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User guide of ScreenToGif 🎬

#This wiki is currently under construction. ⚠️

This free tool was (and still is) mainly projected to work as a quick and small screen recorder. If you plan to record hours of fullscreen content, I recommend switching to a more advanced software.

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Recording 📹

ScreenToGif allows you to record part of your screen with the Screen Recorder, also there's the Webcam Recorder and the Board Recorder.

Screen Recorder

The screen recorder is composed of a hollow window with the main controls on the bottom. From the left to the right:

• Snap to Window: Click, drag and drop on top of a window to automatically resize and move ScreenToGif to fit.
• Options: It opens the Options window.
• FPS: The maximum fps of the recording. A range value from 1 to 60 fps. A value of 15 fps means a duration of 66ms for each captured frame.
• Width and Height: The size of the recording rectangle. You can resize to fit your needs by typing new values or by dragging the corners of the window.
• Discard (currently hidden) : When the recording is paused, this button will appear. As the text says, it will discard the current recording.
• Record: Uh... It starts/pauses the recording?
• Stop: If there's an active (or paused) recording, clicking this button will open the Editor window with your recording loaded.

Notes:

• You can move the window around when recording, this allows you to record multiple parts of your screen.
• The numeric fields of this app will respond to your mouse scroll wheel, increasing/decreasing by 1. When combining with Ctrl or Shift it will increase/decrease by 5 or 10 respectively.
• You cannot resize the recorder window during the recording.

Webcam Recorder

As the name suggests, this recorder captures the video feed from your webcam. Here's the list of elements from the left to the right:

• Back: It will return to the startup window. This button is not present if you set the Webcam recorder as the startup window. The same behavior happens with the other recorders.
• Options: It opens the Options window.
• Check for video devices: Runs the hardware check to find new video devices. The same check occurs when loading this window.
• Video devices: It shows all of your video devices (like webcams).
• Discard (currently hidden) : When the recording is paused, this button will appear. As the text says, it will discard the current recording.
• Record: It starts/pause the recording.
• Stop: If there's an active (or paused) recording, clicking this button will open the Editor window with your recording loaded.

Notes:

• To increase or decrease the size of the recording, you should resize the window.

Board Recorder

It's a recorder with a canvas where you can draw things. The ink controls are positioned above the canvas with some options to change the color and size of the tip of the pen.

Notes:

• The board recorder will record your drawings automatically. You can disable the auto recorder by holding the Ctrl key or by clicking on the button.

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Editor ✏️

The editor is the main part of ScreenToGif. It's composed of four main parts, the ribbon, the viewer, the action sidebar and the frame list (and bottom controls).

Ribbon

The ribbon lets you access all of the editing features of ScreenToGif.

• File: 💾

  1. New: All the options to create or load animations. The previous animation is automatically discarded.

     • Screen Recording Ctrl + N: Opens the screen recorder. When you finish recording, it returns back to the editor to load the new frames. If cancelled, it won't discard your previous animation.
     • Webcam Recording Ctrl + W: Opens the webcam recorder. Follows the same behavior as above.
     • Board Recording Ctrl + B: Opens the board recorder (sketchboard). Follows the same behavior as above.
     • Blank Animation Ctrl + Alt + A: Opens the New Animation panel.
     • Media or Project Ctrl + O: Opens a file picker and gives you the option to load images, videos or a project. Multiple selection enabled, except for projects.

  2. Insert: Options to insert animations inside the current one. It options the Insert Frames window.

     • Screen Recording Ctrl + Shift + N: Opens the screen recorder. When you finish recording, it returns back to the editor to merge the new recording with the Insert Frames window. If cancelled, it won't discard your previous animation.
     • Webcam Recording Ctrl + Shift + W: Opens the webcam recorder. Follows the same behavior as above.
     • Board Recording Ctrl + Shift + B: Opens the board recorder. Follows the same behavior as above.
     • Media Ctrl + Shift + O:

  3. File: Where you can save or discard your recording.

     • Save as Ctrl + S:
     • Save as Project Ctrl + Alt + P:
     • Discard Ctrl + Delete:

• Home: 🏠

  1. Action Stack: Undo, Redo and Reset.

     • Undo Ctrl + Z:
     • Redo Ctrl + Y:
     • Reset Ctrl + R:

  2. Clipboard: Copy, Cut and Paste. There's also a small button under the "Cut" button that shows your current clipboard.

     • Copy Ctrl + C:
     • Cut Ctrl + X:
     • Paste Ctrl + V:
     • Show Clipboard:

  3. Zoom: Zoom controls, fit the image on the view.

     • Set to 100% Alt + 0:
     • Fit to Window Alt + -:

  4. Select: Select All, Deselect, Inverse Selection and Go To.

     • Select All Ctrl + A:
     • Go To Ctrl + G:
     • Inverse Ctrl + I:
     • Desselect Ctrl + U:

• Playback: ⏯

  1. Playback controls (first, previous, play/pause, next, last). They are also found at the bottom-right corner.
     • First Home:
     • Previous PageUp:
     • Play/Pause Alt + P or Space:
     • Next PageDown:
     • Last End:

• Edit: ✏️

  1. Frames: Frame deletion controls.

     • Delete Delete:
     • Delete All Previous Alt + Left:
     • Delete All Next Alt + Right:

  2. Reordering: Frame ordering, you can move frames, invert the order, etc.

     • Reverse Ctrl + Alt + R:
     • Yoyo Ctrl + Y:
     • Move Left Ctrl + Left:
     • Move Right Ctrl + Right:

  3. Delay (Duration): Allows you to change the duration (delay, time of display) of each selected frame.

     • Override Alt + O:
     • Increase or Decrease Alt + Y:

• Image: 🖼

  1. Size and Position: Resize, crop, flip/rotate the frames. Only the flip action will flip the selected frames, the other actions will be applied to all frames.

     • Resize Alt + R:
     • Crop Alt + C:
     • Flip/Rotate Alt + L:

  2. Text: Text elements, such as Captions, Title Frames and Free Text.

     • Caption Alt + S:
     • Free Text Alt + F:
     • Title Frame Alt + T:

  3. Overlay: Frame overlays, like Free Drawings, Watermark, etc.

     • Free Drawing Alt + D:
     • Progress Alt + P:
     • Watermark Alt + W:
     • Cinemagraph Alt + G:
     • Border Alt + B:

• Transitions: 🔀

  1. Styles: Fade (to the next frame or to a specific color) or Slide (to the next frame).
     • Fade Ctrl + Alt + Y:
     • Slide Ctrl + Alt + T:

• Statistics: ℹ️

  1. General: Informations about the current recording.
  2. Selected Frame: Informations about the current frame.

Viewer

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The viewer consists of a zoomable control that supports Mouse + Keyboard interactions:

Action sidebar

[image here]

Frame list

[image here]

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Saving your recording

To save your animation...

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Other

...

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Options