Screen Capture Program

[Frank Zwolinski]

Hello REUNION Folks,
Does anyone have experience with a Screen Capture Software that would do the following:

I am looking at a book on line (from Archive.org) and I want to capture only one page. The document is a City Directory and is too large to show on my screen, so I reduce the size of the image/page, but when I then when I capture it, it is too small to read and when blown up it is too fuzzy. I purchased SnagIt thinking it would do that, but they have confirmed that it will not.

Does anyone have experience with another product that will allow me to do this?

Thank you,
Frank

[jcmurphy]

Re: Screen Capture Program

I am looking at a book on line (from Archive.org) and I want to capture only one page.

Here is an alternate way to do the same thing. This should give you a PDF that is much more readable. I am assuming the book can be downloaded from Archive.org as a PDF. I am also assuming you are using a somewhat current version of the Mac OS X. (yes, I do remember what happens when I assume!)

- Download the needed book from Archive.org as a PDF
- Open the PDF in Preview
- In Preview go to View and click on Thumbnails - see attached Picture 1a
- In the Thumbnails area find the needed page and click on it
- Drag this page from the Thumbnails area and drop it on your Desktop - see attached Picture 2a
- Close the PDF you downloaded from Archive.org (you should be done with it).
- Open the new "dragged" file. It should open as a PDF and it should only be a single page.
- Done!

Hope this helps!

[SGilbert]

Re: Screen Capture Program

Why not just 'print' page, but, when dialog comes up, just save as pdf.

[jcmurphy]

Re: Screen Capture Program

that would work also! I was trying to keep the page as clean and as high resolution as I could.

[Nic Maennling]

Re: Screen Capture Program

Hello REUNION Folks,
Does anyone have experience with a Screen Capture Software that would do the following:

I am looking at a book on line (from Archive.org) and I want to capture only one page. The document is a City Directory and is too large to show on my screen, so I reduce the size of the image/page, but when I then when I capture it, it is too small to read and when blown up it is too fuzzy. I purchased SnagIt thinking it would do that, but they have confirmed that it will not.

Does anyone have experience with another product that will allow me to do this?

Thank you,
Frank

All the replies would probably work. You could always use "Grab" which most likely came with your Mac. I find it indispensable.

Nic Maennling

[Frank Zwolinski]

Re: Screen Capture Program

To each of you,
Thank you for the ideas, however none of them work:
1: Archive.com says that you can download as a PDF, however I have tried several time, and the download just stops mid way.
2: Printing as a PDF also does not work.
3: Grab creates a copy that is also blurred when enlarged enough to read.
So, as of now I am ready to give up. I have tried to find these City Directories in other sources but it seems that they are only digitized by Archives.com. I have also used two different browsers, FireFox and Safari, and both do exactly the same thing.

I am open to any other suggestions.

Thank you all,
Frank

[jcmurphy]

Re: Screen Capture Program

Frank - can you post the full link for the book? And the name of the book?

I downloaded a few books from their site today and all worked A-OK. It is somewhat odd that you cannot. Have you downloaded archive.org books via PDF in the past?

[Frank Zwolinski]

Re: Screen Capture Program

JC,
Here is the link:

https://archive.org/details/polkscrockerlang1944dire

I am looking to copy and enlarge page 1128, however if you are able to get it to work, there are several more pages in different years that I would like to have. SO, if you get it to work, please help my feeble mind figure it out! :-)

Thanks,
Frank

[jcmurphy]

Re: Screen Capture Program

Frank,

The "Polk's Crocker-Langley San Francisco city directory (1930)" PDF is a huge file - it is 1.8 GB in size.

I don't know how fast your internet connection is but assuming it is 10 Mbps download then it would take about 24 minutes (at the very minimum) to download the city directory. If you have a slower 2 Mbps download then it would take about 120 minutes to download this file.

I'd suggest trying to download the B/W PDF - it is only 172 MB in size. And this should download in 2 to 11 minutes (depending on your internet speed).

Hope this helps!

[Michael Talibard]

Re: Screen Capture Program

Frank - using your link, I found page 1128, I hit the 'zoom in' a couple of times, and then did a right-click and download image. No problem.

