How do I set a shortcut to screenshot a selected area?

Question

In gnome's screen shot program, the quick keys PrtScn captures the entire screen and alt+PrtScn captures the active window. Is there a way to script or set up the third capture option of a selected area?

Update: I don't seem to have this key already mapped...

in 16.04 There is already a short cut of shift-print – Christian Bongiorno Mar 16 '16 at 21:13 — Christian Bongiorno, Mar 16 '16 at 21:13
This question was for 12.04. (It was a tag) – Rick Mar 16 '16 at 21:42 — Rick, Mar 16 '16 at 21:42

score 153 · Accepted Answer · edited Jun 20 '14 at 08:29

153

Open System Settings -> Keyboard -> Shortcuts
Select Custom Shortcuts(you can go to Screenshot-s too and it will work)
Click +
Fill fields
- Name to Take a screenshot of area
- Command to gnome-screenshot -a or shutter -s(if u prefer shutter)
Click OK
Double-click on what you make and set shortcut Shift+PrtSc

— And that's all ... ;)

edited Jun 20 '14 at 08:29

rubo77

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answered Jul 31 '12 at 14:57

hingev

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How should I do this on Lubuntu 12.04 ? – Neptunno Jul 31 '12 at 16:51
open **Sistem Settings** -> **Keyboard settings** and follow steps @Halkinn, or go to chat and say what you can't get – hingev Jul 31 '12 at 16:54
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Ubuntu 12.04 has this shortcut built in out of the box now as per the answer below. – sjakubowski Jun 11 '14 at 18:30
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In Linux Mint, it's `Preferences -> KeyboardShortcuts`, and the command you need is `mate-screenshot -a` – Gordon Williams Oct 31 '16 at 19:14
Been a long time but theres a shortcut for this in Ubuntu 14.04 its 'ctrl+shift+prntscrn' hope this helps. – Josyula Krishna Apr 09 '17 at 17:17
`gnome-screenshot -a -c` to send the screenshot to clipboard. After doing that, I tried `import gtk; gtk.clipboard_get().wait_for_targets()` in Python and got `('TARGETS', 'MULTIPLE', 'image/tiff', 'image/jpeg', 'image/x-MS-bmp', 'image/x-bmp', 'image/bmp', 'image/png', 'SAVE_TARGETS', 'TIMESTAMP')`, so it offers multiple formats to the application where you paste it. Trying it in Inkscape, then saving, it becomes an embedded PNG. Pasting it into Google Docs, then _Download as ... Web Page_, it also becomes a PNG. Pasting it into Gmail, sending then _Show Original_, also PNG – Evgeni Sergeev Apr 05 '18 at 22:38
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Do you provide any CLI solution to map the shortkey with this command? – alhelal May 30 '18 at 08:27
Yeah, I'd like a CLI option maybe, too. When I hit the PrintScreen button to set the shortcut, it... just takes a screenshot. :) – CivMeierFan Aug 18 '20 at 04:16
Oh, if I Disable the original shortcut, then I can set the PrintScreen button to my own shortcut. This was for setting up `/usr/bin/flameshot gui` shortcut, so I can jazz those snips up. – CivMeierFan Aug 18 '20 at 04:18
If you want to show the ui instead, use ```gnome-screenshot -i``` – pushStack Nov 17 '21 at 15:13

score 133 · Answer 2 · answered Jul 30 '12 at 20:43

133

That shortcut is already built-in: Shift+PrtScr :)

The full-list of screenshot keyboard shortcuts is:

