Screenshot management

The simplest PowerShell script for managing your screenshots.

Use case

Do you capture and share screenshots regularly? If the answer to that question is positive, you probably have encountered some issues in the past.

You take one screenshot, use it two or three times and that's it. The screenshot is no longer needed.

And when you want to share it? The problem emerges when you have thousands of screenshots that cause your File Explorer to load every thumbnail really slowly which extends the waiting time.

This script in combination with Windows' Task Scheduler allows for creating sessions for screenshot sharing by archiving no longer needed files.

How the script works

Instead of running in the background and actively monitoring the directory all the time, the task.ps1 script is run only once when a new session needs to be initialized.

Once the task.ps1 is run, it takes every image in $workingDirectory, saves the images' LastWriteTime and archives it under $archiveDirectory within a subfolder of a current year. The file is renamed to a numerical index and the file extension is standardized to avoid conflicts.

Example

You only have one saved file named funnycat.PNG in your $workingDirectory and set the Task Scheduler to run the script every time you turn on the computer. That means if you turn off and turn your computer back on, the Task Scheduler Trigger will launch the script, the $workingDirectory will be emptied and the funnycat.PNG file will be renamed and archived.

Because you already have archived a total number of 555 screenshots in the year 2017, the file will be renamed to 556.png and moved to $archiveDirectory/2017/556.png. As you can see, the file was initially saved with a .PNG extension and was later changed to .png.

Saving files with .PNG instead of .png is the default behavior of Windows Snipping Tool and the script helps with unifying your image files extensions.

Configuration

The script has three configurable path variables: $mainDirectory, $workingDirectory and $archiveDirectory. By default, the $workingDirectory is the same as $mainDirectory, but you are free to change this setting.

Example

$mainDirectory = "Screenshots"
$workingDirectory = $mainDirectory + "\ActiveSession"
$archiveDirectory = $mainDirectory + "\Archive"

When the script is launched by the Task Scheduler, it starts itself within a predefined active directory. Let's say it's configured to start in C:\Users\username\Documents\.

Directories for the script will be set to:

• $mainDirectory to C:\Users\username\Documents\Screenshots\
• $workingDirectory to C:\Users\username\Documents\Screenshots\ActiveSession\
• $archiveDirectory to C:\Users\username\Documents\Screenshots\Archive\

Optional script configuration

$year - Year variable that sets the folder names in $archiveDirectory

1. The default one will check for every file's LastWriteTime and assign a correct creation year of the image.
2. The second setting will assign every available screenshot to the current year thus moving everything to a single folder.

$path - Full path for archiving files. You can modify it to your liking, for example, by adding a current month folder. Or something completely different. The default value is:

$path = $archiveDirectory + "\" + $year + "\"

Task Scheduler configuration

If you don't want to launch the script manually (you don't), you have to set a Task in Windows Task Scheduler.

1. Open Task Scheduler and select Task Scheduler Library on the left pane. You can create a new folder if you want to keep track of your tasks. Name it however you like.

2. Select the folder and click Create Task...

3. In the General Tab give your task a name like "Screenshots management"

4. In Security Options click Change User or Group and set it to SYSTEM. This will prevent the PowerShell console window from showing when the script is running.

5. Go to Triggers and add a new one. You can configure the trigger to launch every time you log in.

   

6. Go to Actions and select Start a program. Configure it as follows:

   Program/script: Path to the PowerShell executable. The default path is C:\Windows\System32\WindowsPowerShell\v1.0\powershell.exe

   Add arguments: Full path to the task.ps1 script, e.g. C:\Users\username\Scripts\task.ps1

   Start in: Directory that the script will be launched in (see: configuration) e.g. C:\Users\username\Screenshots\

   

7. If needed, make necessary changes in Conditions and Settings tabs.

8. Save the Task and run if for the first time! The script should archive every available screenshot in your $workingDirectory.

License

MIT License

Copyright (c) 2017 Marek Kochanowski

Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy of this software and associated documentation files (the "Software"), to deal in the Software without restriction, including without limitation the rights to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or sell copies of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the Software is furnished to do so, subject to the following conditions:

The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included in all copies or substantial portions of the Software.

THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM, OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE SOFTWARE.