What is ZScreen?
ZScreen is an open-source screen capture program that allows for region/window/full-screen screenshots. It can FTP screenshots and put the URL in your clipboard in a single keystroke. It supports automatic custom naming conventions with variables. It can also interface with image editing software. It is a C#.NET 2.0 program hosted on Sourceforge.net and built by BrandonZ (inf1ni).

Donations keep open-source programmers programming. To show your support for open-source software and ZScreen please . By donating you will have your site listed on the front page and donation page of brandonz.net.

I’ve received a few comments and e-mails from people that dislike having Imageshack set as the default destination. The next version will not upload to Imageshack by default, instead it will either use the “File” option or “FTP” which will pop up a menu to set your FTP settings or optionally use “File” or “Imageshack” instead.

So for those of you that have not yet downloaded v1.3.3.0 (beta) it does indeed use Imageshack by default at the moment, but rest assured that it will be changed. If you want to change away from using Imageshack, you can do so by going to the “Main” tab and changing the Screenshot Destination to something else (File, FTP, Clipboard). Also you can change the destination by using the right click menu of the tray icon (”Send Image To”).

The reasoning behind setting the default to Imageshack was to beta test HTTP uploading.

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Logo

ZScreen 1.3.3.0 Beta (English Only) is now available.

Version history since 1.1:

1.3.03.0 Copy to Clipboard URL Mode is now in the Right Click tray menu
1.3.02.2 Performance of Crop Shot has been increased
1.3.02.1 Fixed bug in “Switch After” where Crop Shots would revert to full screen
1.3.02.0 Redesigned Hotkeys tab adding support PrintScreen key and others
1.3.01.0 Added support for multiple image software
1.3.00.0 Support for uploading screenshots to ImageShack
1.2.12.0 Added Thumbnail creation support for FTP with options to copy Thumbmail/Full Image/All URL to Clipboard
1.2.11.0 Ability to import/export Settings from/to file via Advanced tab
1.2.10.0 Changed from built-in settings to custom XML settings (old settings will no longer work)
1.2.09.0 Ability to import/export FTP Accounts from/to file via FTP Settings tab
1.2.08.7 Cache Cleaner now cleans all supported file types
1.2.08.6 Cancelling during a cropshot will now turn the busy tray icon off
1.2.08.5 Cancelling Prompt for File Name window resulted in an error uploading file
1.2.08.4 Default JPEG Quality is now set to 90%
1.2.08.3 Inputbox for manual file naming now shows above everything
1.2.08.2 Fixed small error in View Remote Desktop where downloaded progress reports higher than maximum
1.2.08.1 View Remote Desktop won’t give a “forcibly closed” error anymore
1.2.08.0 Double clicking a file in Screenshots listBox will attempt to open the file in default browser
1.2.07.0 Taking multiple screenshots during a short time period will preserve all the URLs in the clipboard
1.2.06.0 Added activity logging to file for debugging purposes. Accessed via Advanced : Advanced tab
1.2.05.0 System Tray icon will now flash when the screenshot upload is completed
1.2.04.0 Option to manually specify screenshot file name prior to taking the screenshot
1.2.03.0 Screenshots fetched in Remote Directory Viewer are cached according to settings in Advanced tab
1.2.02.0 Added context menu to access License, Documentation, Version History and About information
1.2.01.1 “History” tab is now called “Screenshots”
1.2.01.0 Fetching files from FTP in Remote Directory Viewer is now performed in a background thread to increase GUI responsiveness
1.2.00.3 Documentation file did not open if Windows was installed in a hard drive partition other than C:\ drive
1.2.00.2 ZScreen startup path in Registry will not be fixed to C:\Program Files\ZScreen anymore
1.2.00.1 Start with Windows registry entry was saved in HKLM instead of HKCU
1.2.00.0 Added multilanguage support initially supporting Dutch and Russian

Now let’s talk about some of the changes that have been made.

Image 3

Notice anything different? You may have noticed that “ImageShack” support was added. For people without their own servers this might prove to be really helpful. There are future plans to add other HTTP services on as well.

Hotkeys can now be configured in 1/2/3-key combinations. The defaults utilize the print screen key.

Image 2

But if you wish you can still change the hotkeys to anything you like. Like so.
Image 1

Documentation and full translations for this version are not yet available, but with any luck they will be available soon. Unfortunately many feature requests were not able to be implemented yet, but we are still working hard to implement them… namely multiple monitor support.

Sadly, all previously saved settings will not be restored in this version. It was a tough decision, but we decided we needed to start fresh. The good news is that we have added in some import/export functionality so that this will not happen again. With all of that said, here are the links to download it:

1.3.3.0 beta (English Only) Source
http://downloads.sourceforge.net/zscreen/ZScreenSource-1330.zip

1.3.3.0 beta (English Only) Binary (with installer)
http://downloads.sourceforge.net/zscreen/ZScreenSetup-1330.exe