enter image description here

answered Jul 30 '12 at 20:43

ish

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Thanks, but I don't seem to have that. Would you mind posting a screen shot of which command this is mapped to? I've included a screen shot of mine above in the update. – Rick Jul 31 '12 at 14:49
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Found it: gnome-screenshot -a – Rick Jul 31 '12 at 14:57
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that is only in ubuntu 12.04+, and @Richard i have posted answer – hingev Jul 31 '12 at 15:03
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Also works on Ubuntu 14.04 – Yehonatan Tsirolnik Jun 11 '14 at 15:19
Works for me too on Ubuntu 14.04 – Abderrahmane TAHRI JOUTI Jan 22 '15 at 08:46
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Just to report in, this still works in Ubuntu 16.04 :) – Jeff McJunkin Jun 08 '16 at 21:04
It is documented here: https://help.ubuntu.com/stable/ubuntu-help/screen-shot-record.html – heroin Feb 20 '18 at 14:51
Wow, I didn't know that. Thanks. – Anbuselvan Rocky May 27 '19 at 16:08
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Where is the file saved? – israteneda Apr 07 '20 at 18:22
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@israteneda In your Pictures folder (/home/yourname/Pictures) – Sumit Apr 14 '20 at 09:47
Works in linux mint 19.3 too – Shafaet May 05 '20 at 18:06
This has stopped working in Ubuntu 22.04. :O – odinho - Velmont May 16 '22 at 12:39
Ah, actually just pressing "prt scr" / print screen and not any shift will now allow you to snip it. – odinho - Velmont May 16 '22 at 12:43
Ctrl+Shift+Print is my favorite (checked on 20.04) – user1068352 Nov 09 '22 at 12:54

score 6 · Answer 3 · edited Feb 07 '16 at 06:42

While to above answers worked for me in Ubuntu; after switching to Lubuntu I noticed that the ShiftPrtScn was no longer working.

The following procedure fixed it for me. Since in Lubuntu the program scrot is used, I found that I had to add the following to the ~/.config/openbox/lubuntu-rc.xml:

<!-- Launch scrot with interactive select when Shift-Print is pressed -->
<keybind key="S-Print">
  <action name="Execute">
    <command>scrot -s</command>
  </action>
</keybind>

After the change do not forget to issue: openbox --reconfigure to activate the updates.

See the Lubuntu documentation for more details.

score 4 · Answer 4 · answered May 16 '22 at 12:51

4

Gnome now includes a tool by default.

The previous Shift+Prt Scr seem to no longer work for me. Not sure if that is a regression.

But just pressing Prt Scr (Print screen) will bring up this UI, allowing you to snip:

Image courtesy omg! ubuntu! Ubuntu 22.04 LTS: Screenshot Tour

answered May 16 '22 at 12:51

odinho - Velmont

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perfect! This is useful. – arilwan Oct 19 '22 at 16:11
Thanks! This needs to go to the top! – thomasa88 Dec 06 '22 at 06:13

score 2 · Answer 5 · answered Aug 27 '17 at 08:24

2

you can try this command from terminal if you have a problem with shortcuts.

sleep 5 && gnome-screenshot -a -c

Now open the window you want to take screenshot from and select the area after 5 seconds after the command execution.

sleep 5

makes the terminal waits 5 seconds before executing the command so you can go to the window you want within this while

gnome-screenshot -a -c

takes screenshot of an area and copy it to clipboard.

answered Aug 27 '17 at 08:24

Mahmoud S. Marwad

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Copy to clipboard (`-c`) was exactly what I was looking for. – Miladiouss Apr 05 '20 at 20:30

Ilya Sheershoff · Answer 6 · 2019-01-17T22:03:59.730

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For xubuntu and xfce users:

Run Keyboard app from the launcher menu, go to Application Shortcuts, check current action for Print, if it's xfce4-screenshooter -f:

add a new action: xfce4-screenshooter -r
Set Shift+PrtScn for it
Check
Enjoy

If it's not xfce4-screenshooter - check the current tool how to run it in the "region screenshot" mode

edited Jan 17 '19 at 22:03

answered Jan 17 '19 at 15:55

Ilya Sheershoff

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A suggestion to add this to the default xubuntu package: https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/xubuntu-default-settings/+bug/1812234 – Ilya Sheershoff Jan 17 '19 at 15:56

score 0 · Answer 7 · answered Jun 11 '20 at 19:16

0

To take screenshot from a selected area And copy to clipboard, just press:

Ctrl+Shift+PrtScrn

answered Jun 11 '20 at 19:16

Savrige

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How do I set a shortcut to screenshot a selected area?

7 Answers7

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