Ashampoo Magical Snap 1.1

CNET editors' review

Reviewed by: CNET staff on March 04, 2009

While we normally appreciate user guidance, the pop-up how-to guides got in the way of what proved to be an effective tool for capturing and manipulating images.

Ashampoo Magical Snap adds an expandable toolbar to the top of your window that lets you capture entire Web pages or specific selections. It also captures desktop and window screenshots--basically anything that appears on your screen. Once you make a selection, pop-up how-to guides walk you through the editing process. We found them a little overwhelming, and appreciated the option to turn them off. Once you capture an image, the toolbar smartly changes to offer more editing options, and two other expandable toolbars are added to your window for more editing and saving options. We were able to quickly capture whole or partial screens, add basic elements, rotate, and resize the image. Results are saved to your location of choice.

Much like the how-to guides, the Help file is extensive and overwhelming. But once you get the hang of the program enough to not need the guides, it is much easier to navigate. Ashampoo Magical Snap offers a short 10-day trial period, but if you request a promotional code, it gets bumped up to 40 days. Once you get down to using this smart screen capture tool, you'll like what you see. We recommend it to any user with a need to create, customize, and save images.

Publisher's description

From Ashampoo :

Make professional screenshots easily. 3 different capture modes: Window/control, including non-rectangular shapes. Predefined area, specify width & height of capture rectangle. Free region, drag with the mouse to capture any screen area. Multi-capture: Perform multiple captures without restart. Tight integration: Auto-monitors Windows built-in snapshot key for quick'n'easy capture.

Supports capture of exclusive full screen content. Apply effects on the fly while capturing: Smooth graphical drop shadows. Capture mouse pointer with special effects. Apply shape effects (e.g. torn paper edge). Screenshot editing tools: One-click functions for save, erase, keep, copy, print & email. Super-easy MouseTools for high-quality effects: Add text (using all available fonts and colors). Draw arrows (choice of styles & colors). Draw shapes (rectangle, ellipse, transparent, opaque). Felt pen draw. The latest release adds the following features: a spotlight effect (focus attention on one area). Version 1.1 improves multi-language support.

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