i3 FAQ - Individual question feed

i3 FAQ - Individual question feedhttps://faq.i3wm.org/questions/Frequently asked questions and answers about the i3 window managerenCopyright i3, 2012Sun, 20 Sep 2015 17:04:18 +0000What do you guys use for "printscreen"?https://faq.i3wm.org/question/202/what-do-you-guys-use-for-printscreen/I am running Linux on a Mac (forgive me, lol), and I am horrified with the fact my notebook does not have a printscreen button, then I have to bind it with some nasty key I hardly remember which one is. Besides that problem, I was wondering what do you use to capture a screenshot with i3? I am huge fan of [shutter](http://shutter-project.org/), but it does not work in i3 well (only selection works, the rest complains of "Keyboard could not be grabbed", which looks like a problem because of the mac keyboard, I'd guess). I heard in the mailing list about KScreenshot, and others go deeper with xwd... What is your best choice for i3?Wed, 04 Jul 2012 12:03:26 +0000https://faq.i3wm.org/question/202/what-do-you-guys-use-for-printscreen/Comment by mschaefer for I am running Linux on a Mac (forgive me, lol), and I am horrified with the fact my notebook does not have a printscreen button, then I have to bind it with some nasty key I hardly remember which one is. Besides that problem, I was wondering what do you use to capture a screenshot with i3? I am huge fan of <a href="http://shutter-project.org/">shutter</a>, but it does not work in i3 well (only selection works, the rest complains of "Keyboard could not be grabbed", which looks like a problem because of the mac keyboard, I'd guess). I heard in the mailing list about KScreenshot, and others go deeper with xwd... What is your best choice for i3? https://faq.i3wm.org/question/202/what-do-you-guys-use-for-printscreen/?comment=4539#comment-4539The `--release` switch does not seem to exist anymore in current versions (neither in 0.90.1 from offician nor in 0.93 from ppa). Or do I get something wrong? I tried `bindsym Print exec shutter --release`. EDIT: Okay, the `--release` has to be placed right after bindsym. But the error still occurs!Wed, 20 Aug 2014 08:24:40 +0000https://faq.i3wm.org/question/202/what-do-you-guys-use-for-printscreen/?comment=4539#comment-4539Comment by lkraav for I am running Linux on a Mac (forgive me, lol), and I am horrified with the fact my notebook does not have a printscreen button, then I have to bind it with some nasty key I hardly remember which one is. Besides that problem, I was wondering what do you use to capture a screenshot with i3? I am huge fan of <a href="http://shutter-project.org/">shutter</a>, but it does not work in i3 well (only selection works, the rest complains of "Keyboard could not be grabbed", which looks like a problem because of the mac keyboard, I'd guess). I heard in the mailing list about KScreenshot, and others go deeper with xwd... What is your best choice for i3? https://faq.i3wm.org/question/202/what-do-you-guys-use-for-printscreen/?comment=207#comment-207I just set up shutter yesterday and it's working just fine for me. I am not sure how I can assign a keyboard shortcut. Other than shutter, I don't know of anything comparable. Post-editing screenshots in Picasa just grew too annoying. EDIT have to retract above. Shutter only works with Selection.Wed, 04 Jul 2012 14:08:17 +0000https://faq.i3wm.org/question/202/what-do-you-guys-use-for-printscreen/?comment=207#comment-207Comment by bruno.braga for I am running Linux on a Mac (forgive me, lol), and I am horrified with the fact my notebook does not have a printscreen button, then I have to bind it with some nasty key I hardly remember which one is. Besides that problem, I was wondering what do you use to capture a screenshot with i3? I am huge fan of <a href="http://shutter-project.org/">shutter</a>, but it does not work in i3 well (only selection works, the rest complains of "Keyboard could not be grabbed", which looks like a problem because of the mac keyboard, I'd guess). I heard in the mailing list about KScreenshot, and others go deeper with xwd... What is your best choice for i3? https://faq.i3wm.org/question/202/what-do-you-guys-use-for-printscreen/?comment=220#comment-220same for me! :-) I am trying to reach Shutter's developers for some help on this... https://bugs.launchpad.net/shutter/+bug/1021996Sat, 07 Jul 2012 02:29:27 +0000https://faq.i3wm.org/question/202/what-do-you-guys-use-for-printscreen/?comment=220#comment-220Comment by scy for I am running Linux on a Mac (forgive me, lol), and I am horrified with the fact my notebook does not have a printscreen button, then I have to bind it with some nasty key I hardly remember which one is. Besides that problem, I was wondering what do you use to capture a screenshot with i3? I am huge fan of <a href="http://shutter-project.org/">shutter</a>, but it does not work in i3 well (only selection works, the rest complains of "Keyboard could not be grabbed", which looks like a problem because of the mac keyboard, I'd guess). I heard in the mailing list about KScreenshot, and