What do you want to see in Microsoft Office 2010? Arpan Shan, who has access to the beta versions at Microsoft, shares his favorite 10 Office 2010 features.

Some of these you may already know, but he highlights some nice ideas that seem to be coming through. In Word 2010, for example, you will have an in-built screen capture tool that takes screenshots of whatever apps you have open. Interesting to see how Techsmith, the makers of Snagit, will respond to this.

Also, Scott Stiles, the head of the Program Management team for Word, describes the aims and objectives that Microsoft has for this new release.

1. Office Web Applications

He says that “the other advantage of Office Web Applications over a service like Google Docs/Spreadsheets is that not only will consumers be able to use this on Windows Live, but Enterprises can deploy Office Web Applications on their own SharePoint servers”.

Nice for corp users but doesn’t really help the little people.

2. Screen clippings

Here you can insert screenshots of applications that you open right from within Office. This saves you having to use Snagit or other screenshot applications. Not sure if you can crop or edit the screenshot. But if you just want a basic screenshot app, this will be useful.

3. Image Background Removal

He adds that previously he had to use other applications to make the background transparent but can now do this within applications like PowerPoint 2010.

4. Outlook User Experience

There are many UX enhancements in Outlook 2010. For example, when you receive meeting requests, you can see your other scheduled appointments inline.

You also have tips throughout Outlook 2010 that tell you if you’re above your quota, you’re going to send an email outside your organization, etc.

5. Video editing

In PowerPoint 2010, you can now insert and edit video. Not only can videos be inserted, but they can be modified. You can trim the video, set the image cover for the video, add borders, add other effects like reflection as well as other special effects.

PPTX files will increase in size (dramatically, I assume) when you add images and videos.

After trimming the video correctly in PowerPoint 2010, you can compress the media size to improve performance and reduce the size of the file.

6. PowerPoint Broadcasting

PowerPoint 2010 has a new broadcasting feature that lets you share PPT presentation.

You can either use a public “PowerPoint Broadcast Service” (you need a Live ID and it’s free) or an internal SharePoint server.

This lets you email a URL to a group of people and they can watch you deliver your PPTX from their browser.

7. PowerPoint Transitions

Some stylish new transitions are on the way. Let’s wait and see.

8. Copy/Paste

In current versions of Microsoft Office, you often end up using paste, look, undo, paste special, etc.

In Office 2010, there’s copy and paste live preview.

This lets you preview how different paste options will look without having to undo, paste, undo paste.

9. SharePoint Workspace

SharePoint Workspace (formerly Groove) lets you work with SharePoint content.

You can take SharePoint lists & libraries offline, provide a rich client UX and background syncing with SharePoint which helps with performance especially in low latency situations.

10. Sparklines

Excel 2010 introduces Sparklines.

This lets you show data trends in a one data cell.

It’s very useful when you’re analyzing numbers over time across a number of time periods. There are many forms sparklines can take from lines to columns to more yes/no type options for win/loss data.

Screenshots and more examples on MSDN

Of all the features here, the two that interests me the most are the screenshots and the copy/paste options.

Why?

Well, because these are two activities that I do all day. Some of the others, like video editing in PowerPoint don’t interest me – I‘ll use Camtasia instead anyway.

But, improved screenshot capabilities would make a huge difference, especially if I can work on the screenshots, maybe add arrows and explanatory text.

How about you? What do you REALLY want to see in Microsoft Office 2010!

Here is the simplest way to take a screenshot of a region, desktop, an entire webpage and also how to include the hyperlinks if you want to save the webpage as a SWF or PDF. We’re going to use SnagIt as our preferred tool for taking screenshots. After this I’ll walk you through more advanced features.

Follow these steps to take your screenshot:

1. Open the webpage page or document you want to capture. I’m looking at http://klariti.com/shop/

2. Open SnagIt.

3. Select a Capture Profile.

Region – use this to capture a specific part of the window

I tool a screenshot of a section of the klariti sales page.

Window — use this to capture the active window but not the entire desktop

I tool a screenshot of the klariti sales webpage, but only what was displayed on my desktop. I reduced it by 66% and cropped the edges.

Full screen – use this to capture the entire desktop

Same screenshot of klariti, but I took the entire desktop, including web browser. I reduced it by 33%.

Scrolling Window — use this to capture a window that does not fit in your monitor, for example , a webpage.

Same screenshot, but Snagit scrolled all the way to the end of the web browser. I reduced it by 33%.

You can see the entire screenshots over here on Flickr.

Web Page – use this if you want to capture a webpage and also keep it links.

