Starting Solid Capture

There are two ways to start Solid Capture:

1. Double-click on the Solid Capture desktop shortcut.

2. Use the Start menu to launch the program.

If you chose to add Solid Capture to the Startup group, the Solid Capture icon will appear in your system tray.

Using Toolbars and Hotkeys

Use the Solid Capture toolbar or a hotkey to start capturing your screen shots. To activate the toolbar, you can either:

• Double-click on the Solid Capture icon in the system tray, or
• Use the hotkey you chose during installation. The default key is the Print Screen key.

If you have forgotten the hotkeys, you can either:

• Click the Properties button to see a list. You can also change the hotkeys at this point if desired.
• Move your mouse over a toolbar button. In the example below, Ctrl + F10 is the hotkey used to capture a window.

Capturing Screen Images

There are three ways you can use SolidCapture to copy an image from your screen:

• Full Screen - Captures the entire visible screen area with one click.
• Window - Dynamically captures a window or part of a window. In version 2 you can make a selection from the drop-down list, then click the button. You can choose from:
  • Scrolling window - Captures both the displayed window area and the undisplayed portion on the bottom of the screen. (Note: This feature currently only works in Internet Explorer. To activate, highlight the content area ONLY and left-click with your mouse. Solid Capture v. 2 only.)
  • Window capture - Captures all or part of the visible area in an active window. As you move your mouse around the window, selected areas will be highlighted; click the left mouse button to capture the highlighted area. To cancel the capture, press the Esc key.
    
  
  
• Rectangle - Click and drag to highlight any rectangular area of the screen, then release to capture. The dimensions of the highlighted area will be displayed in pixels (Solid Capture v. 2 only). To cancel the capture, press the Esc key.
  

Note: If you have more than one monitor attached to your computer, you can capture images on either monitor. If you select a Full Screen capture you can choose to capture from the current (active) monitor, a selected monitor, or both monitors. (SolidCapture v. 2 only.)

Capturing a Color

Solid Capture version 2 allows you to capture the color values for any area on your screen. This is useful if, for example, you need to replicate a color displayed on a Web page in a different graphic. With Color Capture you can:

• View the numeric color value by rolling your mouse over an area. Depending upon your selections in Properties, you can see the value in HTML (HEX), .NET, VC, VB, VFP, Delphi, Java, RGB, or HSB format.
  
• Capture the color value by clicking the target area. You can then either paste (a) the numeric color value in an editor such as Notepad or Microsoft Word, or (b) a one-pixel color swatch in your favorite graphics program. You can set color tool options in the Properties options, including zoom magnification, show/hide zoom window, border shape, and preferred color format.

Resizing an Application Window

You can resize an application window to a different screen resolution (640x480, 800x600, 1024x768 or a custom size that you specify) with the Resize button. This functionality is useful for simulating average user screen resolutions when capturing screen shots for documentation.

Setting Properties Options

Properties Screen

You can activate this screen in one of two ways:

• Right-click on the system tray icon (on the Task Bar) and choose SolidCapture Properties or
• Click the Properties button on the toolbar.

The properties screen has three sets of options that you can configure:

• HotKeys - Configure which keys you want to use to activate the different capture modes and to bring up the toolbar
• Program options - Set up how Solid Capture will function on your machine (sound/no sound, small icons/large icons, etc.)
• Capture options - Manage the way images are captured (how to save capture, what format, save image location, etc.).

When you select an option, a message will display below explaining the option and available selections. Click the right-hand box next to the label to display a list of selections for an option.

Hotkey conflicts with other programs

You will receive an error message if you have another program open that is using the same hotkeys (shortcuts) as Solid Capture.