I take a lot of screenshots, not just of scenes within games but also of different software and applications. It's a key part of properly explaining anything, after all. The problem is that Windows 10's screenshot feature has never been the most streamlined experience, and it often takes longer to gather the screenshots I need than it does to actually write the article. Windows 11 improved its functionality, but I haven't made the leap to the new OS yet.

The Snipping Tool has improved things on that front, but it can still be better. While the Snipping Tool now saves images as files versus copying them to the clipboard, ShareX presents a more useful alternative that can even upload images to cloud storage and online image hosts with minimal input. It even features a surprisingly versatile built-in image editor. When it comes to quickly capturing screenshots for a story, I reach for the ShareX key bindings far more often than Windows' Snipping Tool.

ShareX is more than just screenshots

Screen recordings, scrolling capture, and GIFs, oh my

I primarily use ShareX to take screenshots, but it's capable of significantly more than that. The application makes it easy to record my screen, create GIFs, and show web pages that require scrolling. I can even set it up to automatically take screenshots at predefined intervals of either the full screen or a specific region on the screen. When grabbing a specific area of the screen, a magnified cursor appears that gives you pixel-perfect accuracy.

Screenshots can be placed on a delay timer for up to five seconds, and that's been a lifesaver for trying to capture context-specific menus that don't always play nice with certain key bindings. Beyond that, ShareX has a full suite of built-in tools for image editing and manipulation. The Image Beautifier makes it easy to touch up pictures that are a little on the rougher side, and it also lets you add margins, padding, and more. The Image Effects page lets you add various effects, and multiple effects are available for download from the ShareX website.

If you want to take a batch of screenshots and give them the same effect, you can set up automations that will automatically apply the desired changes to screenshots after you take them, rather than manually implementing the tweaks yourself.

Setting up hotkeys is easy and intuitive

Custom bindings for your workflow

ShareX comes with several preset hotkeys, but my most commonly used bindings didn't make sense. Alt + Print Screen to capture the active screen? That resulted in some finger gymnastics, so I made a few changes. Remapping a command is as simple as pressing the combination of keys you want to use; just make sure you aren't overwriting something else in the process. In my case, Alt + P opened the projector menu for my PC, but it's a feature I don't think I've used once in the last eight years. That was an easy choice.

You can easily set up hotkeys for just about anything ShareX can do, including enabling or disabling hotkeys. The task settings menu provides even more extensive options and more advanced controls that let power users dive into the nitty-gritty of the application. You can even enable custom capture sounds if the default ping doesn't suit you (and if you know someone who uses ShareX, it's a great way to prank them).

ShareX connects with a comprehensive list of image hosts

Upload anywhere you want

One of the greatest features of ShareX is that it takes the tedium out of otherwise incredibly tedious tasks. If I wanted to upload screenshots to an online host, I would normally do so via that site's proprietary upload tool. ShareX connects with a lot of different hosts right out of the gate, including Imgur, Flickr, and Photobucket. I can also upload straight to Dropbox, Google Drive, and a variety of other options, including self-hosted alternatives like Nextcloud.

These tools make it easy to quickly put a screenshot on the internet, but they also pose a potential threat. Make sure you don't have images set to automatically upload, or you might end up sharing something to the web that you didn't mean to share.

Sadly, it's only available for Windows

Mac and Linux users are out of luck

ShareX is one of the best screenshot tools available on Windows, but unfortunately, it's only available on Windows. Mac and Linux users don't have access to the app, although there are alternatives for both platforms. The macOS screenshot tool is more convenient than Windows' default one, but it doesn't have the same range of features that ShareX offers. While that's not such an issue for individual users, it means that any teams spread across different operating systems might run into obstacles.

Beyond the limited availability, its upload feature isn't always consistent. If a site changes its API, it can break the connection between the host and ShareX, meaning your images won't upload as you expect. While it's not a deal breaker, it can be inconvenient.

If you're on Windows, this one is hard to beat

I'm not looking back

Despite ShareX's flaws, it's still a phenomenal application for taking screenshots that has saved me a huge amount of time. No longer do I need to hunt down where Windows stored my screenshot (despite setting a path multiple times), nor do I need to paste something into Paint from the clipboard. Few other programs come anywhere close to ShareX in terms of power and convenience, so if you take a lot of screenshots, I can't recommend it enough.

ShareX is probably my new favorite Windows tool

Over the past several months, I've experimented with a lot of different applications. While each one has its draws, few have had the immediate impact on my workflow and productivity that ShareX has. Editing images and screenshots has always been one of my least favorite activities, and now this app makes it significantly easier to do. While I still don't enjoy it, gathering images is much less of a chore.