Screenshots are an important piece of data that you can provide to resolve an issue. Having the right tool is essential to snip what you see on the screen. Some of the tools may present options to share the screenshots right from the app interface. Flameshot is a feature-rich tool that lets you capture the whole or specific areas of screen on Linux operating systems. You can also annotate the screenshot and save them locally on your computer or upload it to Imgur. It has a wide range of annotating tools like lines, boxes, highlighter, arrows, text, freehand drawing, blur, and more.
How to Install and Setup Flameshot on Linux
First of all, you need to install Flameshot on your Linux system. You may find the app on your Software Center/App Center/Package Manager. Hence, search for flameshot and install it. If you have not seen the app, head to the GitHub release page of Flameshot and download the setup file for your Linux distro.
By default, Flameshot will not use the Print Screen key. You need to configure the app to take control on Print Screen key.
Step 1: Open the System Settings and navigate to the Device settings menu.
Step 2: On the left-side menu panel, select Keyboard Shortcuts.
Step 3: Scroll down to Saving a screenshot to Pictures. Change the shortcut from Print Screen to any other key.
Step 4: After changing the shortcut key for the default screenshot option, scroll down, and select the + icon. It will display a dialog box to create a new shortcut.
Step 5: Now, configure the following details:
Name – Type Screenshot
Command – Type flameshot gui
Shortcut – Press the Print Screen key
Step 6: After configuring the settings, you can launch the Flameshot by simply pressing the Print Screen key.
After installing the app, you need to configure the Flameshot app. Type flameshot config on the terminal or right-click the Flameshot icon and select the configuration menu. A dialog box will appear on the screen. Now, you can select whether to show system tray icon, desktop notifications, launch at startup, display help message, and more.
Shortcuts and Command Lines
Like most of the tools, Flameshot also supports few keyboard shortcuts which you can use in GUI mode.
| ←, ↓, ↑, → | Move the selected area by 1px |
| Shift + [←, ↓, ↑, →] | Resize the selected portion by 1 px |
| Ctrl + C | Copy the screenshot to clipboard |
| Ctrl + S | Save your screenshot locally |
| Ctrl + Z | Undo the changes |
| Esc | Close the capture |
The application also supports few command line options and they are listed below
| Capture the screen and save it on the custom location | flameshot gui -p /your location |
| Open GUI with 5 seconds delay | flameshot gui -d 5000 |
| Capture full screen with 5-seconds delay and save it on the custom location | flameshot full -p /your location -d 5000 |
| Capture full screen and copy the path location to the clipboard | flameshot full -c -p ~/myStuff/captures |
| Capture the screen 1 and copy the image to the clipboard | flameshot screen -n 1 -c |
| Capture the screen containing the mouse pointer and print the screenshot: | flameshot screen -r |
How to Use Flameshot
There are two ways to use Flameshot on Linux machines. You can use it either in the GUI mode or command line. If you’re comfortable with working through the terminal, use the above-mentioned shortcuts. Those commands will help even if the app was not running in the background. On the other hand, you can launch the app from the Applications menu.
Upon launching the app, tap the Take Screenshot option and select the portion that you want. You can drag the edges according to your convenience. Once you have selected the area, it will display few annotating tools just below the screenshot. The interface may look similar to the one displayed by Lightshot.
After marking up the important things, you can
- Save the screenshot locally
- Open the screenshot on third-party image editors
- Upload to Imgur service or
- Copy the image to the clipboard
Conclusion
Despite having a built-in option to take screenshots, Flameshot gives you annotating and sharing options. You can also take detailed screenshots, which are essential for reporting a bug or problem on your computer. Try it on your Linux computer and mention your feedback. If you found this guide helpful, share it with other Linux users.