others go deeper with xwd... What is your best choice for i3? https://faq.i3wm.org/question/202/what-do-you-guys-use-for-printscreen/?comment=3388#comment-3388Note that "keyboard could not be grabbed" can be fixed by using `--release` in the i3 binding.Tue, 11 Feb 2014 09:30:37 +0000https://faq.i3wm.org/question/202/what-do-you-guys-use-for-printscreen/?comment=3388#comment-3388Answer by GenghisKen for I am running Linux on a Mac (forgive me, lol), and I am horrified with the fact my notebook does not have a printscreen button, then I have to bind it with some nasty key I hardly remember which one is. Besides that problem, I was wondering what do you use to capture a screenshot with i3? I am huge fan of <a href="http://shutter-project.org/">shutter</a>, but it does not work in i3 well (only selection works, the rest complains of "Keyboard could not be grabbed", which looks like a problem because of the mac keyboard, I'd guess). I heard in the mailing list about KScreenshot, and others go deeper with xwd... What is your best choice for i3? https://faq.i3wm.org/question/202/what-do-you-guys-use-for-printscreen/?answer=6478#post-id-6478I'm using ImageMagick's `import` command in combination with `Zenity`, but so far I haven't figured out how to restrict the 'root' window to just a single output (like HDMI1). I can capture a particular window, or the root with all of the outputs, but not just a single output. Wed, 19 Aug 2015 15:16:37 +0000https://faq.i3wm.org/question/202/what-do-you-guys-use-for-printscreen/?answer=6478#post-id-6478Answer by loblik for I am running Linux on a Mac (forgive me, lol), and I am horrified with the fact my notebook does not have a printscreen button, then I have to bind it with some nasty key I hardly remember which one is. Besides that problem, I was wondering what do you use to capture a screenshot with i3? I am huge fan of <a href="http://shutter-project.org/">shutter</a>, but it does not work in i3 well (only selection works, the rest complains of "Keyboard could not be grabbed", which looks like a problem because of the mac keyboard, I'd guess). I heard in the mailing list about KScreenshot, and others go deeper with xwd... What is your best choice for i3? https://faq.i3wm.org/question/202/what-do-you-guys-use-for-printscreen/?answer=301#post-id-301I have a script which takes a screenshot using import from imagemagick. It's able to shot whole root window or currently focused window. That depends on the only one argument it takes. screen.sh root screen.sh active At the top of the script there are to variables which control its behaviour. The SCREEN\_DIR is a directory where you want to save your screenshots. And the SCREEN\_PROMPT defines whether you want to be prompted for name of screenshot by i3-input. If you don't then this variable must not be set at all. You can export these variables from your startup scripts to have settings separated from script itself. The screenshot is saved in SCREEN\_DIR under name in format NAME-YEAR-MONTH-DAY_HOUR-MIN-SEC.png where NAME is string typed in to the i3-input. If prompt is disabled or empty string is given then WM\_CLASS of window is used or just "window" if WM\_CLASS is not set. In case of root window screenshot NAME is "root". And finally symlink named 'last' pointing to last taken screenshot is created for easier lookup. #!/bin/bash SCREEN_DIR=~/screenshots/ SCREEN_PROMPT=1 window='root' case $1 in root) window='root';; active) window=`xprop -root | grep "_NET_ACTIVE_WINDOW(WINDOW)" | cut -d' ' -f5`;; esac [ ! -z "$SCREEN_PROMPT" ] && \ name=`i3-input -P 'screen-name: ' | sed -n '/command = /s/command = //p'` if [ -z "$name" ];then if [ $window == "root" ];then name='root' else name=`xprop -id $window | sed -n '/WM_CLASS/s/.* = "$[^\"]*$".*/\1\n/p'` [ -z "$name" ] && name='window' fi fi filename="$name-`date +%Y-%m-%d_%H-%M-%S`.png" import -border -window $window "$SCREEN_DIR/$filename" ln -sf "$filename" $SCREEN_DIR/last exit In i3 config just create simple binding. bindsym Print exec screen.sh root bindsym Mod1+Print exec screen.sh active Note that if you take second screenshot during single second the previous one taken in that same second gets overwritten since there is no check for this case. So if you like to use printscreen to make movies you should check for this. Tue, 24 Jul 2012 19:53:55 +0000https://faq.i3wm.org/question/202/what-do-you-guys-use-for-printscreen/?answer=301#post-id-301Comment by GenghisKen for I have a script which takes a screenshot using import from imagemagick. It's able to shot whole root window or currently focused window. That depends on the only one argument it takes. <pre><code>screen.sh root screen.sh active </code></pre> At the top of the script there are to variables which control its behaviour. The SCREEN_DIR is a directory where you want to save your screenshots. And the SCREEN_PROMPT defines whether you want to be prompted for name of screenshot by i3-input. If you don't then this variable must not be set at all. You can export these variables from your startup scripts to have settings separated from script itself. The screenshot is saved in SCREEN_DIR under name in format NAME-YEAR-MONTH-DAY_HOUR-MIN-SEC.png where NAME is string typed in to the i3-input. If prompt is disabled or empty string is given then WM_CLASS of window is used or just "window" if WM_CLASS is not set. In case of root window screenshot NAME is "root". And finally symlink named 'last' pointing to last taken screenshot is created for easier lookup. <pre><code>#!