First Look at GNOME 42’s Built-In Screenshot and Screencast Feature

GNOME screenshot

The upcoming GNOME 42 desktop environment series will feature a built-in screenshot and screencast feature that will replace the existing GNOME Screenshot utility.

I bet that you’ve read about GNOME 42’s built-in screenshot and screencast feature in the past, but you probably never saw it in action in its full and final state. As such, I wanted you to be the first to see it in action and learn about its capabilities right here on 9to5Linux.

First of all, I want to make it clear that this is not a new app that will replace the GNOME Screenshot utility, but a built-in functionality of GNOME Shell that you can activate in the GNOME 42 desktop environment and later versions via the PrtSc (Print Screen) key on your keyboard.

If you’ve ever used macOS Mojave or later, you will find the new GNOME 42 screenshot and screencast feature quite similar. It’s actually even easier to use and has a more intuitive UI that features a toggle to switch between screenshot and screencast functionality, a record/take screenshot button, and a toggle to show or hide the mouse cursor.

Just like GNOME Screenshot or any other screenshot utility, the new built-in screenshot and screencast feature of GNOME 42 lets you choose between three modes, namely Selection (Area), Screen (Entire Screen), or Window.

Unfortunately, you won’t be able to record (screencast) just a window, but you can always use the Selection mode. I should also note the fact that the Window mode is available in screenshot mode only if you have at least one window open. If multiple windows are opened, the UI will let you choose the one you want to screenshot in a nice Overview screen.

During a screencast, a handy screen recording indicator will be visible in the top panel to show you the recording duration. Whenever you want to stop the recording, just click on the recording indicator and the recording will be automatically saved in the WebM format in a Screencasts folder in your Home’s Videos directory.

On the other hand, the screenshots will be saved automatically in a folder named Screenshots located in your Pictures directory in Home. All screenshots and screencasts will also appear in the Recent view in Nautilus (Files).

Some other nice features of the screenshot and screencast UI are the ability to drag and drop windows to another workspace in the Overview mode during screen recording, the ability to automatically close when the screen is locked from inactivity, notifications with the ability to open the file, keyboard navigation, as well as asynchronous PNG compression for screenshots.

Last updated 2 years ago

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