One of my all-time favorite keyboard shortcuts (right behind the 1Password Auto-Fill command) is OS X’s capture screen commands. Anywhere and anytime, you can press Command + Shift + 3 to capture the entire screen. Alternately, you can press Command + Shift + 4 and the mouse turns into a crosshair. You can then drag a box around what you need to capture.
Afterwards, you’ll have an ugly-titled .png file, sitting on your desktop. Mac OS X titles them with a date and time. This means, before I dare send it to anyone, I have to change the title. Today we’re going to be taking a look at GrabBox, a simple utility that makes the process of naming and sharing screenshots very simple, integrating with everyone’s favourite web app, Dropbox!
What’s GrabBox?
In an attempt to further expand the functionality of Dropbox, GrabBox automatically grabs the screenshots placed on your Desktop by OS X and places them in your Dropbox’s Public Folder.
This part of your Dropbox is accessible to anyone on the internet – so as a public service announcement, be careful what you put in there. Once GrabBox moves your screenshot, it will copy the public link (the link that gives anyone access to files in your Public folder) to your clipboard. That way, you’re ready to share your screenshot with everyone, everywhere.
How to use GrabBox
Here’s a quick walkthrough of how the process works:
Alternatives
There are a few other options for sharing screenshots. One of the most beloved is Skitch. This fun little app lets you take a screenshot or other image and mark it up with various drawings, text, arrows and the like. Then, with a Sktich account, you can share files via their website.
This window allows you to easily highlight parts of your screenshot.
Another one of my new favorites isn’t limited to just screenshots and images. CloudApp is a fullly fledged file sharing service. From their menubar app, you can drag files and have their short URL link copied to your clipboard. It’s super easy to share not only screenshots, but Word documents and anything else that might be just a tad too big to e-mail.
This is the entire CloudApp interface on your Mac… contained in the MenuBar.
The downside to both Skitch and CloudApp is their requirements for a skitch.com or cl.ly account. They’re super easy to set up, but another password and login to remember nonetheless. Most users already have Dropbox, which makes GrabBox super appealing.
Wrap-Up
I am quite surprised by how useful I find GrabBox. It makes it so easy to share little things with friends and coworkers. The only downside is a lack of editing (a la Skitch), and sharing of other files (as with CloudApp).
Certainly worth considering though, especially if you’re already a Dropbox user. What application do you use for sharing screenshots? Let us know in the comments!