/bin/bash SCREEN_DIR=~/screenshots/ SCREEN_PROMPT=1 window='root' case $1 in root) window='root';; active) window=`xprop -root | grep "_NET_ACTIVE_WINDOW(WINDOW)" | cut -d' ' -f5`;; esac [ ! -z "$SCREEN_PROMPT" ] && \ name=`i3-input -P 'screen-name: ' | sed -n '/command = /s/command = //p'` if [ -z "$name" ];then if [ $window == "root" ];then name='root' else name=`xprop -id $window | sed -n '/WM_CLASS/s/.* = "$[^\"]*$".*/\1\n/p'` [ -z "$name" ] && name='window' fi fi filename="$name-`date +%Y-%m-%d_%H-%M-%S`.png" import -border -window $window "$SCREEN_DIR/$filename" ln -sf "$filename" $SCREEN_DIR/last exit </code></pre> In i3 config just create simple binding. <pre><code>bindsym Print exec screen.sh root bindsym Mod1+Print exec screen.sh active </code></pre> Note that if you take second screenshot during single second the previous one taken in that same second gets overwritten since there is no check for this case. So if you like to use printscreen to make movies you should check for this. https://faq.i3wm.org/question/202/what-do-you-guys-use-for-printscreen/?comment=6479#comment-6479I'm using ImageMagick's `import` command in combination with `Zenity`, but so far I haven't figured out how to restrict the 'root' window to just a single output (like HDMI1). I can capture a particular window, or the root with all of the outputs, but not just a single output.Wed, 19 Aug 2015 15:17:57 +0000https://faq.i3wm.org/question/202/what-do-you-guys-use-for-printscreen/?comment=6479#comment-6479Comment by bruno.braga for I have a script which takes a screenshot using import from imagemagick. It's able to shot whole root window or currently focused window. That depends on the only one argument it takes. <pre><code>screen.sh root screen.sh active </code></pre> At the top of the script there are to variables which control its behaviour. The SCREEN_DIR is a directory where you want to save your screenshots. And the SCREEN_PROMPT defines whether you want to be prompted for name of screenshot by i3-input. If you don't then this variable must not be set at all. You can export these variables from your startup scripts to have settings separated from script itself. The screenshot is saved in SCREEN_DIR under name in format NAME-YEAR-MONTH-DAY_HOUR-MIN-SEC.png where NAME is string typed in to the i3-input. If prompt is disabled or empty string is given then WM_CLASS of window is used or just "window" if WM_CLASS is not set. In case of root window screenshot NAME is "root". And finally symlink named 'last' pointing to last taken screenshot is created for easier lookup. <pre><code>#!/bin/bash SCREEN_DIR=~/screenshots/ SCREEN_PROMPT=1 window='root' case $1 in root) window='root';; active) window=`xprop -root | grep "_NET_ACTIVE_WINDOW(WINDOW)" | cut -d' ' -f5`;; esac [ ! -z "$SCREEN_PROMPT" ] && \ name=`i3-input -P 'screen-name: ' | sed -n '/command = /s/command = //p'` if [ -z "$name" ];then if [ $window == "root" ];then name='root' else name=`xprop -id $window | sed -n '/WM_CLASS/s/.* = "$[^\"]*$".*/\1\n/p'` [ -z "$name" ] && name='window' fi fi filename="$name-`date +%Y-%m-%d_%H-%M-%S`.png" import -border -window $window "$SCREEN_DIR/$filename" ln -sf "$filename" $SCREEN_DIR/last exit </code></pre> In i3 config just create simple binding. <pre><code>bindsym Print exec screen.sh root bindsym Mod1+Print exec screen.sh active </code></pre> Note that if you take second screenshot during single second the previous one taken in that same second gets overwritten since there is no check for this case. So if you like to use printscreen to make movies you should check for this. https://faq.i3wm.org/question/202/what-do-you-guys-use-for-printscreen/?comment=311#comment-311Not bad!!! :-)Fri, 03 Aug 2012 01:13:36 +0000https://faq.i3wm.org/question/202/what-do-you-guys-use-for-printscreen/?comment=311#comment-311Comment by okubax for I have a script which takes a screenshot using import from imagemagick. It's able to shot whole root window or currently focused window. That depends on the only one argument it takes. <pre><code>screen.sh root screen.sh active </code></pre> At the top of the script there are to variables which control its behaviour. The SCREEN_DIR is a directory where you want to save your screenshots. And the SCREEN_PROMPT defines whether you want to be prompted for name of screenshot by i3-input. If you don't then this variable must not be set at all. You can export these variables from your startup scripts to have settings separated from script itself. The screenshot is saved in SCREEN_DIR under name in format NAME-YEAR-MONTH-DAY_HOUR-MIN-SEC.png where NAME is string typed in to the i3-input. If prompt is disabled or empty string is given then WM_CLASS of window is used or just "window" if WM_CLASS is not set. In case of root window screenshot NAME is "root". And finally symlink named 'last' pointing to last taken screenshot is created for easier lookup. <pre><code>#!