CAPTUREXT SCREEN CAPTURE
http://www.capturext.com
Reviewed March 2007

What’s It Do?

This screen capture utility captures the desktop, views and edits it to create presentation from screen views, annotates captured images, and captures and shares error screens.


Does it do what it says it does?

Reviewer 1: Yes, Capturext Screen Capture captures the screen in various configurations.. Just click the capture button and you are done. You can activate capture with hotkeys, or access capture menus from the system tray icon’s right-click menu. You don't need to limit your capture with a rectangular area. Capture any polygonal region, circular area or any freehand region. Put text with any font and color. Rotate the text or apply transparency to text. Add any rectangle, circle, freehand shape and filled colors, opaque or translucent. Add stamp or callout shape to express effectively. Use the highlighter tool button to highlight any area of your captured image. Place arrows, lines to pin-point the area of interest, or use eraser to remove any sensitive information. CaptureXT can add spectacular edge effects to your capture. Add torn edge, saw edge, shark edge, wave edge, beveled edge and more. These edge effects bring professional look to your capture and a good idea to use them in presentations, web pages etc. You can apply real-world shadow to your captured image. Also you can choose your shadow color, shadow size or background color. Putting caption and time stamp is a great idea for software engineers and web site tester who want to use this program for sharing error screens. CaptureXT can do that easily, along with user name, computer name etc. You can also use this application for professional image editing. Open your image, adjust brightness/contrast, resize, rotate, flip or apply effects like blur, sharpen, emboss and more. After your capture and editing is complete, you can copy-paste it to your presentation or save as popular image format (jpg, gif, bmp, png) or quickly send to someone by email.

Reviewer 2: CaptureXT by Belltech performed exactly as promised, simple to use with many valuable and fun features thrown in as an added bonus. It provides the user with the ability to capture only the portion of their viewing screen that they want without getting the full screen shot that Windows PrtSc limits one to.

Reviewer 3: Yes, Capture XT Screen Capture has a variety of ways to capture all or parts of your screen. With a fairly substantial collection of graphic tools, you can then edit the screen you have captured, and save your work in a number of different graphic formats. I have successfully emailed my “creative” efforts, and I have been able to post images that I have edited to different user forums that I participate in on the Internet.

Reviewer 4: This is simple and elegant program which captures anything displayed on your computer’s screen and then allows you to extensively edit it with text, graphics, customized borders, and three-dimensional effects.

Reviewer 5: Yes, all the developer claims were accurate. CaptureXT is a feature-laden program with many strengths, especially in the editing functions available.

Reviewer 6: Yes. The Web site claims that you can capture any part of your PC screen and edit it in many ways as well as apply any number of image effects to your capture. It did so easily and, in fact, much more.


Was it easy to install?

Reviewer 1: It was very easy and the process offers to put an Icon on the desktop and the Quick Launch.

Reviewer 2: There were no problems at all. CaptureXT has a very small footprint of 3.25 MB on installation, for a piece of software that does so much. Set up was simple and the EULA was straight-forward with no unusual or unexpected details included.

Reviewer 3: Yes. Originally I had a problem with the registration code, but that was resolved with help from the support people. The installation is a normal Windows procedure, and I was able to place the program and its shortcuts where I wanted.

Reviewer 4: Installation was very fast and simple. CaptureXT gives appropriate choices for where the program is installed and options for Start Menu, Desktop Icon, and QuickStart icon placement. The license agreement was perhaps the shortest I have seen and contained no unusual terms.

Reviewer 5: Originally I had downloaded the trial version. Then having obtained a licensed version, I then attempted to install this full version over the original installation, getting error messages in several tries. Only after I uninstalled the trial version was I able to successfully install the full version. Further, the uninstalled program left bits and pieces of itself behind, which I had to remove manually. The successful installation went smoothly from that point on.

Reviewer 6: Yes. It is an easily downloadable 3.52MB program that installs quickly, smoothly, and effortlessly using a standard-type installation wizard. The program also uninstalls easily and cleanly, leaving no junk files remaining on your computer and a minimum of empty keys in your registry. This is the mark of a program with well-written code.


Good Points:

Reviewer 1: It’s functional and does what it says it will do fairly easily. This type of program is the only way to capture those annoying error messages that Windows pops up now and then. They cannot simply be moused over and captured with Windows clipboard. This will do it. You need to launch it and then minimize it. It then resides in the system tray where you can right-click for a use menu or open the program fully on the desktop. The manipulation of the captured item works well. You can add many “mark-ups” to the capture (see below) and save them for later use such as inclusion in another document or Web page, emailing etc. This program also adds an additional feature of the ability to do some basic “photo style” editing of the clip. You can add effects like “torn edge”, “shear”, “blur”, “emboss”, flip/rotate, much like a basic photo editor.

