Window Clippings 2.0 Is Now Available!

Download it now from www.windowclippings.com.

Users running version 1.5 can upgrade automatically using the “Check for updates” feature.

The website unfortunately has not received as much attention as Window Clippings itself but I hope to remedy that in the next few days and weeks. It has the essentials however: you can download the latest version and order a license key. Once you receive your license key via email, simply open the About tab, enter the necessary information and click the Register button. All of the new features will be available to you immediately. Of course there are also a number of exciting improvements for those not wishing to register.

 

There are many new features in this version of Window Clippings. I’ve scarcely had time to stop and reflect but here are some off the top of my head:

Around the beginning of May I had to freeze new feature development so that I could focus on getting it to production quality and test all the new features thoroughly. There were inevitably things that didn’t make it into the 2.0 release. As such, I plan on releasing a 2.1 version in the near term to include those features or improvements that didn’t make the cutoff.

There are also some exciting new features that I’ve started prototyping and hope to introduce in future but as before I’m very interested in your comments and feedback so let me know what you like, dislike or would like to see added to Window Clippings.

There is so much more that I’d like to say about this release but that will have to wait for another day as I’ve been burning the midnight oil for too many nights getting this ready and desperately need some sleep.

I hope you enjoy this exciting new version of Window Clippings!

Stay tuned for more information and updates.

© 2007 Kenny Kerr

21 Comments

  • Congrats, Kenny! I've been using WC to do screenshots for my CodeProject articles, and it's made life *so* much easier. I'll definitely be using the new features in 2.0.

  • Kenny, I am so proud of you, Window Clippings is such a cool tool. I can't believe you got this done while looking after our 3 monkeys, while I'm away in England. you ROCK!!! and I love you

  • Congratulations! I just registered it :-)

    Short question: How can I include a menu in a screenshot? When its open before I activate WindowClippings (configured to use Shift PrintScreen), the menu closes when I click on the window to select it. After selecting the window it's not possible to interact with it to open the menu again.

  • @ Martin: This could be a registered only Feature :(

    @ Kenny: I remember the Feature SendTo Flicker, did it make it to version 2.0? Because I cant find it.

  • @ Martin: Sorry didnt see at first that you registerd :P

  • Hey Kenny, how much is registration? It doesn't say on the website (I'd like to know before I actually start the order process).

  • Martin: Thanks for registering! Regarding the menu, what you need to do first is set the “Delay before capture” option on the Image tab to give yourself a few seconds to open the necessary menu. Once this is applied you can start the capture process, with the keyboard hot key for example, and select the window. Once you double click to create the image, Window Clippings will give you a few seconds to open a menu.

  • berni2k: yep, you need to register to use the “Delay before capture” feature that allows you to capture menus and other popups.

    The “Send to Flickr” add-in didn’t make the cut. I will be releasing a bunch of additional add-ins now that 2.0 is released. The Flickr add-in is coming soon!

  • Stephen Mok: sorry about that. A license costs $10, as I mentioned in a previous blog post. I will update the Window Clippings website to make this clear. You can of course back out of the ordering process at any time. Payment is processed by PayPal (although credit card orders are accepted) and PayPal gives you ample opportunity to confirm your order before it is processed.

  • I just registered, since this is a great tool.

    I have some ideas for custom add-ins - where can I find information on how to write an add-in ?

  • Mike Dunn: Thanks Mike! By the way, your articles are always a pleasure to read.

  • Dennis Riis: Thanks Dennis! I wrote an article about add-in development that is a good starting point. It describes how to write add-ins in either native C++ or C#. You will need the Window Clippings header file for C++ add-ins or the Window Clippings assembly for managed add-ins. I’ll put them on the web today for download.

  • Congrats on 2.0! Downloaded and registered! ^_^

    One question, if I turn on the option to Freeze windows, what happens if this option is enabled and I snap a WPF window?

  • Nidonocu: thanks for registering!

    Most of the time it shouldn’t cause any problems. In fact my testing with the final release didn’t reveal any problems with either WPF or DirectX applications and I may well remove the warning in a future build. Worst case it may affect the window rendering and you may need to restart the application. “Freeze window during capture” does appear to work without any side effects with Windows Media Center and WPF apps that I’ve tested.

  • Applause for a nice little application.

    I like the minimalistic interface approach, but usage may not be intuitive to all users. For that reason, it would be useful to gather all the previously blogged usage tips into a single Help page that's accessible via the options screen.

    When I first initiated version 2.0 it somehow insinuated itself into my startup (bad behavior!), but I can't find it anywhere in the various XP startup folders. I want to run it only when I need it. I miss the "run at startup" check box that was present in the ver. 1.5 options--maybe I am not looking in the right place?

    Finally, is there a way, perhaps in the registered version, to capture all or a portion of an entire Web page that is longer than the visible window, i.e., one that has to be scrolled to view everything? If not, is this planned for a future version?

  • Thanks Kenny, the delay function did the trick. Works perfectly :-)

  • Aaron: documentation is at the top of my todo list. For the time being please review this tutorial on using Window Clippings 1.5. The basic usage of the product remains the same.

  • I don't remember being asked about auto-startup when I first ran version 2.0, but now that it has been set up, how can I change it?

    Apologies for repeating myself, but the checkbox "Automatically run Window Clippings when I log on" at the bottom of the General tab in version 1.5 Options is missing from ver. 2.0. So how do I stop this behavior? Please don't tell me I have to go into the registry!

  • Mike Conner: No need to use the registry. All the options you’re looking for are available on the General tab of the Options window. It works similar to the way it did in v1.5 but it is just more granular now with the icon and the hotkey being independent. If you simply don’t want the background processes then simply uncheck both options on the General tab and Window Clippings won’t start automatically. Specifically, uncheck “Use Print Screen key …” and “Show Window Clippings icon …” and click Apply. You will then need to run Window Clippings manually whenever you need it. You can use the /options command line argument to show the Options window in future or right click the capture window and choose the “Options” command.

  • Thanks for your patient explanation, KennyKerr. I finally get it. The changed wording of that bottom checkbox confused me.

  • Mike: thanks for the feedback. It’s a challenge meeting the needs of all users at the same time. Some users have expressed that they much prefer the greater control and granularity while others such as you have expressed a desire for the old startup behavior.
    For now what I can offer you is simply to suggest that you keep it running in the background. That way the hot key and the icon will be available. Alternatively, you can create BAT file that launches “wc.exe /hotkey” followed by “wc.exe /icon”. That would mimic the 1.x behavior. The only catch is that choosing “Hide Icon” from the icon’s context menu will not shutdown the “hotkey” process.
    Since the only way to shutdown the “hotkey” process is to use the Options window I could reintroduce an “Exit all” type of command on the icon’s context menu to both close the “icon” process as well as the “hotkey” process. With that option you would be able to completely reproduce the 1.x startup behavior. I could even allow you to specify the /hotkey and /icon flags in a single command line so the BAT file would not be needed.
    Would that be acceptable?

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