Perform a quick Google search, or a search on Twitter or Yahoo Answers or any other ‘How to’ site and you will find most Mac users asking questions like, “How do I do a Screen Capture on my Mac?”, “What are the keys for Screen Capture on my Mac?” or “What are the default Screen Capture keys on my Mac?”. Capturing your screen is one of the most useful features on your Mac, and saves tons of time. Performing a screen capture on my Mac has become almost second nature to me and it has been exceedingly helpful so many times! So here are a few tips for you.

Your Mac comes with a set of default keys that you can use for a quick capture of any content on your desktop using your keyboard. Here is a list of few that will save the screenshot to your desktop:

• Full Screen Capture: Command (Apple)+Shift+3
• Selection Capture: Command+Shift+4. Drag and drop the mouse over the selected area.
• Object/Window Capture: Command+Shift+4, hit the Space Bar, then click a window.

If you would rather have the screenshots saved to the Clipboard, below is the list. Do note that only the last captured screenshot will be placed in the Clipboard.

• Full Screen Capture: Command+Control+Shift+3
• Selection Capture: Command+Control+Shift+4. Drag and drop the mouse over the selected area.
• Object/Window Capture: Command+Control+Shift+4, hit the Space Bar, then click a window.

These steps help you in obtaining a quick capture of some content that you require for future reference. But you have to be content with the kind of capture that you obtain while using this mode. Since, when capturing something using the default mode, the moment you lift the cursor off, the capture is done, irrespective of whether you are happy or not with the capture, or want to re-align the coordinates of the capture area.

If you are looking for more control over your captures, wider capturing options and better organization of your captures, you can try Voila Mac Screen Capture Tool. Voila comes with a free trial so you can try it risk-free for 15-days. Not only does Voila give you flexibility of using your favorite keystrokes for capturing/recording, but it also has a central library that organizes all your screenshots/screen-casts in one place. You can read more about the features here. Voila is priced at USD 29.99 and is available for purchase on the Global Delight Store and on the Mac App Store.

-Vaishnavi

Voila Mac Screen Capture, screen-casts, Video recording, Voila

Voila is not just a Screen Capturing and Editing tool that also lets you share your work, but an application that allows you to neatly organize your images and videos. That’s what the rule-based Smart Collections and Collections are for. Using these you can organize related images and videos, allowing you to easily access your files when you need them and know where to find them.

As you glean through the Voila interface, you will find a few Smart Collections created by default. A Collection will appear as soon as one is created.

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Smart Collections:

As mentioned earlier, Smart Collections are rule-based folders. That is, you can assign specific rules for the kind of images or videos you want to be placed there. Thus, any file that satisfies either one or all the rules of a specific Smart Collection is automatically placed there. This is a great feature that lets you organize your files without you having to specifically drag and drop the files there. This lets you smartly organize related tasks and helps you focus more on your work. To create a rule-based smart collection, hit the Add symbol at the bottom of the app and select Create New Smart Collection. Now you can assign more than one rule to the kind of files you want placed there.

For example, I wanted to create a folder containing all the screenshots I have created for say, a UI re-work. We followed a particular naming convention, assigned the rules and created a Smart Collection. This was when we were planning the re-vamp of the Camera Plus Pro UI. We received a couple of screenshots from our designers and were required to provide our comments. Using Voila it was much easier to put in our comments using the Annotations and organizing them in a single folder. All the files satisfying the rules assigned, would automatically be placed in this folder, making it easier to track the screenshots too.

Creating a rule-based Smart Collection/Collection:

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Assigning the rules in case of a Smart Collection:

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Information Panel showing the contents that satisfy the rules of the Smart Collection:

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Of course, there is another way to organize your screenshots or screen-casts. You can create a Collection. The steps to create a Collection are similar to the Smart Collections, but without the rules. This means you must manually move the files that you wish to place in this folder.

I’m sure you’ll find more uses with this feature. Explore it further and do let us know how you make use of it.

Voila is a comprehensive Screen Capturing app that lets you capture still shots and videos of your desktop. Not just that, you can also edit and annotate your still shots with Callouts, Text, Filters, Arrows and more to make them more meaningful. The built-in organizer lets you manage your files smartly and also lets you share your work instantly via YouTube, Flickr, FTP, SFTP and Mail.

And you even have a better reason to try Voila. Celebrating the 1st Anniversary of the release of Voila v3 we have slashed the price of Voila by almost 17%! That’s right! You can grab your copy of Voila from our Global Delight Store, or the Mac App Store at just $24.99 for a limited period. Hurry!

You’re reading the 5th post in our series, Voila Tips 101: a list that will cover features in Voila, both known and lesser known, that can help you in your work and lets you enjoy all the features of the app. Read the entire list here.

-Vaishnavi

Voila, Voila Tips 101 Mac Screen Capture tool, mac screencasts, smart collection, Voila

While all of you have been busy thinking of something witty to win a code or two, our developers have been really busy getting the next update of Voila Mac Screen Capture Tool out. Voila has been your constant companion, capturing everything and anything you have liked to capture on your desktop, helping you record an interesting video, or apply some great annotations to your captures and send it across instantly to your clients or friends!

