Discover Flameshot

I will present in this article a great application for Haiku named "Flameshot".

In case you don't know about it, the application is very useful to make screenshot of your system.

I'm currently using Flameshot on a daily baisis, in order to make screenshots when I'm writing articles for Haiku Insider.

Quick screenshot

The first time you launch Flameshot, it will just display a flame icon in the Deskbar:

If you click on it, the below screen will appear :

As it's indicated, if you want to do :

• a full screenshot : press Alt+S
• a partial screenshot : click and drag the mouse to define the zone of the screenshot

In case of partial screenshot, click on the disk icon as per below to proceed :

The screenshots are then saved in the default screenshot folder ("/boot/home/" by default).

If you want to change the directory where the screenshots are stored, right-click on the Flameshot icon in the Deskbar to make the below menu appear :

Then select "Configuration".

In the "General" tab, indicate in the "Save Path" your new default folder:

In case you want to launch at startup Flameshot, tick the box "Launch at startup" :

Finally, if you need to change the naming convention for the screenshots' filenames, then go to "Filename Editor" and indicate in the "Edit" field, the new naming convention :

Great !

You now have the basics for using Flameshot.

Advanced features

Flameshot is great at making screenshots, but it has also some nice features to add some text or to draw figures on top of your screenshot before saving it.

I'm not using them for the moment, however I will give you an overview, in case you find them useful.

When you're performing a partial screenshot, you will see icons displayed all around the captured area.

It allows you to :

• underline part of your screenshot
• add some arrows (arrow icon)
• add some comment (text icon)
• put a number with circle (number one with circle icon)

You can of course change the color of your arrows / comments / underlinings, for that hit the "space" key to access the color options.

Below is an example of some changes of a screenshot of WebPositive displaying this website :

It's really great when you need to do some basic modifications of your screenshot, without having to use another tool.

Make a shortcut

If you have already read the article "Redefine print screen key", then you know how to add a shortcut to launch your favorite applications.

Let's review before which options Flameshot offers :

In a Terminal type :

/system/apps/Flameshot/Flameshot --help

The help output is as per below :

Usage: /system/apps/Flameshot/Flameshot [flameshot-options] [arguments]

Per default runs Flameshot in the background and adds a tray icon for configuration.

Options:
-h, --help Displays this help
-v, --version Displays version information

Arguments:
gui Start a manual capture in GUI mode.
screen Capture a single screen.
full Capture the entire desktop.
launcher Open the capture launcher.
config Configure flameshot.


In order to launch Flameshot for partial screen capture, we will use the "gui" option. Now go into the Shortcuts preferences :

Select your favorite key and enter the below shortcut :

/boot/system/apps/Flameshot/Flameshot gui

On my wired mac keyboard, I've used one of the key above the numeric keys as the shortcut.

Depending on your keyboard, you might choose a different option like Alt+Opt+S for instance.

If you want to do a full screenshot every time - instead of a partial one - use the below shortcut command (it will put the screenshots in the "/boot/home/Screenshots/" folder) :

/boot/system/apps/Flameshot/Flameshot full -p /boot/home/Screenshots/screenshot

You can also use the command line below in a Terminal to call Flameshot.

It will save your screenshot with the date/time in the filename :

/boot/system/apps/Flameshot/Flameshot full -p /boot/home/Screenshots/screenshot_`/bin/date +"%Y-%m-%d_%H-%M-%S"`.png

Calling this command in the Shortcuts preferences app will not work as the `date` command will not be recognized.

A workaround of this limitation, might be to include the command in a bash script and to call the script directly in Shortcuts.

Nice isn't it ?

Don't hesitate to put a comment about your current shortcuts under Haiku:)