-repository hosted at launchpad.net.Please take a look at our step-by-step installation guide if you need any further assistance.
- I want Shutter to be the default tool to take screenshots with. How do I do that?
Shutter provides a built-in functionality to setup the global shortcuts if you are using GNOME.A detailed description and solutions for other desktop environments are avaiable here. - I want to open my screenshot in an external application but the ‘Open with’ menu entry is empty. Why are my installed apps not listed here?
You don’t seem to have any mimeinfo.cache files.Try running the update-desktop-database command. If you don’t have this command you should install the desktop-file-utils package.





This looks like a great tool! Are there any plugins available that are not pre-installed? I’d love to be able to easily add text and simple graphics (e.g., arrows and highlights) to screenshots.
You can already do that! Try Screenshot ▸ Edit. To add highlights, use the buttons on the left, and to add arrows, see and insert image button on the bottom-right.
I want to use P as my trigger for capturing a selection. I left the gnome-keybinding set to the default for Capture (e.g. Print).
In the capture with selection, i have P
I have selection selected in the drop down.
when I press the key combination, nothing happens. What am I doing wrong?
@Kenny Schiff
This is what gnome-keybinding-properties is saying:
“The shortcut “P” cannot be used because it will become impossible to type using this key.
Please try with a key such as Control, Alt or Shift at the same time.”
This rule applies to Shutter too.
Update: Not to be mistaken. Generally this should work anyway. Maybe you can find a solution here to get the the keybinding working:
https://answers.launchpad.net/shutter/+question/44372
This is a great tool but web snap doesn’t work well only site it ever take’s a snap of is this one (lol)
tried tons of sites with no luck anyone got some ideas as to what is causing this.
Using Ubuntu Intrepid
Try setting the timeout to be longer – click the down arrow and set it to “15″.
If it still doesnt help, report the bug please, and we’ll sort it out.
Could you please provide some examples (URL) for sites that don’t work.
Maybe it helps to raise the timeout when capturing a website, see:
http://www.ubuntu-pics.de/bild/11261/foo_9HpKZj.png
I want to start shutter in the notification area only. Is this possible?
@Richard
You can use the min_at_startup option:
shutter --min_at_startupYou can add that command to your session configuration as well to start Shutter automatically after login.
Hi! I can not find how to capture with scroll (i.e. including the areas of a document/page currently hidden because it is larger than application’s window).
Thanks a lot in advance.
@vmarquez
This feature is not implemented yet, but there is already a feature request related to this:
https://bugs.launchpad.net/shutter/+bug/343674
Please stay tuned and thank you for your interest in Shutter.
Hi, I’m trying to get drop shadows on shapes and rounded corners on my rectangles
Is there a plug-in to do this ?
Thx
https://answers.launchpad.net/shutter/+question/67140
Hi, first of all thanks for this great tool. I am truely looking forward to its feature-rich future. At present I am having a little problem with version 0.70.2 running with Kubuntu 8.10 and KDE 4.2: When launching shutter it does not use the preferences saved either as Default or with a different Name, but always returns to the Factory Default. Like with previous Snagit, I prefer to record all captures in a distint directory with filenames set to %Y%m%d–%NNN. Once set in preferences and saved, shutter perfectly behaves as intended. After reboot all these settings are “lost” and if saved with a filename different from Default, again nothing is applied to remedy the situation.
Perhaps I overlooked something and would be pleased if someone can point me in the right direction.
Detlef
Without the ability to capture with scroll (including the areas of a document/page currently hidden because it is larger than application’s window), this application is of little use. However, for those who need it, install the Screengrab! extension in Firefox. At least you’ll be able to get captures with scroll on web pages, where it’s needed most. For everything else, as far as I can tell there is not a single app for Linux that will capture with scroll. This is needed badly.
@Bob Smith
I totally agree that this a very important feature. There is already a bug targeting this issue. So please stay tuned:
https://bugs.launchpad.net/shutter/+bug/343674
Btw, Shutter does already work exactly as Screengrab! on webpages.
@detlef
Does this answer your question?
https://answers.launchpad.net/shutter/+question/72118
I think we have to change the save behavior in order to avoid those problems.
How do you append the date to the filename instead of the number?
@Antonio
You can use all wildcards listed here:
http://www.opengroup.org/onlinepubs/007908799/xsh/strftime.html
You would like to use %D in your filename to append the date for example.
Thanks! Could this list of wildcards be put into a help file on the program?
@Antonio
Of course! Once we get one.
@Romario
Thanks Romario, it did help indeed.
How to make a screanshot of all site window not just part which is seing on the monitor screan (I mean scrolling vertically and horizontally)?
@rulet
https://answers.launchpad.net/shutter/+question/76147
Hey Romario,
thanks for this application!
Is it possibile to automate screenshots? I’d like to grab a screenshot every 1 minute and also have the files being automatically uploaded.
I use virtual environment like Opensim and Second Life and this would give me the ability to show on the web what’s happening inside the virtual environments.
@Opensource Obscure
I am afraid this is not possible at the moment. But I like the idea and we might add that feature in future releases of Shutter.
I’m really loving Shutter; it’s been very helpful in preparing instructional materials. However, I’ve been having a hard time getting Shutter to capture menus, both drop-down and right-click menus. Is there a simple way to do this? Am I missing something?