/bin/bash SCREEN_DIR=~/screenshots/ SCREEN_PROMPT=1 window='root' case $1 in root) window='root';; active) window=`xprop -root | grep "_NET_ACTIVE_WINDOW(WINDOW)" | cut -d' ' -f5`;; esac [ ! -z "$SCREEN_PROMPT" ] && \ name=`i3-input -P 'screen-name: ' | sed -n '/command = /s/command = //p'` if [ -z "$name" ];then if [ $window == "root" ];then name='root' else name=`xprop -id $window | sed -n '/WM_CLASS/s/.* = "$[^\"]*$".*/\1\n/p'` [ -z "$name" ] && name='window' fi fi filename="$name-`date +%Y-%m-%d_%H-%M-%S`.png" import -border -window $window "$SCREEN_DIR/$filename" ln -sf "$filename" $SCREEN_DIR/last exit </code></pre> In i3 config just create simple binding. <pre><code>bindsym Print exec screen.sh root bindsym Mod1+Print exec screen.sh active </code></pre> Note that if you take second screenshot during single second the previous one taken in that same second gets overwritten since there is no check for this case. So if you like to use printscreen to make movies you should check for this. https://faq.i3wm.org/question/202/what-do-you-guys-use-for-printscreen/?comment=2184#comment-2184thanks for this!Thu, 11 Jul 2013 07:24:58 +0000https://faq.i3wm.org/question/202/what-do-you-guys-use-for-printscreen/?comment=2184#comment-2184Comment by bruno.braga for I have a script which takes a screenshot using import from imagemagick. It's able to shot whole root window or currently focused window. That depends on the only one argument it takes. <pre><code>screen.sh root screen.sh active </code></pre> At the top of the script there are to variables which control its behaviour. The SCREEN_DIR is a directory where you want to save your screenshots. And the SCREEN_PROMPT defines whether you want to be prompted for name of screenshot by i3-input. If you don't then this variable must not be set at all. You can export these variables from your startup scripts to have settings separated from script itself. The screenshot is saved in SCREEN_DIR under name in format NAME-YEAR-MONTH-DAY_HOUR-MIN-SEC.png where NAME is string typed in to the i3-input. If prompt is disabled or empty string is given then WM_CLASS of window is used or just "window" if WM_CLASS is not set. In case of root window screenshot NAME is "root". And finally symlink named 'last' pointing to last taken screenshot is created for easier lookup. <pre><code>#!/bin/bash SCREEN_DIR=~/screenshots/ SCREEN_PROMPT=1 window='root' case $1 in root) window='root';; active) window=`xprop -root | grep "_NET_ACTIVE_WINDOW(WINDOW)" | cut -d' ' -f5`;; esac [ ! -z "$SCREEN_PROMPT" ] && \ name=`i3-input -P 'screen-name: ' | sed -n '/command = /s/command = //p'` if [ -z "$name" ];then if [ $window == "root" ];then name='root' else name=`xprop -id $window | sed -n '/WM_CLASS/s/.* = "$[^\"]*$".*/\1\n/p'` [ -z "$name" ] && name='window' fi fi filename="$name-`date +%Y-%m-%d_%H-%M-%S`.png" import -border -window $window "$SCREEN_DIR/$filename" ln -sf "$filename" $SCREEN_DIR/last exit </code></pre> In i3 config just create simple binding. <pre><code>bindsym Print exec screen.sh root bindsym Mod1+Print exec screen.sh active </code></pre> Note that if you take second screenshot during single second the previous one taken in that same second gets overwritten since there is no check for this case. So if you like to use printscreen to make movies you should check for this. https://faq.i3wm.org/question/202/what-do-you-guys-use-for-printscreen/?comment=2188#comment-2188I am having some issues with import for floating windows (tooltip, etc). and scrot solved my problem.Fri, 12 Jul 2013 03:11:11 +0000https://faq.i3wm.org/question/202/what-do-you-guys-use-for-printscreen/?comment=2188#comment-2188Answer by Miro for I am running Linux on a Mac (forgive me, lol), and I am horrified with the fact my notebook does not have a printscreen button, then I have to bind it with some nasty key I hardly remember which one is. Besides that problem, I was wondering what do you use to capture a screenshot with i3? I am huge fan of <a href="http://shutter-project.org/">shutter</a>, but it does not work in i3 well (only selection works, the rest complains of "Keyboard could not be grabbed", which looks like a problem because of the mac keyboard, I'd guess). I heard in the mailing list about KScreenshot, and others go deeper with xwd... What is your best choice for i3? https://faq.i3wm.org/question/202/what-do-you-guys-use-for-printscreen/?answer=6538#post-id-6538I like `scrot`, because it's simple, and it can do everything I need (bindings of my configuration): - fullscreen screenshoot (PrnScr) - window screenshoot(Alt + PrnScr) - select windows screenshoot(Alt + Shift + PrnScr) Combined with `date` command it can create screens with timestamp in filename, which can be edited later. Here