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ZScreen v1.1 released
ZScreen v1.1 new features/bug fixes
  • Added new Paint.NET option for Image Software
  • Ability to set only one hotkey
  • After exiting out of a crop shot with image software external program will no longer run.
  • View screenshots directory in explorer via right click menu
  • Option to not save files locally after FTPing
  • Support for FTP not using port 21
  • Rearranged the GUI sections so that they are all seperate
  • Added multiple file format support
  • Custom setting to allow users to switch from one file format to another at whichever file size they want (or turn it off).
  • View and delete screenshots previously uploaded via FTP with new fullscreen GUI accessible by the right-click menu. (multiple-select delete also)
  • New automatic insertion for naming conventions which allows you to simply click on buttons instead of type in the custom variables yourself.
  • Support for customizable image quality (JPEG only)
  • First run prompts to set hot keys and ftp settings
  • Test Connection displays "Testing..." to indicate what it is doing
  • Now trims all additional slashes off ftp settings
  • Fixed single click bug with crop
  • Fixed a random bug with Image Software
  • "Save Image To Clipboard" right click menu setting
  • Crop now uses much less CPU cycles and is smooth
  • Renamed "Enable FTP" to "Save Image to FTP"
  • Added Entire Screen hotkey
  • Hotkeys can be cleared by blanking the textbox and hitting update
  • View Remote Directory allows users to View, Save, Delete, Copy To Clipboard (URL) multiple remote files at one time.
Features saved for 1.2
  • Support for "sets" via right-click menu which allows creation of a new directory in your previously specified path automatically using two controls "Start Set" and "End Set." Optionally run image editing software for each individual image. Optionally have the directory pop up in explorer after you have ended the set. Optionally upload entire set and create new directory. Optionally set clipboard to that URL. All optional settings will save themselves for next time you wish to create a set.
  • Support for dual monitors
  • Support for scrolling windows via new hotkey
  • Rounded window corners
  • Multiple region selection via control in Crop
ZScreen v1.1 nearing release
Completed:
  • Added new Paint.NET option for Image Software
  • Ability to set only one hotkey
  • After exiting out of a crop shot with image software external program will no longer run.
  • View screenshots directory in explorer via right click menu
  • Option to not save files locally after FTPing
  • Support for FTP not using port 21
  • Rearranged the GUI sections so that they are all seperate
  • Added multiple file format support
  • Custom setting to allow users to switch from one file format to another at whichever file size they want (or turn it off).
  • View and delete screenshots previously uploaded via FTP with new fullscreen GUI accessible by the right-click menu. (multiple-select delete also)
  • New automatic insertion for naming conventions which allows you to simply click on buttons instead of type in the custom variables yourself.
  • Support for customizable image quality (JPEG only)
  • First run prompts to set hot keys and ftp settings
  • Test Connection displays "Testing..." to indicate what it is doing

Screenshots:
https://brandonz.net/images/SS-09.09.2007-02.13.50PM.png
https://brandonz.net/images/SS-09.09.2007-02.15.15PM.png
https://brandonz.net/images/View_Remote_Directory-09.09.2007-02.14.42PM.png
https://brandonz.net/images/ZScreen-09.09.2007-02.14.51PM.png
https://brandonz.net/images/ZScreen-09.09.2007-02.15.01PM.png

Left to complete:
  • Support for "sets" via right-click menu which allows creation of a new directory in your previously specified path automatically using two controls "Start Set" and "End Set." Optionally run image editing software for each individual image. Optionally have the directory pop up in explorer after you have ended the set. Optionally upload entire set and create new directory. Optionally set clipboard to that URL. All optional settings will save themselves for next time you wish to create a set.
  • Support for dual monitors
ZScreen v1.1 roadmap
  • View screenshots directory in explorer via right click menu
  • Option to not save files locally (could potentially waste space on a hard drive of someone who does not wish to save them)
  • Support for FTP not using port 21
  • Custom setting to allow users to switch from PNG switch to JPEG at whichever file size they want (or turn it off).
  • Rearrange the GUI sections so that they are all seperate. Possibly by creating new user controls for each one.
  • Support for "sets" via right-click menu which allows creation of a new directory in your previously specified path automatically using two controls "Start Set" and "End Set." Optionally run image editing software for each individual image. Optionally have the directory pop up in explorer after you have ended the set. Optionally upload entire set and create new directory. Optionally set clipboard to that URL. All optional settings will save themselves for next time you wish to create a set.
  • View and delete screenshots previously uploaded via FTP with new fullscreen GUI accessible by the right-click menu. (multiple-select delete also)
  • First run wizard that prompts for hot keys and ftp settings.
  • New "change" GUI for naming conventions which allows you to simply click on buttons instead of type in the custom variables yourself.
ZScreen v1.0 has been released
This first non-beta public release allows users to capture active window / region / full-screen screenshots locally to their computer with custom automatic naming conventions such as Name_of_Window-8.24.2007-10.51.03PM, optionally edit it with image editing software immediately afterwords, optionally upload them to their FTP server, and then put the URL of the screenshot in the clipboard when finished to paste to a friend (all with just one keystroke).

At the moment ZScreen currently uses PNG and JPEG. It uses PNG for anything below 350KB and then switches to JPEG after that barrier. The reason why it does this is because generally PNG images can provide a very high quality and crisp image of most desktop screenshots not involving too much imagery in very small sizes, but when you try to take a screenshot of another high quality image, it will start to take up massive space where JPEG will not. In the next release there will the option of when you would like it to switch or if you would like it to switch at all.

Also in production I have a side project going which is flash and php... A demo is going at https://brandonz.net/zscreen. It displays your current images as thumbnails and allows you to page through them. You can click on a thumbnail and view the entire image in the viewer. Also you can copy the url to your clipboard to send to someone else. It also supports "sets" so that you can create new directories and copy images into and then just hand out a new URL for all of those images. More information will be available on this later, it will be on sf.net soon.