ELX-ScreenShot
Hotkey, selection, editor, done
A screenshot utility for Windows that lives in the notification area: press the key, drag a rectangle, annotate it with arrows, highlighter, text and blur, then save it or copy it to the clipboard. Written against the Windows API directly, with no runtime and no UI framework underneath.
A magnifier while you drag
Six-times magnification follows the cursor before and during the drag, with the coordinates underneath and the selection size while dragging. You can see which pixel the edge lands on instead of guessing and cropping again.
Click for a window
Instead of dragging, click a window and it is captured whole, with its bounds taken from the window manager so that no shadow is included. Space captures the whole monitor under the cursor.
Annotations stay editable
Every shape you draw remains an object: move it, resize it by its handles, nudge it with the arrow keys, delete it, or change its colour and thickness afterwards. Nothing is baked into the picture until you save.
Blur and mosaic
Cover an address, a licence key or a face — soft blur or mosaic, rectangular or oval, in four strengths. The area stays adjustable after it is drawn.
Watermark and timestamp
Applied over everything else and shown in the editor exactly as they will be in the file. One key removes them from the current shot without changing the settings.
One key finishes it
Enter saves to the folder and closes; Ctrl+C copies to the clipboard and closes. The common case is one keystroke, not a save dialog.
Capturing
- An area. The screen dims, you drag a rectangle, and its size is shown as you go.
- A window. Click instead of dragging and that window is captured whole.
- A monitor. Press Space while selecting to take the entire screen under the cursor.
- The magnifier. Six-times zoom follows the cursor throughout, with coordinates and, while dragging, the selection size.
The editor
| Tool | Key | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| Select | V | Pick an existing object, move it, resize it — active when the editor opens |
| Arrow | A | A line with an arrowhead; colour and thickness adjustable |
| Highlighter | M | A translucent freehand stroke, drawn as one outline so crossings do not darken |
| Text | T | A caption with font, size, weight, colour and outline |
| Frame | R | A rectangular outline |
| Blur | B | Cover an area with blur or mosaic, rectangular or oval |
| Crop | C | Keep only the selected rectangle |
A shape becomes selected the moment it is drawn, with a dashed outline and square handles. Dragging inside moves it, dragging a handle resizes it, the arrow keys nudge it by a pixel and with Shift by ten, and Delete removes it. Changing the colour, thickness or font on the toolbar changes the selected object rather than only the next one.
| Shortcut | Action |
|---|---|
Enter | Save to the folder and close |
Ctrl+C | Copy to the clipboard and close |
Ctrl+S | Save as… |
Ctrl+Z / Ctrl+Y | Undo and redo, including crop and rotation |
Ctrl+L / Ctrl+R | Rotate the frame 90° left or right, annotations included |
W | Watermark on this shot, on or off |
Delete | Remove the selected object |
Esc | Finish the current action |
Where the picture goes
- To a folder, with a name pattern you configure.
- To the clipboard, ready to paste into a chat or a document.
- To a file you choose, through a save dialog, when the destination is unusual.
The watermark and the timestamp, when enabled, are drawn over everything else — and what the editor shows is exactly what the file will contain.
At a glance
- Operating system
- Windows 10 and 11
- Written in
- Go over the Windows API — GDI and GDI+
- Dependencies
- None; no CGO, no UI library
- Lives in
- The notification area
- Capture modes
- Area, window, monitor
- Editor tools
- Arrow, highlighter, text, frame, blur, mosaic, crop, rotate
- Output
- File, clipboard, save-as