[bwalker]

Re: Screen Capture Program

Hello REUNION Folks,
Does anyone have experience with a Screen Capture Software that would do the following:

I am looking at a book on line (from Archive.org) and I want to capture only one page. The document is a City Directory and is too large to show on my screen, so I reduce the size of the image/page, but when I then when I capture it, it is too small to read and when blown up it is too fuzzy. I purchased SnagIt thinking it would do that, but they have confirmed that it will not.

Does anyone have experience with another product that will allow me to do this?

Thank you,
Frank

Frank,

Others have offered good advice. If none of them work for you, here are a couple more options:

Since you already have a copy of Snagit, consider enabling the Scrolling Capture feature. Snagit's Scrolling Capture is capable of capturing the entire web page -- the visible portion of the page and the content that can only be made visible by scrolling.

Snagit Scrolling Capture is supported using the Firefox browser. I don't believe Safari or Chrome are supported.

Another option is to stitch together a series of screen shots with a copy of Photoshop Elements:

Capture the entire web page with screen shots using Grab or Snagit. The Photomerge function in Photoshop Elements will stitch your screen shots together if the images contain enough overlapping content.

[Frank Zwolinski]

Re: Screen Capture Program

Michael,
Thank you that does work. Always having used a Mac, I was unaware of "right click," in fact I had to do a Google search to find out how to do it.
Thank you,
Frank

[Michael Talibard]

Re: Screen Capture Program

Sorry - should have thought 'right click' might not be obvious. I first used a right click back in the late 80's, in Acorn RISC-OS with a 3-button mouse. Those habits never died, and now the Apple Magic Mouse does the same job in much the same way. Incidentally, this thread has mentioned a few screen capture apps, but all you need is the appropriate keyboard shortcuts: my favourite is Command-Shift-4, with its cross-hairs.

[Frank Zwolinski]

Re: Screen Capture Program

Frank,

Others have offered good advice. If none of them work for you, here are a couple more options:

Since you already have a copy of Snagit, consider enabling the Scrolling Capture feature. Snagit's Scrolling Capture is capable of capturing the entire web page -- the visible portion of the page and the content that can only be made visible by scrolling.

Snagit Scrolling Capture is supported using the Firefox browser. I don't believe Safari or Chrome are supported.

Another option is to stitch together a series of screen shots with a copy of Photoshop Elements:

Capture the entire web page with screen shots using Grab or Snagit. The Photomerge function in Photoshop Elements will stitch your screen shots together if the images contain enough overlapping content.

Michael,
Thank you for this, however I spent several minutes on the phone with SnagIt and they confirmed that their software will NOT do what I want. Their scrolling feature will only work on the full document, in this case the full book, NOT just one page. Rather disappointing as that is why I bought the application.

Frank

[Bob White]

Re: Screen Capture Program

Michael,
Thank you for this, however I spent several minutes on the phone with SnagIt and they confirmed that their software will NOT do what I want. Their scrolling feature will only work on the full document, in this case the full book, NOT just one page. Rather disappointing as that is why I bought the application.

Frank

Just one minute! The tech help at SnagIt obviously is working from a menu of what to tell people and you may have spoken to someone who works there but doesn't actually use the program. They either lack knowledge of stitching or have instructions to not recommend "outside" products (this is very common). Your money was well spent. Snagit is one of the most versatile screen capturers. When you have time, explore its capabilities.

Someone below suggested stitching. I also make that recommendation but, if you do not already own Photoshop Elements or similar, don't go out and spend $75 or $100. First, if you have a major brand scanner (HP, Epson, etc.), it came with stitching software and, possibly, either you didn't install it or just are not aware that you have it. All of them do a good job. Actually, one of the very best stitchers I have used is the software that comes with the Flip Pal scanner (which is designed to do jobs like yours).

Also, if you look at the App Store, there are several hits if you do a find on "photo stitch" with prices ranging from free to $20; I have no experience with any the the "hit" items.

Hopefully, I have given you lots of food for thought here.