@Buzzy
That’s tricky sometimes, you are right. There are several problems here, e.g. hotkeys do not work when menus are in focus. Currently the easiest way of doing this is to take a screenshot with a delay of e.g. 5 seconds, open the menu after selecting the window and crop the screenshot (using the “Edit” function) afterwards.
But I am pretty sure we’ll find an easier way of doing this in future versions.
This is an excellent tool! However I can’t use it exclusively because it doesn’t have the delay functionality. If I want a screenshot of a menu, how can I do that? Come on, put in the delay… how hard can it be!
Thanks for a great product.
Oops, I just saw the delay functionality is already there, sorry about that. Now it’s an even greater product!
Don’t mind
Btw, capturing a menu will be a lot easier in the next version of Shutter:
https://bugs.launchpad.net/shutter/+bug/415917
Capture menus/sub-menu.
Sorry, that does not work for me. I need to capture menus > sub-menus for sofware documentation.
I have set a delay 5 s. and use section. Let’s take a web browser app (i.e. FF) if I position the cursor on the menu bar, I click none of them. I cannot even select the menu bar itself. Shutter will print the visible part of the web page on my screen.
Little help please.
Edit “I can click none of them”
@nomnex
As already said before. There will be dedicated function to do this (capturing menus/submenus) in the next version of Shutter. Please stay tuned…
https://bugs.launchpad.net/shutter/+bug/415917
I surely will, thanks for the feedback. What’s the link for feature requests/discussion? Do you plan to open a forum dedicated to shutter’s questions? might be a lot of work to maintain though, I have read on the page you were two people running the project. Regards.
PS: Out of curiosity, what’s the distro you use on your print screens? It looks like Debian (background pic.)
You can ask a question here:
https://answers.launchpad.net/shutter/+addquestion
Or just browse and comment bugs (or add a new one):
https://bugs.launchpad.net/shutter
A dedicated forum is not planned currently.
It’s Ubuntu using this theme:
http://www.gnome-look.org/content/show.php/Shiki-Colors?content=86717
3x thanks (nice theme btw)
I surely will, tyanks for the feedback. What's the link for feature requests/discussion? Do you plan to open a forum dedicated to shutter's questions? might be a lot of work to maintain though, I have read on the page you were two people running the project. Regards.
PS: Out of curiosity, what's the distro you use on your print screens? It looke like Debian (background pic.);
I really like Shutter! It’s the closest to Snagit I’ve seen on Linux.
However, its screenshot seems fuzzy compared to one taken with Gimp. Example: I take a Shutter screenshot of a Terminal window and it’s fuzzy compared to the Gimp File | Acquire | Screenshot of the same window.
Am I doing something wrong? I use Ubuntu 8.04 with the latest updates.
@FuturePerfect
For best results you should make sure to configure Shutter to save in PNG format, but maybe it’s just the current zoom-level that makes the screenshot look fuzzy? Have you tried to open the screenshot in Gimp or set the View to “Normal Size” (Ctrl+0)?
Romario: Thanks! You helped me see the real problem:
When I save as a png file then open in the Gnome viewer & print, it’s fine
BUT when I driect print from Shutter it’s fuzzy.
Sometime I just want a screen print without having to save as a png first.
Is there something else I’m missing or does direct print need tweaks?
@FuturePerfect
Ah, ok! I think the printing does need tweaks. I’ve created a new bug for this:
https://bugs.launchpad.net/shutter/+bug/436504
Thanks!
This is a feature request after using Shutter for a few months. The function Uplodad/Download would be handier if I had the option to send the print sceen directly by email. More than once a day I need to send a print screen to a recipient by email. The quicker the better. (Ubuntu linux 9.04 here). Thanks
@nomnex
Good point. There is already a bug report for this:
https://bugs.launchpad.net/shutter/+bug/340762
That’s exactly what I needed… hopefully you can get it soon, I think that’s what makes SnagIt so good in Windows, even without this feature you have done a very good application, thanks a lot
Love Shutter – but I would like it more if I had an option to NOT display the shutter window even after I take the screen shot — 99% of the time, I just paste the clipboard directly into an email – I don’t want or need the shutter window to show up and take the focus. Possible?
@slcpunk
This is already implemented in the latest development version of Shutter and will be released with the next version (0.85).
https://bugs.launchpad.net/shutter/+bug/350660
@Romario
Wow, amazing, Thanks!
Sorry I didn’t find it in launchpad before posting.
Hey,
let me say, Shutter is the best screenshot tool for Linux, I found so far. But as I use WinSnap in Windows, i am missing something in Shutter. Maybe someone can help me here:
1) Don’t show the main window after any kind of screenshot is taken. Most of the time I use screenshots via clipboard, so I don’t need the main window opening after taking a screenshot. Is this possible?
2) Currently there are only two shortcuts available for screenshot actions. I could use at least three. Capture screen, capture window and capture custom selection. Any ideas?
Best regards
Andi
@Andi
1) This is already implemented in the latest development version of Shutter and will be released with the next version (0.85).
https://bugs.launchpad.net/shutter/+bug/350660
2) You can simply configure a custom keyboard shortcut. If you are using GNOME you can use gnome-keybinding-properties to do this, look here:
http://www.ubuntu-pics.de/bild/28813/custom_keyboard_shortcuts_vTy5xL.png
See `man shutter` via terminal to have a look at all possible capture options: –full, –window etc.
Regards
Mario