is the config: bindsym Print exec scrot $HOME/Pictures/ScreenShoots/`date +%Y-%m-%d_%H:%M:%S`.png bindsym Mod1+Print exec scrot -u $HOME/Pictures/ScreenShoots/`date +%Y-%m-%d_%H:%M:%S`.png bindsym Mod1+Shift+Print exec scrot -s $HOME/Pictures/ScreenShoots/`date +%Y-%m-%d_%H:%M:%S`.png Thu, 03 Sep 2015 14:47:53 +0000https://faq.i3wm.org/question/202/what-do-you-guys-use-for-printscreen/?answer=6538#post-id-6538Answer by jonyamo for I am running Linux on a Mac (forgive me, lol), and I am horrified with the fact my notebook does not have a printscreen button, then I have to bind it with some nasty key I hardly remember which one is. Besides that problem, I was wondering what do you use to capture a screenshot with i3? I am huge fan of <a href="http://shutter-project.org/">shutter</a>, but it does not work in i3 well (only selection works, the rest complains of "Keyboard could not be grabbed", which looks like a problem because of the mac keyboard, I'd guess). I heard in the mailing list about KScreenshot, and others go deeper with xwd... What is your best choice for i3? https://faq.i3wm.org/question/202/what-do-you-guys-use-for-printscreen/?answer=306#post-id-306I am using i3 on [CrunchBang](http://crunchbanglinux.org/) which was already set up to use [xfce4-screenshooter](http://goodies.xfce.org/projects/applications/xfce4-screenshooter), so I just stuck with it and it has been working perfectly for my needs. I set up a keybind to call it with `Mod4+s` : bindsym Mod4+s exec xfce4-screenshooterMon, 30 Jul 2012 16:02:09 +0000https://faq.i3wm.org/question/202/what-do-you-guys-use-for-printscreen/?answer=306#post-id-306Comment by denzen for I am using i3 on <a href="http://crunchbanglinux.org/">CrunchBang</a> which was already set up to use <a href="http://goodies.xfce.org/projects/applications/xfce4-screenshooter">xfce4-screenshooter</a>, so I just stuck with it and it has been working perfectly for my needs. I set up a keybind to call it with <code>Mod4+s</code> : <pre><code>bindsym Mod4+s exec xfce4-screenshooter </code></pre> https://faq.i3wm.org/question/202/what-do-you-guys-use-for-printscreen/?comment=6545#comment-6545I third xfce4-screenshooter :D In addition to having all the normally required features (i.e. save an image of (1) entire screen, (2) active window, or (3) selected area), it can also upload the image to a few web services without the bother of creating an account with the said services.Mon, 07 Sep 2015 05:28:18 +0000https://faq.i3wm.org/question/202/what-do-you-guys-use-for-printscreen/?comment=6545#comment-6545Comment by topernic for I am using i3 on <a href="http://crunchbanglinux.org/">CrunchBang</a> which was already set up to use <a href="http://goodies.xfce.org/projects/applications/xfce4-screenshooter">xfce4-screenshooter</a>, so I just stuck with it and it has been working perfectly for my needs. I set up a keybind to call it with <code>Mod4+s</code> : <pre><code>bindsym Mod4+s exec xfce4-screenshooter </code></pre> https://faq.i3wm.org/question/202/what-do-you-guys-use-for-printscreen/?comment=4749#comment-4749I second xfce4-screenshooter. Works good has few dependencies.Mon, 13 Oct 2014 15:20:04 +0000https://faq.i3wm.org/question/202/what-do-you-guys-use-for-printscreen/?comment=4749#comment-4749Answer by Sam73 for I am running Linux on a Mac (forgive me, lol), and I am horrified with the fact my notebook does not have a printscreen button, then I have to bind it with some nasty key I hardly remember which one is. Besides that problem, I was wondering what do you use to capture a screenshot with i3? I am huge fan of <a href="http://shutter-project.org/">shutter</a>, but it does not work in i3 well (only selection works, the rest complains of "Keyboard could not be grabbed", which looks like a problem because of the mac keyboard, I'd guess). I heard in the mailing list about KScreenshot, and others go deeper with xwd... What is your best choice for i3? https://faq.i3wm.org/question/202/what-do-you-guys-use-for-printscreen/?answer=4682#post-id-4682I use a mix of scrot and python to load directly the screen capture into clipboard. In my config I got bindsym Print exec scrot -e 'pyclip $f' bindsym Mod1+Print exec scrot -s -e 'pyclip $f' and got this small python script to load it into clipboard that I took from [superuser](http://superuser.com/questions/301851/how-to-copy-a-picture-to-clipboard-from-command-line-in-linux) The trick is that your program need to stay active as long as the clipboard contains the image. #!