Reviewer 2: Using CaptureXT is fantastic for getting that little piece of information on your computer screen without having to capture the entire screen. It is a great imaging tool to play with. Utilizing the images already stored on your computer, you can add a frame, enhance with multiple options of edges, resize that image, put in text and much more. Use CaptureXT to enhance presentations with a slide slow, capture error messages and annotate images with the time stamping feature. CaptureXT is extremely user friendly, and the online help demos offered with the online video tour are r nice bonus features. CaptureXT is easily understood so the most novice user will be able to quickly master all the excellent features offered. User-friendly tips can also be displayed if you choose and are very helpful for the first time user. CaptureXT offers the ability to Email your screen shots or images directly from the program rather than having to save them, and then add as attachments later. The program is easy to engage utilizing the hotkey function if CaptureXT is in your startup menu, or you have already opened it with the desktop or program icon. This way, when you need that shot quickly, you can get it.

Reviewer 3: The program has a well-designed layout with a straightforward User Interface. Each time the program is started there is a “Tip of the Day”. At the bottom of the main screen there is a short list of three points, directing the user where to go in the program to access the main functions: capture, editing and advanced image processing. If you are new to the possibilities of graphic editing, it would be worth your while to look at the demos on the Web site. Several videos demonstrate how to use the main editing and image processing tools. The examples introduce some of the vocabulary that might otherwise be unfamiliar to a new user. There apparently is to be a User Guide that is “Coming Soon.” I found the program to be relatively easy to use, with the one main exception mentioned below. In the several months that I have been using it, I have had little occasion to call on the support people. When I did so, it was on a weekend, and I received a reply within hours.

Reviewer 4: CaptureXT starts by providing easy capture of a customizable area of the computer’s screen. That by itself is a valuable service, but much more can be done with the captured image; for example, the captured image can be inserted in an outgoing email message. It can be cropped; given fancy borders, shapes and text of different colors and transparencies; and, in short, most of the basic imaging editing tools can be applied to customize the captured graphic image. Borders can be customized with an extensive set of options that include a customizable drop-down shadow with a three-dimensional effect.

Another option gives the image an illusion of depth is the perspective feature. This is easier to see than it is do describe, but essentially it tapers the image to one side so it appears as if one is looking at it from an angle rather than straight on. The controls are intuitive and pressing the F1 key brings up a help screen with the topic of the active function already selected. Many of the changes can be previewed and customized before locking them in. Sliders control the extent of the effect and these can be controlled by left and right arrow keys with incremental changes displayed in a preview screen. A customizable hot key combination can bring up the basic capture screen from within any program. Captions can be added within or below the captured image. There is a very thorough description of what this program can do on the company’s Web site, including multiple video clips of the program in action.

Reviewer 5: I approached this testing by breaking down the program into functional segments: capture, editing/manipulation and output. All segments are available from the uncluttered and logical interface, which itself is configurable. The capture function was straightforward, with a full range of options as to how much of the screen and in what configuration you wish to capture (rectangle, circle, freehand, etc). A capture can immediately be made available by a hotkey combination (Ctrl-Q is the default) or a click on the taskbar icon. It really couldn't be simpler, and can quickly be used in its defaults by a beginner for at least the basic functions.. In fairness, these features are found in most screen capture applications. The editing/manipulation functions are what set this program above many competitors. A fantastic set of features: you can include a caption and automatic time stamp; add text of any font and color, add arrows, underlining and highlighting, add translucent shapes and vary opacity; use edging functions to frame your capture with torn, wave, beveled or other edges to present an attractive image; you can adjust contrast and brightness of the capture as well as to apply shadow effects and background colors; sharpen or blur images; then resize, rotate or flip the capture. Getting comfortable with this wide array features and tricks was a highly-enjoyable learning and exploring process (my usual approach), or, the less adventuresome may simply choose to go to the help section for clear instructions. Either way, the learning process is not difficult – the program is laid out logically and well. The output segment is also complete. The end product can be stored in any of the popular formats or sent directly to email for transmission. You can paste to other programs such as for Web pages or to illustrate manuals, or capture a time-stamped error message to accompany a request for support in a program with which you are having a problem. I've found a good capture program invaluable in documenting and illustrating situations at a parlor gaming site to which I belong. I made three email requests for support. All were answered in less than 12 hours, including one made over the weekend. This kind of emphasis on timely support is a strong determinant in what programs I choose to support, personally or as a reviewer. As many programs now have, CaptureXT has a tip-of-the-day feature. Unlike most, it also provides (soundless) video tours of some products and their features. Though not meant to be the primary learning tool, I found it useful to draw various segments of the program together, to navigate and to understand some terms and how they apply.