Finally, I made a screen capture of the webpage. I saved this as a PDF, which retains all the hyperlinks. You can also save it as a SWF or a Snagit SNAG file, which you can edit later on.

Tip: when you choose this option, wait for a second for Snagit to start. After 2 or 3 seconds it will start scrolling down the screen, capturing the page as it goes.  Likewise, wait a second for it to open in the Image editor.

When you get there, select either PDF, HTML, SNAG, or SWF as the file format for retaining the hyperlinks.

Note that the hyperlinks in the PDF of the screenshot are now active. Impressive!

4. Switch back to the web page or document you want to capture.

5. Click Capture.

6. The screenshot is displayed in the Capture Preview window.

Depending on your setup, Snagit will:

a) Display a box with an explanation of how to complete the capture or

b) Open the image in Snagit Capture Preview automatically.

This is where you can modify the image, for example, add a border, create a nice edge special effort or save it in a preferred file format.

Profile Settings Tip: you can also click an output on the Output Options toolbar or you can automate the process by creating a ‘profile’.

A profile is a group of setting that you save so that it performs that same action every time, for example, save all screenshots in .PNG, add a 1 pixel border, and reduce the image size by 50%. Profiles are one of the best features in Snagit and saves endless hours formatting screenshots. You can setup multiple profiles and use each setting depending on the project you’re working on.

7. Click Done.

If you don’t choose an output before clicking Done, Snagit will prompted you to save the screenshot as a file so you don’t lose the image by accident.

Next

Next week, I’ll look at how to get this nice skewered effect. Stay tuned!

What’s the fastest way to take a screenshot of a website, turn it into a thumbnail, and get it on your blog? How about if you could automate this?

Most of us hit print screen, take it into Snagit or PhotoShop, play with the size until it’s right and then save. Well, here’s a faster way.

Andy Wibbels was looking for API-based services that create thumbnails. He found PageGlimpse.

Instant Site Thumbnails for Your Blog with PageGlimpse

Here’s how to do it.

1. Get a PageGlimpse Developer Key.

2. Go to http://www.pageglimpse.com/signup and sign-up.

Once you activate your account you’ll get a developer key, i.e. random collection of letters and numbers.

3. Drag-and-drop the Create Thumbnail link to your Links toolbar in your browser.

NOTE: Don’t click it. Click-and-hold-and-drag-and-drop.

4. There is a Create Thumbnail is in your Links toolbar. Add your Developer Key to it.

5. Right-click on the Create Thumbnail link in your Links toolbar and select Properties.

The script will look something like this:

avascript:void((function(){location.href=location.href.replace(/^http\:\/\/([^\/\@]+)/,”http://images.pageglimpse.com/v1/thumbnails?devkey=YOUR-DEVELOPER-KEY&size=medium&url=”+”$1″);})())

6. Replace DEVELOPER-KEY-GOES-HERE with your PageGlimpse developer key and save.

7. Go to whatever site you want e.g. http://andywibbels.com/

8 Click on Create Thumbnail.

9. PageGlimpse will create a screen capture.

10. Save the image or Add it to a post.

Note: you can replace the size variable to small, medium or large.

This means that every time you take a screenshot with this tool, all the thumbnails will be the same size. No more time-wasting in Paint, Photoshop or whatever.

How it works behind the scenes

The PageGlimpse web service is a REST service, meaning that you can construct request URLs that will work in your code, in your browser or at the command line.

The REST access to the PageGlimpse service is simply an HTTP GET or POST request (RFC2616). The service parameters are passed as simple HTTP parameters.

All request URLs start with the host-name followed by the API version number and resemble the following code:

PageGlimpse http://images.pageglimpse.com/v1/

Andy Wilbbles: http://andywibbels.com/2009/07/instant-site-thumbnails-for-your-posts-using-pageglimpse/

If you know a better way to do this, please let me know. It takes about 5 min to get setup and then you’re flying. Let me know if you have any problems getting it working.

This is the first part in a series of lessons on how to create professional-looking screenshots. We’ll start with the basics and walk you through more advanced techniques, such as blending, merging and adding special effects to your screenshots.

What are screenshots?

Screenshot play an important part in how we read and understand technical documents.

A screenshot, also called a screen capture, or screen dump, is an image taken by screen capture software to record the visible items displayed on the monitor or another device.

Screenshots can be used to demonstrate how a program works, a particular problem a user might be having, or for training purposes.

All three terms are often used interchangeably; however, some people distinguish between them as follows:

• Screenshot – Outputting the entire screen in an image format such as BMP, PNG, or JPEG.
• Screen dump – The display system dumps what it is using internally upon request, such as XWD X Window Dump image data in the case of X11 or PNG in the case of Mac OS X.
• Screen capture – Capturing the screen over an extended period of time to form a video file. Also called screen recording.