/usr/bin/env python import gtk import sys count = 0 def handle_owner_change(clipboard, event): global count print 'clipboard.owner-change(%r, %r)' % (clipboard, event) count += 1 # On my new computer, I had to push counter to 2 because the event is triggered immediatly and script goes out with the buffer. This version keeps the buffer until next screenshot. if count > 2: sys.exit(0) image = gtk.gdk.pixbuf_new_from_file(sys.argv[1]) clipboard = gtk.clipboard_get() clipboard.connect('owner-change', handle_owner_change) clipboard.set_image(image) clipboard.store() gtk.main() Mon, 29 Sep 2014 13:58:34 +0000https://faq.i3wm.org/question/202/what-do-you-guys-use-for-printscreen/?answer=4682#post-id-4682Answer by SpicyCat for I am running Linux on a Mac (forgive me, lol), and I am horrified with the fact my notebook does not have a printscreen button, then I have to bind it with some nasty key I hardly remember which one is. Besides that problem, I was wondering what do you use to capture a screenshot with i3? I am huge fan of <a href="http://shutter-project.org/">shutter</a>, but it does not work in i3 well (only selection works, the rest complains of "Keyboard could not be grabbed", which looks like a problem because of the mac keyboard, I'd guess). I heard in the mailing list about KScreenshot, and others go deeper with xwd... What is your best choice for i3? https://faq.i3wm.org/question/202/what-do-you-guys-use-for-printscreen/?answer=6567#post-id-6567**ksnapshot** Work out of box and it is the best. It has a **delay** feature. It can delay several seconds before taking snapshot. This feature is really useful when you need take screen shot of some menus or tooltip. I don't see any other tool supporting this feature. I don't understand why so many people here use script and command line tool to take screenshot. What is the merit? Flexible? Configurable? But what you do by your scripts is the same with what I do by ksnapshot ![image description](http://i.imgur.com/QbFzc8P.png) Fri, 11 Sep 2015 12:34:01 +0000https://faq.i3wm.org/question/202/what-do-you-guys-use-for-printscreen/?answer=6567#post-id-6567Comment by dd0 for ksnapshot Work out of box and it is the best. It has a delay feature. It can delay several seconds before taking snapshot. This feature is really useful when you need take screen shot of some menus or tooltip. I don't see any other tool supporting this feature. I don't understand why so many people here use script and command line tool to take screenshot. What is the merit? Flexible? Configurable? But what you do by your scripts is the same with what I do by ksnapshot <img alt="image description" src="http://i.imgur.com/QbFzc8P.png"/> https://faq.i3wm.org/question/202/what-do-you-guys-use-for-printscreen/?comment=6648#comment-6648Same. Sure there are ways of implementing its features that would give you more minimalist cred but I'm laaazy. I use lots of KDE apps with i3 which people find ironic.Sun, 20 Sep 2015 17:04:18 +0000https://faq.i3wm.org/question/202/what-do-you-guys-use-for-printscreen/?comment=6648#comment-6648Answer by avk for I am running Linux on a Mac (forgive me, lol), and I am horrified with the fact my notebook does not have a printscreen button, then I have to bind it with some nasty key I hardly remember which one is. Besides that problem, I was wondering what do you use to capture a screenshot with i3? I am huge fan of <a href="http://shutter-project.org/">shutter</a>, but it does not work in i3 well (only selection works, the rest complains of "Keyboard could not be grabbed", which looks like a problem because of the mac keyboard, I'd guess). I heard in the mailing list about KScreenshot, and others go deeper with xwd... What is your best choice for i3? https://faq.i3wm.org/question/202/what-do-you-guys-use-for-printscreen/?answer=2263#post-id-2263'import' from ImageMagic works only if you don't have container widnows. So, on plain layout it works well, but in complicated situation it fails and produces blank image. I prefer that my screenshot utility automatically places resulting image filename into my clipboard buffer. Here is my small script which does all of that (all my utilities link): #!/usr/bin/env python # -*- coding: utf-8 -*- """ Use in i3wm with: Save as screeshot.py somewhere into your PATH bindsym --release Print exec --no-startup-id screenshot.py """ import os from subprocess import Popen, PIPE from tempfile import NamedTemporaryFile SCREENSHOT_UTILITY = '/usr/bin/scrot -s' # /usr/bin/import def feed_xclipboard(str): pipe = Popen("xclip -sel clip", shell=True, stdin=PIPE).stdin pipe.write(str) pipe.close() def import_screenshot(): filename = NamedTemporaryFile( suffix='.png', prefix='screenshot_', dir = os.path.expanduser('~/tmp'), delete=False).name p = Popen(SCREENSHOT_UTILITY + " " + filename, shell=True) sts = os.waitpid(p.pid, 0)[1] return filename if __name__ == '__main__': screenshot = import_screenshot() feed_xclipboard(screenshot) Wed, 24 Jul 2013 05:21:03 +0000https://faq.i3wm.org/question/202/what-do-you-guys-use-for-printscreen/?answer=2263#post-id-2263Answer by BroX for I am running Linux on a Mac (forgive me, lol), and I am horrified with the fact my notebook does not have a printscreen button, then I have to bind it with some nasty key I hardly remember which one is. Besides that problem, I was wondering what do you use to capture a screenshot with i3? I am huge fan of <a href="http://shutter-project.org/">shutter</a>, but it does not work in i3 well (only selection works, the rest complains of "Keyboard could not be grabbed", which looks like a problem because of the mac keyboard, I'd