Shutter is a free, open-source, and feature-rich screenshot tool for GNU/Linux distributions. I use this tool frequently when I am creating resources for this site or our youtube channel, and it has not yet let me down.


This tool is a GTK+ screenshot application written in perl. You can take a screenshot of a specific area, window, your whole screen, or even of a website. You can apply different effects to it, draw on it to highlight points, and then upload to an image hosting site, all within one window.

How do I install shutter?

Simply type the following apt-get command/apt command to install shutter under Debian / Ubuntu Linux based system:
$ sudo apt-get install shutter
OR
$ sudo apt install shutter gnome-web-photo
Sample outputs:

RHEL / CentOS / Fedora Linux user type the following yum command (turn on Fedora EPEL repo):
# yum install shutter

How do I start shutter?

Visit the following menu options:

Applications > Accessories > Shutter

Alternately, you can type the shutter command. Just starts shutter and takes a full screen screenshot of desktop directly:
shutter --full

You can start shutter in window selection mode to capture specific window (you need to select a window with your mouse):
shutter --window

Finally, you can start shutter in selection mode so that you can capture specific part of the screen:
shutter --selection

By default shutter will minimize and stay at systray as an icon. You can disable systray icon with the following option:
shutter --disable_systray
shutter --disable_systray --full

To capture a webpage, run:
$ shutter --web=https://www.cyberciti.biz/ -e
Sample outputs:

To see information about all other available options, run:
$ shutter --help
Sample outputs:

Usage:
    shutter [options]

Options:
    Example 1
            shutter -a -p=myprofile --min_at_startup

    Example 2
            shutter -s=100,100,300,300 -e

    Example 3
            shutter --window=.*firefox.*

    Example 4
            shutter --web=http://shutter-project.org/ -e

  Capture Mode Options:
    -s, --select=[X,Y,WIDTH,HEIGHT]
            Capture an area of the screen. Providing X,Y,WIDTH,HEIGHT is
            optional.

    -f, --full
            Capture the entire screen.

    -w, --window=[NAME_PATTERN]
            Select a window to capture. Providing a NAME_PATTERN (Perl-style
            regex) ist optional.

    -a, --active
            Capture the current active window.

    --section
            Capture a section. You will be able to select any child window
            by moving the mouse over it.

    -m, --menu
            Capture a menu.

    -t, --tooltip
            Capture a tooltip.

    --web=[URL]
            Capture a webpage. Providing an URL ist optional.

    -r, --redo
            Redo last screenshot.

  Settings Options:
    -p, --profile=NAME
            Load a specific profile on startup.

    -o, --output=FILENAME
            Specify a filename to save the screenshot to (overwrites any
            profile-related setting).

            Supported image formats: You can save to any popular image
            format (e.g. jpeg, png, gif, bmp). Additionally it is possible
            to save to pdf, ps or svg.

            Please note: There are several wildcards available, like

             %Y = year
             %m = month
             %d = day
             %T = time
             $w = width
             $h = height
             $name = multi-purpose (e.g. window title)
             $nb_name = like $name but without blanks in resulting strings
             $profile = name of current profile
             $R = random char (e.g. $RRRR = ag4r)
             %NN = counter

            The string is interpretted by strftime. See "man strftime" for
            more examples.

            As an example: shutter -f -e -o './%y-%m-%d_$w_$h.png' would
            create a file named '11-10-28_1280_800.png' in the current
            directory.

    -d, --delay=SECONDS
            Wait n seconds before taking a screenshot.

    -c, --include_cursor
            Include cursor when taking a screenshot.

    -C, --remove_cursor
            Remove cursor when taking a screenshot.

  Application Options:
    -h, --help
            Prints a brief help message and exits.

    -v, --version
            Prints version information.

    --debug Prints a lot of debugging information to STDOUT.

    --clear_cache
            Clears cache, e.g. installed plugins, at startup.

    --min_at_startup
            Starts Shutter minimized to tray.

    --disable_systray
            Disables systray icon.

    -e, --exit_after_capture
            Exit after the first capture has been made. This is useful when
            using Shutter in scripts.

    -n, --no_session
            Do not add the screenshot to the session. This is useful when
            using Shutter in scripts.

Screenshots

(Screenshot credit: Official project and nixCraft)

Check out related media

A quick video demo that explains how to use shutter program to capture screen, window and apply effects:

(Video.01: Shutter software demo )

References

• Shutter project website