Taking screenshots is one of the many important features of our devices. Once in a while, every one of us would want to take a picture of something on the screen. Different devices come with different screenshot tools with different features. Flameshot is a free open source screenshot tool available for Linux, Windows and MAC OS. It can be easily installed and it comes with additional features not found with the default screenshot tools. The features include:
- Ability to edit image instantly
- Can be used both from the GUI and CLI
- Export and import configuration
- Easy to use
- Can be customimed
- Image uploads to lmgur
Step 1: Install Flameshot on Linux – Ubuntu, Debian, Arch, Fedora
Flameshot can be installed in Linux using two methods: with package manager, building from source and by downloading Flameshot package from github.
Method 1: Install Flameshot on Linux using Package managers
Flameshot can be installed using packages managers for different Linux distributions as below:
# Install Flameshot on RHEL|Centos|Fedora
sudo yum install flameshot
# Install Flameshot on Ubuntu|debian-based distros
sudo apt update
sudo apt install flameshot
# Install Flameshot on Arch Linux/ Manjaro
sudo pacman -S flameshotMethod 2: Building Flameshot on Linux from Source
First install dependencies and proceed to package flameshot.
Install Flameshot build dependencies on Debian / Ubuntu systems:
sudo apt install g++ cmake build-essential qt5-default qttools5-dev-tools libqt5svg5-dev qttools5-dev
sudo apt install libqt5dbus5 libqt5network5 libqt5core5a libqt5widgets5 libqt5gui5 libqt5svg5
sudo apt install git openssl ca-certificates
git clone https://github.com/lupoDharkael/flameshot.git
cd flameshot
sudo mkdir build
cd build
sudo cmake ../
sudo make
sudo make installInstall Flameshot build dependencies on Fedora systems:
sudo dnf install gcc-c++ cmake qt5-qtbase-devel qt5-linguist
sudo dnf install qt5-qtbase qt5-qtsvg-devel
sudo dnf install git openssl ca-certificates
git clone https://github.com/lupoDharkael/flameshot.git
cd flameshot
sudo mkdir build
cd build
sudo cmake ../
sudo make
sudo make installInstall Flameshot build dependencies on Arch / Manjaro systems:
sudo pacman -S cmake base-devel git qt5-base qt5-tools
sudo pacman -S qt5-svg
sudo pacman -S openssl ca-certificates
git clone https://github.com/lupoDharkael/flameshot.git
cd flameshot
sudo mkdir build
cd build
sudo cmake ../
sudo make
sudo make installMethod 3: Download Flameshot Packages from Github
The second method is to download Flameshot from Github releases, depending on your distribution. You can use the links below to download and install on your distribution. More releases available in the site.
# Install Flameshot on Ubuntu 20.04
wget https://github.com/flameshot-org/flameshot/releases/download/v0.10.1/flameshot-0.10.1-1.debian-10.amd64.deb
sudo apt install -f ./flameshot-0.10.1-1.debian-10.amd64.deb
# Install flameshot on Ubuntu 20.04
wget https://github.com/flameshot-org/flameshot/releases/download/v0.10.1/flameshot-0.10.1-1.ubuntu-20.04.amd64.deb
sudo apt install -f ./flameshot-0.10.1-1.ubuntu-20.04.amd64.debStep 2: Use Flameshot on Linux To Take Screenshots
Once you have installed flameshot, you can launch it from the cli and from desktop applications. On your desktop, search for Flameshot and rightclick on it. These should give you different options as shown:
You can see options you can do with flameshot. To take screenshot, just click on ‘Take screenshot’.
Once you select the area to capture, you will be presented with quite a number of options you can do with the screenshot such as drawing painters, saving the image to lmgr, copy, add text, save locally, option to close the screenshot session and so on.
To discard the screenshot, you can click on x or press Esc. You can also simply press Enter to copy the capture to clipboard.
Under ‘configure‘ you should find different things to configure. For example, under ‘Interface’ you find UI colour editor and button selection. Select or deselect the options as you wish.
The screenshot is by default saved with a date name. You can configure how you want your screenshots to be saved under ‘filename editor’. Once you make your changes, click save.
The General tab allows you to configure how you want flameshot to behave when you take a screenshot:
The shortcut tab presents various key combination for different uses as shown below:
If you click on ‘Open Launcher‘ after you right click the flameshot application, it should present you with a dialogues box where you can choose capture mode for the monitors you want to take screenshot. Here we have rectangular region and full screen (all monitors). You can also set delay time.
How to use Flameshot from the command line
From the cli, you can use flameshot with flameshot command. Check the examples below:
To get help, run the command as shown:
$ flameshot -h
Usage: flameshot [flameshot-options] [arguments]
Per default runs Flameshot in the background and adds a tray icon for configuration.
Options:
-h, --help Displays this help
-v, --version Displays version information
Arguments:
gui Start a manual capture in GUI mode.
screen Capture a single screen.
full Capture the entire desktop.
launcher Open the capture launcher.
config Configure flameshot.To take a screenshot with GUI (to open GUI mode from cli), run the below command. Once you run the command, it will ask to to select an area to screenshot
flameshot guiIf you want to save the screenshot above to a specific directory, specify the path as below:
flameshot gui -p /path-to-save-screenshotTo delay the screenshot, use -d with the amount of time to delay. For example, to delay by by 5 second, the command should be as below:
flameshot gui -d 5000To do a full screen capture, delay and save to a specific path:
flameshot full -p /path-to-captures -d 5000To copy the capture to clipboard, use –c tag:
flameshot full -cTo take a screenshot of where the mouse is:
flameshot screen -rTo open the configuration window, use the below command:
flameshot configFlameshot configuration file is found in /home/<user>/.config/flameshot. However, is not recommended to edit this file directly. You can make the configuration changes fron GUI.
We have seen how to install and use Flameshot on various Linux distributions. As shown, Flameshot comes with better features compared to the ones found in the default screenshot tools. It is free and easy to install. I hope the guide has been useful in guiding you on the installation of Flameshot. Explore and enjoy using.