So what does Voila v3.0.4 have for you?

I can call this version, your version, since it contains inclusion of features requested and a few bug fixes reported by you. Most of you have wanted the flexibility to choose your web cam for the iSight Capture feature. In this version, we have allowed you to do the same. You can choose the web cam of your choice from the drop-down provided in the Voila Capture Preferences.

Another cool feature is the option to save the web page archive in Voila. This means you can now save the web page archive along with the web snap, thus saving it both as an image and a web page. To do so, you have to select the ‘Save Web Archive’ option in the Voila General Preferences.

To open the web snap directly within the app, select ‘Open Web Archive’ from the Voila Capture Menu. Selecting this option opens the saved web page in the Voila Browser.

This version also has a few bug fixes. Some of you had an issue where the Mail app was not being recognized by Voila and thus would put up an error message stating ‘Mail not configured’. For someone trying to get a multi-colored text using Voila, they were unable to save it. One of you also had a problem where you couldn’t capture a web page using Firefox on a system running Parallels. We have fixed all these issues, thanks to those who reported it and helped us in troubleshooting it. Your co-operation has helped a great deal in understanding the issues and providing the required solutions.

Existing users, grab your free update now and tell us what you like the most in Voila and feel free to give us your feedback and suggestions. And for those who haven’t tried Voila yet, do it today! You can try the 15-days trial version first to see for yourself what Voila has to offer you.

-Vaishnavi

Voila annotate, Mac Screen Capture, record videos, share, Voila

You don’t have to be Irish to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day! It’s for everyone to celebrate, so spread some holiday cheer and try to find a four-leaf clover, wear something green (otherwise - consider yourself virtually pinched!), kiss the blarney stone,  catch a Leprechaun if you can, try a bit of Irish cooking and of course take part in our Giveaway Contest!

Keeping with the spirit of this day, in our Giveaway Contest, we will be giving away a few discount codes of Voila, in addition to that, you can also win two free codes each of our most popular apps.

Voila, All-in-One Screen Capture Tool for your Mac

Boom, Volume Booster App for your Mac

Camera Plus Pro, End-to-End Mobile Photography App for your iPhone

Photo Delight, Color Splash App for your iPad

So let’s see how lucky you are this day! All you have to do is decide which product’s code you would like to win and tell us why you should get it.

For example, “I would like a code for Camera Plus Pro ‘cos I’m a leprechaun“

Okay, that wasn’t the wittiest, but then if it were,  I’d win a code! The wittiest caption gets a code of their choice! You can post your captions here or on our Facebook or Twitter page. Hurry, the contest ends on 18th March, 12:00 AM PDT!

P.S.: Want to know when one of our next amazing giveaways is going to be? Why don’t you subscribe to our newsletter to be the first one to know?

UPDATE: The contest has come to an end. Thanks for taking part and sending in your entries. The winners will be announced soon!

-Vaishnavi

Boom, Camera Plus Pro, Fun Times, Photo Delight for iPad, Voila Boom, Camera Plus Pro, giveaway, photodelight, Voila

When we first thought about a screen capturing tool, there were a few keywords that came to our minds - simple, easy, quick, flexible, etc. This is what you would generally look for in any productivity tool. Thus in an application that lets you work with so many images, supporting export in various formats is quite a handy option.

Which is why, in Voila we have provided you with the flexibility to export an image in various formats such as PNG, JPG, TIFF, PDF, GIF, BMP and the VOILA format. The VOILA format is a raw file format that retains the layers of an image and is recognized only by Voila. In this format, the annotations will be selectable and can be re-adjusted even after being exported from the app.

In the preferences, Voila also allows you to apply different file formats for different export options. Further you can also add applications that you frequently send/export images to, so that once you are done working on the image, you can just hit the Send to option in the Share menu and export the image to the application of your choice. Voila allows you to add any application of your choice here, it however does depend on whether the application chosen by you supports such a set up. Any application that lets you drag an image into the Dock icon would work here.

I’m sure you’ll find more uses with this feature. Explore it further and do let us know how you make use of it.

Voila is a great Screen Capturing app that lets you capture still shots and videos of your desktop. Not just that, you can also edit and annotate your still shots with Callouts, Text, Filters, Arrows and more to make them more meaningful. The built-in organizer lets you manage your files smartly and also lets you share your work instantly via YouTube, Flickr, FTP, SFTP and Mail. At just $29.99 USD, Voila is the only Screen Capturing Software you would need for your Mac. You can grab your copy of Voila from our Global Delight Store, or the Mac App Store.

You’re reading the 3rd post in our series, Voila Tips 101: a list that will cover features in Voila, both known and lesser known, that can help you in your work and lets you enjoy all the features of the app. Read the entire list here.

-Vaishnavi

Voila, Voila Tips 101 Image Export, Mac Screen Capture, Voila