Snipping Tool, the built-in Windows utility for capturing screenshots, has improved massively over the past few years, especially on Windows 11, but the Snipping Tool is still far from perfect. As someone who regularly captures, annotates, and edits screenshots, I still can't fully rely on it, no matter how much I streamline my workflow to favor Snipping Tool. I agree, it's dependable, integrates well with the operating system, and supports features like video recording and text extraction, but it still feels outdated compared to third-party tools.

For the last five years, I have used ShareX, an open-source utility, for screen capture and recording, and it truly feels like a complete package. From deeper customization options to an enhanced feature set, ShareX delivers where Snipping Tool falls short. If screenshots are a critical part of your workflow, the limitations in Snipping Tool become apparent and hard to ignore.

Snipping Tool lacks key functionalities critical to screenshot-capturing apps

ShareX covers those gaps

In my opinion, Snipping Tool is a simple utility aimed at regular users, not designed for advanced tasks or workflows. You can quickly capture screenshots, set up delayed captures, record the screen or parts of it, perform basic annotation, or extract text, but beyond that, there's not much to it. Features like scrolling screenshots, which are now integrated even into browsers, are still missing from Snipping Tool. That's a very basic functionality, used by a large number of users.

Then, there's the inability to capture active windows or apps. While Snipping Tool lets you select "Windows" as the snipping area, it only captures apps that are visible on the desktop. On the other hand, with ShareX, you can even take screenshots of windows and apps that are minimized to the taskbar. It lists all active windows, allowing you to select any that you want to capture. Next on the list is the ability to capture GIFs. While it's not something everyone needs, the feature does prove helpful to creators. Unlike videos that need to be played manually, GIFs run automatically, ensuring a better experience. And that's something I get with ShareX, not with Snipping Tool.

Additionally, ShareX offers better post-capture editing options, especially when it comes to annotating screenshots. While Snipping Tool features basic functionalities, including highlighting a piece of text or adding shapes like arrows, ShareX takes it to another level altogether. You can add freehand arrows, insert and customize text boxes, use numbers to highlight the sequence of steps, and even place a magnifying glass to zoom in on critical parts of the screen grabs, in addition to countless other features that improve the quality of screenshots. Personally, I find Smart Eraser to be one of the best features in ShareX. It lets you remove any part of the image and fills that area with surrounding colors, eliminating all traces of post-capture editing. And frankly, it does an excellent job!

Third-party tools offer workflow-oriented customizations

This streamlines the workflow and saves time

The real advantage of third-party tools doesn't just lie in their feature-rich interface, but also in the fact that they let you streamline the process to align with your workflow. ShareX, for instance, allows you to set dedicated hotkeys for different types of screen captures and recordings. You can even set custom keyboard shortcuts for every action and editing task.

Then come smaller things, like the ability to recapture the last captured region to ensure consistency, and the option to set custom file names. While this may not seem like a big deal if you occasionally take screenshots, it really saves users who capture many in one go a significant amount of time. And the best part is that third-party tools like ShareX let you customize nearly every part of the process.

Snipping Tool isn't competing with third-party alternatives

But some features are far too common to ignore

As I said earlier, Microsoft doesn't want Snipping Tool to challenge or replace ShareX. The former is designed for regular Windows users who occasionally capture screenshots and perform basic annotations. Adding too many features will complicate the experience for the vast majority and may even drive some away.

But we can't ignore that even simpler tools these days come with basic features, such as scrolling screenshots or showing recent captures on the home screen. They are not too much to ask for. These are functionalities that even regular users have begun to integrate into their workflow, and their absence is hard to justify.

Snipping Tool can become the go-to solution on Windows

But only when it integrates more customizations

Snipping Tool has come a long way, from being a standalone utility to being absorbed into "Snip and Sketch" on Windows 11. Its native integration, quick response time, and simple UI work in its favor. With the right improvements, Snipping Tool might become the first choice for many users who rely heavily on screenshots. Functionalities like GIF recording, customizing hotkeys, advanced annotation tools, and capture history are no longer optional but considered essential. And once Microsoft brings these to Snipping Tool, I might consider switching to it for good.