As you might expect, we take a lot of screenshots here at TUAW, so I'm always interested in ways of making it easier. Most of the time I either use ImageWell or one of the built-in keyboard shortcuts. Nonetheless, InstantShot! looks like a convenient alternative for folks who prefer using the mouse. This little menubar utility waits quietly until you need to make a screenshot and is only a mouse-click away. It offers most of the same options as OS X's built-in Grab application, but is a bit more configurable as to file format. You can also use it to take multiple shots (like on a digital camera) every so many seconds (configurable in the Preferences). There's also an option to hide your desktop with a solid color, but it's not quite as nice-looking as Backdrop.
InstantShot! is Universal Binary and a free download from Digital Waters.













Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
1-22-2007 @ 8:40AM
John Tyler said...
Backdrop is OK, but to hide my Desktop for screenshots, I prefer Desktopple (http://foggynoggin.com/desktopple).
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1-22-2007 @ 9:43AM
Justin Cook said...
This is perfect, I've been looking for a free alternative to the 4-key combination to get a screenshot!
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1-22-2007 @ 10:27AM
Glenn Wolsey said...
What happened to crediting sources? This post was just on Digg via my site. http://www.glennwolsey.com/2007/01/22/instantshot-taking-screenshots-the-smart-way/
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1-22-2007 @ 10:31AM
Smran said...
You guys really have no ethics at all. How about linking to the source? We all know you got this off digg, how about linking to the blog post you found it through? Pathetic.
http://www.glennwolsey.com/2007/01/22/instantshot-taking-screenshots-the-smart-way/
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1-22-2007 @ 10:36AM
Mat Lu said...
@Glenn: Just to let you know, we do of course credit sources. But in this case, I actually ran across this in my own random surfing. If you'll look back at my other posts you'll see I'm very scrupulous about crediting, so please believe me when I say that I didn't credit you because that's not how I ran across it.
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1-22-2007 @ 10:50AM
Glenn Wolsey said...
Matt,
I've noticed that in many recent TUAW stories, you guys have not linked back to the source.
If you say you found it elsewhere, that's fine. It's just strange how you managed to come across InstantShot a short time after the story was promoted on Digg. It sounds like your random surfing involved the search box at digg.com.
Cheers,
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1-22-2007 @ 11:00AM
Mat Lu said...
@Glenn; You, sir, are being arrogant and insulting, but I'll leave your posting. Think about it for a second: how did YOU first find the software? As I said before, what possible reason do I (or any of us at TUAW) have for not crediting sources. And if indeed you look back at our postings you'll see that the vast majority of them do credit some source. But do you really think nobody else can find things on their own? Do you really think you're the only person who likes surfing around the net? This is a simple post hoc ergo propter hoc fallacy, an elementary mistake of reasoning.
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1-22-2007 @ 11:12AM
Laurie said...
Glenn - I don't actively follow digg (i'm not a fan of the site in general) and I don't subscribe to your RSS feed or read your site regularly unless someone happens to send in a tip or you're linked from somewhere else. Yet I saw InstantShot on both MacUpdate and VersionTracker RSS feeds yesterday and if Matt hadn't posted about it, I might have mentioned it myself today. I suspect you found the app via one of those software tracking sites as well. I don't know about you, but I track almost 600 feeds these days so the number of sites I might discover something I want to post about is pretty significant and there's bound to be some overlap. Accusing someone of lying or being unethical when you just happened to post about before we did an application that's on both major Mac software trackers and certainly no secret is a bit of a low blow and completely unwarranted.
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1-22-2007 @ 11:21AM
e said...
so, back to comments on the software...
what about capturing the active window only, not the entire screen? does anyone know of a way to do this? instaShot seems like a viable option, but i don't want to draw a rectangle everytime i want to capture my active window...
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1-22-2007 @ 11:27AM
Steve said...
I prefer using the free Screenshot Plus Widget
http://www.apple.com/downloads/dashboard/business/screenshotplus.html
It probably the only widget I use on a daily basis
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1-22-2007 @ 12:06PM
Smaran Dayal said...
Okay, I'm ready to admit that maybe I was wrong about you guys finding out about it from digg. It sounds incredibly strange though...
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1-22-2007 @ 1:14PM
Victor Agreda Jr said...
Smaran, it's not incredibly strange. Please go to VersionTracker and note when the update was posted. We set posts to "go live" sometimes hours later. We love digg, and credit it when we find something there. No conspiracy, it's just a very big internet and coincedences happen every day.
Anyway, this is the first I've heard of the app (and I use the digg widget, but this didn't catch my eye until I got involved in this silliness).
Looks cool! My wife can never seem to remember the keyboard shortcut, and it's a bit of a pain to switch around the file format. Very handy.
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1-22-2007 @ 2:58PM
Megan said...
So, is Mat Lu a thief or is Glenn Wolsey some sort of lame punk?
http://digg.com/apple/TUAW_caught_stealing_online_content
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1-22-2007 @ 9:10PM
Smaran Dayal said...
Ah, okay. You're right, Victor. Sorry for jumping to conclusions.
And Megan, I'm taking your advice. I'll stick to writing on my own blog. :-)
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1-22-2007 @ 11:55PM
Glenn Wolsey said...
Matt and I have sorted the issues out, there was no need for the Digg story. The issue is solved and finished.
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1-23-2007 @ 2:50AM
Jason Smith said...
Mat,
What is the name of the weather program you have running in your Menu Bar next to the GMail notifier? Been looking for something since using Meteorologist years ago.
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1-23-2007 @ 8:33AM
Megan said...
> Matt and I have sorted the issues
@Glen,
I'm glad you seem to be content now. Perhaps you could use this opportunity to publicly apologize to Mat and us TUAW readers for hijacking the original thread with your 'stolen content' diatribe.
FYI: Matt != Mat, just like Glen != Glenn.
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1-23-2007 @ 4:54PM
Mat Lu said...
@Jason: It is in fact an Intel build of Meteorologist.
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