Voila Tips 101 – Some Quirky Features
While using a screen capture tool, or for that matter any other productivity tool, one would always look for some handy features, something like a quick shortcut. And Voila has many of such quirky features. Let’s look at some of them.
If you are using Voila for screen capture, screen recording, editing or for file sharing needs, make it a point to visit the Preferences pane. How to go there? Just hit Preferences under the ‘Voila’ menu.
Easy access to the app: You can launch Voila either from the Dock icon or through Menu bar icon. You can choose to show the icon only in the Dock or both the Dock and Menu bar. You can set this option under the General Tab as shown above.
Select tool: Sometimes you have to start adjusting an annotation directly after you have drawn a callout or a shape or an arrow without additional steps of choosing the ‘Select’ tool and then continuing adjusting the annotation. Voila has an option to select the annotation right after drawing it; you set this option under the General tab as in the above image.
Shortcut keys: In the Preferences pane you can see a host of capturing options under the Hot Keys tab and some shortcut key combinations already assigned to each of them. You can edit the hot keys by double-clicking the respective hot key field and typing the new key combination.
Function keys as shortcut keys: Voila gives you the flexibility to assign even Function keys for the capture options. This means, you could use any of the F1 to F12 keys as a shortcut for any of your favorite screen captures. Just be sure to check ‘Override system defaults’ option to override the system defaults (i.e. while Voila is active). When Voila is quit, the system defaults are restored.
Automatic copy to the Clipboard: Sometimes you would want to capture something important or interesting and use it in some other document/mail. The usual steps involve capturing, then locating the file, and then copying, or dragging and dropping the screenshot to the desired location. Voila provides an easy option avoiding these steps to directly copy the last capture to the Clipboard. And with this option checked in the Capture tab as shown in the above image, next time you capture something on your desktop, all you need to do is a ‘paste’ action (Command+V) and the screenshot appears there.
Capturing mouse pointer: It’s a handy feature if you are preparing a training material to be published or guiding someone with step-by-step action. Instead of typing a lengthy paragraph about which option to choose from the drop-down Menu, highlight the mouse-pointer in the captured image.
Continuous capturing option: Some of you don’t need the app popping up soon after you perform a screen capture or screen recording. You would rather continue with performing all the screen captures and then invoke the app to see all your captures for editing, sharing etc. You can set this preference under the Capture tab as shown in the above image.
Multiple image formats of a single image: A screen capture from the latest MacBook Pro with Retina display results in a huge file size. And you may not want to use that huge image file on your blog or website which results in slow page loading. Also some email clients in office or educational environments may have file size attachment restrictions. Voila allows you to choose the file format that’s specific to your needs. For example, you might want the PNG image format for your iPhoto library, JPG image format for blog/website, PDF for the document you are preparing, TIFF for the ad promotion you are working on etc. You can set these options under the Export tab as shown above.
Drag and drop: We are spoilt by the drag-and-drop feature. And Voila supports this feature. Just drag and drop any image or video from the capture tray to the desktop or onto the desired (supported) application. In addition, you can pre-set the image file format for the drag-and-drop as explained above.
FTP/ SFTP file upload: Voila has an easy way to configure FTP/SFTP file uploading option within the app. You can configure multiple FTP/SFTP file sharing accounts from the Sharing tab. In addition, if you configure the web address of the directory, Voila will automatically copy the URL to the Clipboard.
These are some of the handy tips that will be useful when you use Voila screen capture tool next time. We will share more of such tips in the next post. By the way, if you are looking for a screen capture, screen recording and image-editing tool, then try 15-day free trial of Voila and let us know your feedback.
Tool Tip: If you want to rotate an image in Voila, select the image and press Cmd; the Resize knobs (Square knobs) will change into Rotate knobs (Circular knobs). You can now rotate the image as per your requirement. Do remember that the base image cannot be rotated.