Reviewer 6: If all you are looking for is a utility to do a quick grab of say an error message to send to tech support where quality and editing is not a factor, then you do not need this program. There are plenty of free utilities that will do this for you adequately. If, however, you have a need to capture images for use in preparing presentations, manuals, newsletters, and so on where professional quality is a factor, then CaptureXT has no equal that I have found. This is realty not simply a screen capture utility and to describe it as such is to undervalue and understate its usefulness, as it is not only a screen capture utility but a graphic editor as well. With this program, not only can you capture virtually anything on your PC screen (or the full screen or desktop if you wish) but the capture is not limited to a simple rectangular area. It can capture virtually areas of any shape you choose and if that is not enough there is a free hand tool in which you can draw the area to be captured. Once you have captured the image you want, here is where the real versatility of this tool comes to the forefront. Using the editing functions you can now add balloons, cutouts, arrows, shadows, torn edges, and on and on to the image to customize it in almost anyway you can imagine and make it standout or enhancing it. During the almost four months I used this program—and I used it heavily—I used it to prepare the departmental newsletter at the university where I teach; I used it to prepare a new training manual; I used it to prepare complex handouts for my university classes; and I used it simply to paste images and photos in emails that I wanted or needed to share. The latter brings up another nice feature of this program: you can save your captures as either jpg, gif, bmp, png, and tif. This gives you even more flexibility especially as you can also tweak the image quality from a setting of 1 to 100 (of course this also increases the size of the file) to allow you to truly present professional images or exact detail—especially useful when there is text involved which is so often blurred in most screen captures. The best feature of all, however, is that there is no 100-page training manual required to be able to use this program like a pro. While there are very adequate help files as well as demo videos on the Web site, I found the GUI (Graphic User Interface) to be extremely user friendly and intuitive. While there is not yet a User Guide (there is the promise of one “coming soon”) I think even someone who has little or no experience using a graphic editing program will have little difficulty feeling comfortable using this program in a very short time, as this really is a point-and-click program. This program is to Window’s “Print Screen” what a Nikon SLR is to a disposable camera. With the only other difference being that it has the small resource use of the latter rather than the former. In short, it uses very few resources and thus leaves only a tiny footprint when in use. While I had no need to use technical support and while there is no claim of turnaround time for support questions submitted, I did make two test inquiries over a period of several months. One was made on a weekend and another on a week day evening. In both instances not only were the replies within a matter of a few hours, but the answer was accurate and easy to understand. Finally, the program is totally free of any adware, malware, and the like. Capture XT is an excellent program and one that I am able to easily recommend wholeheartedly.


Weak Points:

Reviewer1: The biggest failure I found was the inability to capture a “scrolled” screen., where all the information is not visible on one screen. Windows clipboard will do a credible screen capture that can then be edited in a third party program. I currently use another product that does all that CaptureXT does plus handles the scrolled capture as well.

Reviewer 2: As the program itself is described, none. I would prefer that it enabled the user to capture long text information with a scrolling utility, like Snag-It offers, as there are times when this information cannot be saved any other way and taking multiple screen shots can be a cumbersome chore. I contacted Technical Support in case this option was available and I was simply not finding it. They responded within four hours time, stating "We don't have this feature yet.". There is a link on their Web site to the User Guide, when clicked you get a "Coming Soon" message. This could be misleading to the consumer who buys the program expecting the User's Guide to be available to them as they saw the link on the Website only to find nothing there.

Reviewer 3: One thing that frustrated me with the program is that I have to know in advance exactly what I want my finished project to look like. You can undo things, but you cannot go directly back to something that you have done several steps ago, and “fix” or delete it. The only way that I was able to do that was to undo, undo, undo back to the offending edit or effect, and undo it. I then had to recreate anew all the “undos” that I had just eliminated. To be able to revert to an action that was done early on in the process is called “fully object based drawing” and this is not supported in Capture XT Screen Capture.

Reviewer 4: After an area for screen capture is chosen, it would be nice to be able to move or resize the area to be captured before it is sent to CaptureXT. However, this can easily be compensated for by capturing a larger screen area than needed and then refining the borders with the editing functions in CaptureXT. Once an editing change is made, it can be modified only with the undo/redo options; it would be nice if there was an option to isolate the individual elements so an earlier change could be modified without having to delete the intervening changes.