Game screenshots

Screenshots are used when marketing video games, for example, on the packaging. Throughout the history of screenshots, there have been some deceptive practices, such as using a screenshot from a computer platform with better graphics to show how a game would display.

In the 1990s, when pre-rendered videos became a part of intermissions in games, some game boxes included screenshots from the in-game videos, which deceived potential buyers about overall game play.

Internet uses

Many web users add screenshots of their favorite movies and television shows when creating icons for LiveJournal, MSN Messenger, and Internet forums.

Employee Surveillance

Performance monitoring software now records, i.e. with screenshots, the activities of employees. The software can monitor employees through keyloggers and automatic screenshot software. Screenshots are taken at intervals to monitor employees.

Android OS

Screenshots of the Android OS can be taken by connecting the device to a computer, turning on USB debugging on the device, and running the Dalvik Debug Monitor Service (DDMS) program on the computer. Within that program, screenshots can be taken through the “Device” menu.

iPhone OS

Press and hold the Home button, then press the Sleep/Wake button. The screen will flash and the picture will be stored in the “Camera Roll” on the iPhone or in “Saved Photos” on the iPod touch. From there you can sync it to your computer.

Mac OS X

• Press Command-Shift-3 to take a screenshot of the entire screen.
• Press Command-Shift-4 to take a screenshot of a chosen area of the screen or if you press Space afterwards you can choose a window on the screen to individually screenshot.

You can also use the Grab application to take screenshots.

Microsoft Windows

Press the Print Screen key to take a screenshot of the entire desktop area. This places it in the clipboard. Press the Alt key and Print Screen to capture the active window only, i.e. the window that you’re working on. This removes the background and saves you having to crop the image.

Windows Vista

This includes a utility called Snipping Tool, which lets you take screenshots (called snips) of windows, rectangular areas, or a free-form area.

Snips can be annotated, saved as image, HTML page, or emailed

Most of the major operating systems have no built-in mechanisms to record videos of the screen (recording how the user moves the mouse around, clicks icons, types text etc. as a movie).

Screenshot software

These software packages include features such as excluding the mouse, automat cropping, timed shots and autoscroll.

• Brosix (Windows)
• Capture Assistant (Windows)
• Captus (Windows)
• IrfanView (Windows)
• SnagIt (Windows)
• Snapz Pro X (Mac OS X)
• Window Clippings (Windows)

Technical issues

On Windows, screenshots of games sometimes fail, giving you a blank rectangle.

The reason for this is that the graphics are bypassing the normal screen and going to a high-speed graphics processor on the graphics card by using a method called ‘hardware overlay’.

One way these images can be captured is to turn off the hardware overlay.

In Windows XP, you can disable this as follows:

1. Open the Display Properties menu
2. Click the “Settings” tab
3. Click “Advanced”, “Troubleshoot”, and
4. Move the Hardware Acceleration Slider to “None.”

Copyright issues

The use of screenshots may be an infringement of copyright on software programs, as it is a derivative work created by the software.

Regardless of copyright, screenshots may still be legally used under the principle of fair use in the U.S. or fair dealing and similar laws in other countries.

That’s a quick introduction into screenshots.

What I’ll do next is get started on creating your first screenshots and then start adding more and more screen capture tricks as we go along.

P.S. – if you’re having trouble taking screenshots, drop me a line and tell me what you want to do. Maybe we can help. If possible, post the screenshots on the web somewhere rather than emailing me as the email filters may not let it through.

Peter Feerick over on Tech Support Alerts reviews the best screen capture software. I’ve used Camtasia, Snagit and recently Jing, which he includes in this review.

These utilities are normally used for effectively making movies of computer screens. Such utilities are really useful in tech support, product documentation, presentations, or simply showing someone how to do something.

Jing, which is made by the same people who make Camtasia Studio (but free), puts a little icon on the top of your screen and allows you to take screen snapshots and make screen recordings that record to .swf format.

Peter adds that “The result can then be saved to your local machine, an FTP server, or put on screencast.com (100 meg free).  I’ve started using this at work and it is amazing!  Allows for audio while you record too.”I tried each and they all work fine. I liked Wink most because of its ease of use, great flexibility, and powerful annotation features. Wink also allows audio to be embedded in the presentation, allowing you to narrate the viewer through a series of steps. It only produces movies in Flash or executable file formats, though. Wink is freeware for Windows 98 and later.

Full review of Screen Capture Software here