InstantShot!

Having screen capture problems? Paul loves this underrated gem

You’d think taking the perfect screengrab would be relatively easy, but despite OS X’s built-in tools and a wide range of third-party screen capture apps promising all kinds of bells and whistles, only one floats my boat – and it’s completely free to boot!

InstantShot! is responsible for all the screengrabs I use in MacFormat. It gives me complete control over what gets grabbed: entire screens, selected regions or all (or part) of an application window. Crucially for me, it allows me to include the mouse cursor in my shots – great for working with tutorials – which is often a feature missing from other apps.

The app is also infinitely customisable, allowing you to delay shots with a timer or shoot multiple snaps automatically at set intervals. You can resize grabs once taken and automatically save them to a specified folder using a pre-defined naming convention too. It makes screen capture simple and performs admirably.

InstantShot! has always done what I’ve asked of it, and while it’s no longer actively developed, there are occasional updates to squash bugs and ensure it remains compatible with the latest versions of OS X. If you’re still hunting for a versatile – yet amazingly free – app for grabbing your desktop, I can’t recommend InstantShot! highly enough.