guess). I heard in the mailing list about KScreenshot, and others go deeper with xwd... What is your best choice for i3? https://faq.i3wm.org/question/202/what-do-you-guys-use-for-printscreen/?answer=303#post-id-303scrot, with the following in i3/config: # scrot & gimp - root bindsym Print exec scrot -e 'mv $f /tmp/ && gimp /tmp/$f' # scrot & gimp - select window or rectangle bindsym Mod1+Print exec scrot -s -e 'mv $f /tmp/ && gimp /tmp/$f' Fri, 27 Jul 2012 21:40:31 +0000https://faq.i3wm.org/question/202/what-do-you-guys-use-for-printscreen/?answer=303#post-id-303Comment by kevin for scrot, with the following in i3/config: <pre><code># scrot & gimp - root bindsym Print exec scrot -e 'mv $f /tmp/ && gimp /tmp/$f' # scrot & gimp - select window or rectangle bindsym Mod1+Print exec scrot -s -e 'mv $f /tmp/ && gimp /tmp/$f' </code></pre> https://faq.i3wm.org/question/202/what-do-you-guys-use-for-printscreen/?comment=583#comment-583thanks, I'm not sure why one day `import` works, one day it doesn't. Today the force is with `scrot` :)Wed, 03 Oct 2012 08:34:24 +0000https://faq.i3wm.org/question/202/what-do-you-guys-use-for-printscreen/?comment=583#comment-583Comment by ul for scrot, with the following in i3/config: <pre><code># scrot & gimp - root bindsym Print exec scrot -e 'mv $f /tmp/ && gimp /tmp/$f' # scrot & gimp - select window or rectangle bindsym Mod1+Print exec scrot -s -e 'mv $f /tmp/ && gimp /tmp/$f' </code></pre> https://faq.i3wm.org/question/202/what-do-you-guys-use-for-printscreen/?comment=3392#comment-3392@scy Thank you! Now my PrtSc is perfect ;)Thu, 13 Feb 2014 08:02:34 +0000https://faq.i3wm.org/question/202/what-do-you-guys-use-for-printscreen/?comment=3392#comment-3392Comment by diablo465 for scrot, with the following in i3/config: <pre><code># scrot & gimp - root bindsym Print exec scrot -e 'mv $f /tmp/ && gimp /tmp/$f' # scrot & gimp - select window or rectangle bindsym Mod1+Print exec scrot -s -e 'mv $f /tmp/ && gimp /tmp/$f' </code></pre> https://faq.i3wm.org/question/202/what-do-you-guys-use-for-printscreen/?comment=3404#comment-3404Thanks, it works after puting --releaseWed, 19 Feb 2014 04:08:42 +0000https://faq.i3wm.org/question/202/what-do-you-guys-use-for-printscreen/?comment=3404#comment-3404Comment by scy for scrot, with the following in i3/config: <pre><code># scrot & gimp - root bindsym Print exec scrot -e 'mv $f /tmp/ && gimp /tmp/$f' # scrot & gimp - select window or rectangle bindsym Mod1+Print exec scrot -s -e 'mv $f /tmp/ && gimp /tmp/$f' </code></pre> https://faq.i3wm.org/question/202/what-do-you-guys-use-for-printscreen/?comment=3387#comment-3387@ul: Yes, you need to use `--release` in the binding. Else, i3 still owns your input when scrot gets called, and scrot simply exits.Tue, 11 Feb 2014 09:28:11 +0000https://faq.i3wm.org/question/202/what-do-you-guys-use-for-printscreen/?comment=3387#comment-3387Comment by ul for scrot, with the following in i3/config: <pre><code># scrot & gimp - root bindsym Print exec scrot -e 'mv $f /tmp/ && gimp /tmp/$f' # scrot & gimp - select window or rectangle bindsym Mod1+Print exec scrot -s -e 'mv $f /tmp/ && gimp /tmp/$f' </code></pre> https://faq.i3wm.org/question/202/what-do-you-guys-use-for-printscreen/?comment=3315#comment-3315with `-s` does not work for me when calling by hotkey, without one and with one, but from command line, all is fine. Any ideas?Fri, 24 Jan 2014 09:07:58 +0000https://faq.i3wm.org/question/202/what-do-you-guys-use-for-printscreen/?comment=3315#comment-3315Answer by Klaas for I am running Linux on a Mac (forgive me, lol), and I am horrified with the fact my notebook does not have a printscreen button, then I have to bind it with some nasty key I hardly remember which one is. Besides that problem, I was wondering what do you use to capture a screenshot with i3? I am huge fan of <a href="http://shutter-project.org/">shutter</a>, but it does not work in i3 well (only selection works, the rest complains of "Keyboard could not be grabbed", which looks like a problem because of the mac keyboard, I'd guess). I heard in the mailing list about KScreenshot, and others go deeper with xwd... What is your best choice for i3? https://faq.i3wm.org/question/202/what-do-you-guys-use-for-printscreen/?answer=206#post-id-206I like [scrot](http://freecode.com/projects/scrot). It is unmaintained but works (for my applications). It has some [options](http://pwet.fr/man/linux/commandes/scrot), such as **-s** to interactively select a window/rectangle, or **-d** for a delay and more.Wed, 04 Jul 2012 13:53:54 +0000https://faq.i3wm.org/question/202/what-do-you-guys-use-for-printscreen/?answer=206#post-id-206Comment by bruno.braga for I like <a href="http://freecode.com/projects/scrot">scrot</a>. It is unmaintained but works (for my applications). It has some <a href="http://pwet.fr/man/linux/commandes/scrot">options</a>, such as -s to interactively select a window/rectangle, or -d for a delay and more. https://faq.i3wm.org/question/202/what-do-you-guys-use-for-printscreen/?comment=221#comment-221yeah, works great! perhaps you could