Reviewer 5: CaptureXT limits capture only to that displayed on a screen. My current capture program, Snag-It, allows me to capture a scrolling image, a real benefit when wanting to capture an entire diagram or story in one shot, rather than having to take successive shots to capture the target in its entirety. This is a feature I hope CaptureXT soon adds. There is an active link to the “User's Guide”. Upon arrival, you are greeted with a message telling you it will be coming “soon”. Why not have the site ready before directing people there? As mentioned above, the uninstall process is not a “clean” one. Fragments of this program were left behind after removal and had to be cleaned up manually.

Reviewer 6: There really are no glaring weak points that I discovered in my nearly four-month use and testing of this program and, as I stated previously, I did really put this program through its paces. It performed flawlessly. I would like to suggest to the developer only a few, relatively minor, things that I think would make this program even more outstanding. First, the “undo” function is very limited. There is no way to “undo” individual edits after the fact. In other words, if you find that the final image is not to your liking, you can not simply return to one single edit and make a change but have to undo the entire image you have edited and start back from the beginning—or at least undo everything back to the edit you want to revise. This is really a rather clumsy and time-consuming procedure and something I was, quite frankly, surprised to see in such a well-developed program. Second, and this is admittedly more of a personal pet peeve than a flaw, why do developers all too often insist on not placing the way to contact support under the Support Tab but rather under the Contact Us tab. This bewilders me time and time again. It is not a major issue but simply an annoyance and one that is so easily corrected. I am quite certain that anyone who is looking for support help and/or a way to contact support is going to click on the “Support” tab first. To find that it is not there but instead under “Contact Us” tab is totally counter-intuitive. I would hope that this is not intentional obfuscation meant to try to limit the amount of support requests as even the best program becomes near worthless if support does not compare to the quality of the program.


Other Comments:

Reviewer 1: At about $30, this is a fairly useful program if you have the need for an enhanced screen capture utility. You probably already have the equivalent ability with existing programs like Windows “Print Screen” and “Paint”.

Reviewer 2: CaptureXT Customer Support was not responsive to a request made for a working link regarding installation of the product so that my license code would work. I was forced to resolve this issue through another review panel member who did receive adequate support regarding this issue. Yet, their customer support responded very quickly to any other questions I asked of them. The cost at ~$30 is a not a prohibitive price to pay for a program with so many features.

Reviewer 3: This is an effective and reasonably priced screen capture editing program; however, I do not have it running all the time. Since I never know when I might need to quickly grab a snapshot of something that is happening, usually for trouble-shooting, I like to have one near at hand. There are several excellent freeware screen capture programs. Over time, I have tried out a number of them and eventually found one that I now leave running in the system tray. I usually use that for my “quick and dirty” screen captures. If need be, I can later edit them with Capture XT Screen Capture. On the other hand, if I plan to work on a capture I will usually start up Capture XT Screen Capture, and do the editing right then.

Reviewer 4: One of my major criteria for excellent software design is that the uninitiated user can intuitively see or discover the major functions of the program without having to extensively use the instruction manual. This program meets that criteria. Even if you don’t make full use of the editing functions of this program, the basic functions still make this program a worthwhile addition to your set of software tools.

Reviewer 5: This is an efficient program, providing a myriad of features and using only 10 MB of disk space and with no noticeable hit on computer performance. No conflicts with other programs arose. Some may not use capture programs because they involve too many steps or are not easy to learn and use. XTC is very friendly and economical in operations required. Settings stay reliably. Support is superior. The price tag is competitive and a fully featured trial of 14 days is available. At the least, if you might find a capture program useful, it's worth a trial.

Reviewer 6: This is simply a rock solid program that does almost everything the right way from a Washington, USA company. That company has been in business for approximately six years and has earned an excellent reputation among clients in industry as well as government (two of whom I actually contacted for verification). CaptureXT performs flawlessly, uses little resources, is easy to use and very intuitive, offers exceptional flexibility in its available tools, has an attractive and easy to look at interface, and offers excellent support (once you find it). I think it is very reasonably priced at $29.95.


Will You Continue To Use It?

Reviewer 1: No. As I said, I already have a program that does all this one does and more.

Reviewer 2: Absolutely!

Reviewer 3: Yes.

Reviewer 4: Yes.

Reviewer 5: Yes. Although, as I stated above, it does not have the scrolling feature of Snag-It, the level of support, ease of use and other considerations will make this my default capture tool for the foreseeable future.

Reviewer 6: Yes.

OPERATING SYSTEMS USED IN THIS REVIEW
Windows XP Pro, XP Home, XP Media Center Edition

Back