ScreenPal’s menu gives you four options: Take Screenshot, Launch Recorder, Open Editor, and Open Uploads. You also get quick access to your recent screenshots and recordings.
Taking a screenshot is as simple as dragging the cursor over the desired area and releasing it. The handy editing options let you crop and resize an image, blur and highlight its different sections, or add graphics and text. You can easily delete any alterations. Even better, paid users have capturing options that rival Snagit’s, such as capturing scrolling windows or grabbing text with OCR recognition. In my tests, these features proved convenient, adding more depth, flexibility, and usefulness to something as seemingly simple as taking screenshots.
The video recorder is similarly intuitive. You can record your screen, your webcam, or both. Paid users can record computer audio, but adding narration via a microphone is free of charge. The app lets you adjust the size of the recording window according to your PC’s resolution. ScreenPal recommends 720p, presumably to manage file sizes, but I recorded my full 1080p laptop screen without issue.
Get Our Best Stories!
All the Latest Tech, Tested by Our Experts
By clicking Sign Me Up, you confirm you are 16+ and agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy
Policy.
Thanks for signing up!
Your subscription has been confirmed. Keep an eye on your inbox!
(Credit: ScreenPal/PCMag)
Free users can trim recordings, write captions, add animated text and video effects, and include a limited number of music tracks before publishing their content. Upgrading to the proper video editor turns ScreenPal into a powerful professional tool that impressed me during testing. You can zoom in and draw during the recording for live lesson annotations, create captions with speech-to-text functionality, make GIFs (great for social media laughs), or apply visual effects, such as blur or adding shapes to videos.
Subscribers can combine recordings, use a green screen filter, or animate overlays. Premier users gain access to a comprehensive library of assets. For context, Snagit users must download the separate Camtasia app, Techsmith’s $250 education-focused recording software, to leverage similar options.
Even if you don’t need all of them, this wealth of features positions ScreenPal as a terrific app, not just for media capture, but for editing. They help justify the potential ongoing investment and turn ScreenPal into an indispensable part of your workflow.
ScreenPal now supports exporting image files in more formats: BMP, GIF, JPG, PNG, and TIFF. However, other services still support a wider range of file types. Snagit exports to 19 different formats, Ashampoo Snap supports up to eight, and Windows Snipping Tool lets you choose between PNG, JPG, and GIF. For video, you can export clips as AVI, FLV, or MP4 files. However, transitioning from the capture and editing tools back to the browser isn’t always smooth.
