How To Draw A Circle Around Text In Pages

How to Draw on a Screenshot UPDATED (Dec ten, 2019): This post was originally written in 2013 – I used Dragon Naturally Speaking and talked about screenshots. The content is nevertheless relevant today and is slowly being updated. Stay tuned!

Back in 2013 when this post was originally written, I did a presentation for teachers most using applied science. I used Google Slides and I threw in a couple of marked up screenshots from dissimilar web pages showing how to login or access various teacher sites. I idea it was a pretty basic presentation.

Later on, a couple of teachers came upwards to me and talked most how impressive the presentation was. I retrieve information technology was considering I put pretty arrows on the screenshots.

A long time ago, I recollect adding arrows, circles, and colored rectangles (to cake out sensitive data) using Photoshop. This took mode longer than I'd intendance to admit.

And then, Windows 7 (and later versions) came with a snipping tool that let y'all take a snapshot of part of your screen and marker it up with a pen. I thought this was incredible. You lot could highlight text and manus-draw circles around important stuff earlier you even saved your screenshot. You tin can likewise do this now on iPhones and iPads.

The trouble is that my handwriting always looks a footling messy.

Then I plant Greenshot and Greenshot is way better than the snipping tool in Windows because you tin quickly create slap-up and professional looking notes on your screenshots.

Plus, Greenshot is free. (Free for us to use, only it costs the developers money to update and ameliorate. If yous use information technology a lot, consider donating. I did.)

Here'southward what I still dearest like virtually Greenshot:

Information technology has a simplified but powerful (AND Complimentary) graphic editor.
- Mode easier to use than Photoshop (and free): Yous don't take to worry nearly multiple layers. Just click the selection tool and you can edit / resize / change your markups.
- PRO TIP: If y'all right-click on an object, you can still move the object upward or downwards so that it's in front end of, or behind other objects.
- Some other PRO TIP: Yous tin can save (export) and load (import) the arrows, text boxes, and other objects y'all create. So it's like shooting fish in a barrel to add identical objects on several dissimilar screenshots!
Super like shooting fish in a barrel to draw circles around stuff.
Super easy to draw arrows. Greenshot remembers your last settings then all of your shapes and marking upwards can have the same manner.
And, super like shooting fish in a barrel to add text.
Information technology'southward easy to highlight text. Yous but draw rectangles with the highlighter tool so you can highlight text or images.
You can mistiness out (obfuscate) part of your screenshot to remove sensitive information.
Add cool edge effects like torn paper or driblet shadow (or at a basic rectangle.)
You lot can ingather your screenshots earlier you lot save them.
You can add together shadows to all of your arrows, boxes and text to add a professional feel to your piece of work.

There are other absurd options.

I have it set up so when I striking the print screen button, information technology lets me capture a region, but I could likewise fix it upward and then that the impress screen button captures the total screen, a specific application window, or just Internet Explorer.
I use Greenshot to create tutorials (similar this one), so I accept it ready up to automatically open the screenshot in the epitome editor, but I could just as easily set the destination to automatically open up in Microsoft Word, upload to dropbox, or just save to my calculator.
I also like how Greenshot gives me a magnifier when I'm trying to capture region, so I can make sure that I don't get any unnecessary stuff.

On a Windows machine, y'all need to discover the "Print SCREEN" push on your keyboard.

Here'due south the DEFAULT SETTING:

When you type this button on you keyboard, information technology takes a snapshot of your computer screen and saves it to your clipboard.
If yous go into Microsoft Word or Google Docs, or some program, you lot tin can paste the screenshot into your document. (The keyboard shortcut is CTRL 5)

I don't use the default screenshot settings on my windows laptop.

Instead, I install Greenshot because I get more options and features (AND most importantly, OBJECTS that I can movement on. Information technology doesn't get permanently painted onto the screenshot until I save it as a JPEG or PNG image.)

How to write and highlight screenshots – PRO TIP #1:

Students would ask me how to take a screenshot on our Windows laptops (which is different from a Chromebook), and I would tell them about Greenshot which was free software.

And then, inevitably, the question would come upward and students would know where the print-screen button is, and I would have to show them on a keyboard.

photo of a keyboard showing where the print screen button is to take a screenshot to add arrows to — The "PRINT SCREEN" push button is on the right side of the keyboard.

How to write and highlight screenshots – PRO TIP #2:

My favourite role of Greenshot is that you can save your arrows, text boxes and other stuff to your calculator and then load them upwardly later to use with a different screenshot!

How to add an pointer on snipping using Greenshot

Super like shooting fish in a barrel. Once you lot've installed Greenshot, when you hit the PRINT SCREEN button, it will open upwardly a cross hair and yous tin select the part of the screen to "snip"

screenshot of greenshot snipping tool to copy part of the screen

I then open upwardly the image in the Greenshot Editor. On the left tool bar, you can easily…

Add pretty arrows to your snipped screenshot
Add together boxes or text boxes to comment your screenshot
Blur out and pixelate (obfuscate) sensitive information on the screenshot.

How to add arrows to a snipped screenshot or textboxes or blur out sensitive info

The downside of Greenshot:

For me, the biggest downside of the free Greenshot editor is that right at present, you can't zoom / magnify or fit-to-window large images. I believe this is on the characteristic request list, but it's a headache when you endeavor to add text boxes to big screenshots.

Here'southward an case. I took a few photos of dissimilar keyboards in my business firm to prove where the "print screen" button is located. When I opened it in Greenshot, you couldn't see the whole keyboard considering the iPhone photograph was too large.

(By the way, the way I got that screenshot of the original entire keyboard photo was to open up the huge 4032 x 3024 iphone photograph on my computer, and and then screenshot the photo. (Then I pasted it into the Greenshot editor and it just treats it like another object. Cool, huh?)

Screenshot of Greenshot editor showing you can't zoom in or fit to window large images — You have to utilise the scroll bicycle on your mouse or the scroll bars on the window to movement upwardly and downwardly in a big prototype. Greenshot editor doesn't let you lot zoom in or out, still.

How could you utilize screen capture software (in the classroom or beyond)?

Allow's say you want to showcase student work.

If you are pupil handin work electronically, you simply open up the certificate of Google Docs, take a screenshot, and you can offset highlight or underlined text. You tin as well mistiness out the student proper name or anything else that you don't want the class to see.
If the work is on paper, just snap a photo of the handwritten work using your telephone. Upload the epitome to dropbox. Open the file on your calculator and take a screenshot of the picture to go into Greenshot.

If you're going to the computer lab, you could take a screenshot of the website that you want students to go to, and highlight or brand jot notes directly onto the screenshot.

That way, students take a visual reminder of what to do.
Some of your students (with or without learning disabilities) will miss instructions the kickoff fourth dimension.
Now, later your done walking students through what they accept to do, you tin put on the figurer projector, a marked upward screenshot reminding students what to exercise.

If y'all teach art class, you could snap a photo of student work or your teacher example, and markup of import features that yous want them to know.

If y'all teach in the scientific discipline lab, you could snap a photo of equipment and so add arrows to the screenshot to show important safety features.

How exercise you apply screenshots in your classroom?