bind keys to its commands as well, and make it easily accessible, right? Or, do you always hit it from command-line?Sat, 07 Jul 2012 03:42:41 +0000https://faq.i3wm.org/question/202/what-do-you-guys-use-for-printscreen/?comment=221#comment-221Comment by Klaas for I like <a href="http://freecode.com/projects/scrot">scrot</a>. It is unmaintained but works (for my applications). It has some <a href="http://pwet.fr/man/linux/commandes/scrot">options</a>, such as -s to interactively select a window/rectangle, or -d for a delay and more. https://faq.i3wm.org/question/202/what-do-you-guys-use-for-printscreen/?comment=255#comment-255Well, I only need it every other month or so - at the moment. Binding keys of course works with the i3 bindsym directive.Thu, 12 Jul 2012 10:28:09 +0000https://faq.i3wm.org/question/202/what-do-you-guys-use-for-printscreen/?comment=255#comment-255Comment by diablo465 for I like <a href="http://freecode.com/projects/scrot">scrot</a>. It is unmaintained but works (for my applications). It has some <a href="http://pwet.fr/man/linux/commandes/scrot">options</a>, such as -s to interactively select a window/rectangle, or -d for a delay and more. https://faq.i3wm.org/question/202/what-do-you-guys-use-for-printscreen/?comment=2725#comment-2725http://itnihao.blog.51cto.com/1741976/914446 it solves some problems during installation. Thu, 17 Oct 2013 05:41:26 +0000https://faq.i3wm.org/question/202/what-do-you-guys-use-for-printscreen/?comment=2725#comment-2725Answer by kevin for I am running Linux on a Mac (forgive me, lol), and I am horrified with the fact my notebook does not have a printscreen button, then I have to bind it with some nasty key I hardly remember which one is. Besides that problem, I was wondering what do you use to capture a screenshot with i3? I am huge fan of <a href="http://shutter-project.org/">shutter</a>, but it does not work in i3 well (only selection works, the rest complains of "Keyboard could not be grabbed", which looks like a problem because of the mac keyboard, I'd guess). I heard in the mailing list about KScreenshot, and others go deeper with xwd... What is your best choice for i3? https://faq.i3wm.org/question/202/what-do-you-guys-use-for-printscreen/?answer=241#post-id-241I personally use `import` from the [Image Magick](http://www.imagemagick.org/) package. A little while ago I used `gnome-screenshot`, but it recently stop working on my system, maybe because of a dist update, or an i3 update, I'm not sure. Wed, 11 Jul 2012 09:05:45 +0000https://faq.i3wm.org/question/202/what-do-you-guys-use-for-printscreen/?answer=241#post-id-241Answer by mimosinnet for I am running Linux on a Mac (forgive me, lol), and I am horrified with the fact my notebook does not have a printscreen button, then I have to bind it with some nasty key I hardly remember which one is. Besides that problem, I was wondering what do you use to capture a screenshot with i3? I am huge fan of <a href="http://shutter-project.org/">shutter</a>, but it does not work in i3 well (only selection works, the rest complains of "Keyboard could not be grabbed", which looks like a problem because of the mac keyboard, I'd guess). I heard in the mailing list about KScreenshot, and others go deeper with xwd... What is your best choice for i3? https://faq.i3wm.org/question/202/what-do-you-guys-use-for-printscreen/?answer=5752#post-id-5752Similar solution than lobik using perl with 4 options: bindsym $mod+Print exec Print_Screen root bindsym --release $mod+Shift+Print exec Print_Screen area bindsym $mod+Mod1+Print exec Print_Screen delay bindsym $mod+Control+Print exec Print_Screen window This is the script, sending a message when the screenshot is taken. #!/usr/bin/env perl # Info {{{ # DESCRIPTION: Print Screen # }}} # use {{{ use strict; use warnings; use experimental 'smartmatch'; use v5.20; # }}} # Variables {{{ my @print_option = qw/root area window delay sequence/; my $timestamp = `date +%Y_%m-%d_%H-%M`; chomp $timestamp; my $target = "/home/mimosinnet/Dades/Imatges/ScreenShots/$timestamp.png"; my (@args, $window); die "Usage: \n Print_Screen root|area|window|delay \n" unless (scalar @ARGV == 1) and ($ARGV[0] ~~ @print_option); # }}} # Select options {{{ for ( $ARGV[0] ) { if ( /root/ ) { @args = ("import", "-window", "root", $target) } if ( /area/ ) { @args = ("import", $target) } if ( /window/ ) { $window = `xprop -root | grep "_NET_ACTIVE_WINDOW(WINDOW)"`; ($window) = $window =~ /(0.*$)/ ; @args = ("import", "-window", $window, $target) } if ( /delay/ ) { sleep 5; $window = `xprop -root | grep "_NET_ACTIVE_WINDOW(WINDOW)"`; ($window) = $window =~ /(0.*$)/ ; @args = ("import", "-window", $window, $target) } }; # }}} # Debugging # foreach (@args) { print "$_ "; } exit; system(@args) == 0 or die "unable to do the screenshot because of: $?"; @args = ("xmessage", "-nearmouse", "Captura de Pantalla Feta"); system(@args) == 0 or die "unable to show message because of: $?"; Tue, 07 Apr 2015 16:26:21 +0000https://faq.i3wm.org/question/202/what-do-you-guys-use-for-printscreen/?answer=5752#post-id-5752