Sometimes I get distracted from studying with a problem I’m determined to solve. Wednesday was one of those days.
Working from a laptop display with sometimes upwards of twenty spreadsheets open at the same time, I can clip relevant pieces and hang them around the screen. They always stay on top of all windows and can be as small or large as needed, without any frame or menu taking up valuable screen real estate. Like a visual clipboard that disappears and appears with a single click.
I found scripts to use as a starting point at autohotkey.com. From there I made a few changes to fit what I had in mind. I changed the key combinations to be more unique (Ctrl+Alt+LClick/Drag) so the scripts could run at all times without interfering with existing key combination functions such as Ctrl+LClick, Shift+LClick, etc. Finally, I compiled the scripts into a single executable file that would run on any Windows computer without having to install the code libraries or even require admin privileges.
Below is a screen capture of the functionality. As you can see, there is no frame and this window always stays on top of other windows.
Multiple screenshots can be open at one time, and they are copiable onto the Windows clipboard by Ctrl+C. Paste directly into Word or an email, or into Paint to save as a JPG or other format. To close a clipping, click inside the top-right corner area.
Although the functionality is similar to Windows Snipping Tool or OneNote’s screenshot tool, it offers a number of advantages. There is no frame around clippings so it won’t cover as much of the screen space. Multiple clippings can be open at once. And, it activates by pressing Ctrl+Alt and dragging the mouse, which is almost effortless.
See the download page on my personal website for more details and the download link. I appreciate any feedback whether you encounter bugs or success. I’ve tested this on eight different computers without issues. Enjoy!