SnagIt 9: Must have software

I know a lot of you reading this post are fans of TechSmith's SnagIt. TechSmith released the new version a week ago and I upgraded my production machine over the weekend (only US$19.95). Simply said: SnagIt 9 rocks! I was not sure exactly what TechSmith could do to improve what I think is a nearly perfect product, but the folks over in Okemos Michigan obviously listen to their customers and have added some terrific stuff.

Over the years I have become more and more reluctant to installing newly released software, but I did not hesitate to do so with SnagIt 9 despite being in the middle of a number of projects including a new book, a regular column in FoxRockX, and using this tool to write specs and user documentation. In short, I cannot afford to lose SnagIt stability. TechSmith did not let me down. In fact, they have made my life better with the newest release.

My favorite new feature is the revamped SnagIt Editor and the ability to work with multiple images. When I am working on an article, chapter in a book, white paper, or user documentation I like to do some side-by-side images. Previous to this release I had to take the images separately, save them, and use something like MS Paint or Paint.NET to merge them together. Now I can take a couple of snags and use the editor to work with as many images as I can capture. No more one-at-a-time. This editor allows you to drag-n-drop images from the Open Captures Tray to the Canvas. Nice.

Speaking of the SnagIt Editor, I think they have implemented the ribbon control perfectly. I will admit, when I first saw the ribbon control demonstrated in Microsoft Office a couple of years ago I was skeptical. I adapted to it quickly in Microsoft Office, but even today I occasionally run into something I struggle to find. This is not the case with the SnagIt Editor. I have found everything I have looked for and it is exactly in the place I thought it should be. For instance, instead of the blurring and edging features being on individual panes in the task pane (how it worked in SnagIt 8), they are together on the Image tab of the ribbon. Same for the rotate, resize, crop, cut out, resize, border, etc., etc. The old task pane kept switching back to the main after each effect was used, but now the ribbon stays put. The list of graphic editing capabilities keeps on growing.

Speaking of the graphics capabilities expanding, I also really like the perspectives effect. Very easy to use and lots of options.

I have already started using the new tagging feature inside the Search Pane. Very cool and very powerful. There is the ability to save your own keywords, but I am using the built in flags (important, bug/error, follow up, funny, personal, financial, idea, sent, and cool) more. What images came from Visual FoxPro, FireFox, PowerDesk, etc. Now I can search the images I have captured by any of these settings.

There is one bug I have come across, but it is already solved by the developers. Occasionally I would see the Invalid Argument messagebox pop up when grabbing an image. Only way out was to kill the app via the Task Manager. One check with the tech support site shows a fix is already ready. I have not seen the message since I installed the updated SnagIt Editor fix.

I am sure there are other new features I have not even looked at and will be using down the road, and I am looking forward to discovering them. Great user interface, great work flow, great product.