Background

It’s amazed me how there’s almost no completely free software to help you make IT training documents by simply clicking the mouse. Here is my method to gathering a folder of whole-screen screenshots by just clicking the mouse whilst performing a workflow. A benefit is that this will also only include one screen if you have a dual-monitor setup.

Installation

We’ll need 2 pieces of software to complete our setup, Greenshot and AutoHotKey.

Greenshot

Firstly, go get and install the excellent, open source (free) Greenshot.

Once running, right go to “Preferences” (right click the task bar icon). Change:

• “General” tab: ensure ‘Capture full screen’ is linked to ‘Ctrl + Prnt scrn’ (This should be the default).
• “Capture” tab: change ‘Milliseconds to wait before capture’ to 0. (This enables context menus to be captured correctly)
• “Output” tab: change the ‘Storage location’ to a folder of your choice.
• “Destination” tab: untick “Select destination dynamically” and tick “Save directly” (and I recommend you also tick “Copy to clipboard”).
• Press OK.

AutoHotKey

We’re now going to use AutoHotKey (again, open source (free)) to trigger this keyboard shortcut when the mouse is clicked.

Install AutoHotKey then create a new script with the following code:

;===greenshot/psr alternative===
; Take screenshots (to a folder) when you windows+click. Assumes: Greenshot, Settings, Capture, change Milliseconds to wait before capture = 0
#~LButton::
	SendInput ^{PrintScreen}
Return

#~RButton::
	Sleep 200		;allow time for menus to appear
	SendInput ^{PrintScreen}
Return

Alternatively, just download my pre-made software documentation.ahk script.

Usage

• Ensure greenshot is open and your AutoHotKey script is running (just double click the .ahk file).
• Go through your workflow but hold the windows key whilst you click each action.
• Holding the windows key whilst you right click will screenshot the screen with the right click context menu.
• When you have finished each picture you take will end up in the “Output” folder you specified earlier.

Go to your favourite Word processing program. For example microsoft word:

1. Insert, Picture (shortcut in Word 2010: Alt+n+p)
2. Select all pictures in your “output” folder, ensuring you shift+select them in the right order
3. Click insert

You now have all your screenshots in a document, full quality, no watermarks, etc.

Enjoy.

Extra: Resize Images

If you want your images to be resized (i.e. to a certain width) when output, then keep reading about the free resize program I’ve made.