Print Screen doesn't work in Objects and Animations

[Ed Overstreet]

Another question that came up as I was preparing some screen-shots of PTE to work into an Acrobat handout for a photo-club presentation on PTE.

I have no trouble doing a Print Screen of the main PTE window and pasting it into a JPG in Photoshop for annotation, red-circling key buttons etc to make certain points. However, when I go into the O&A window, when I use the Print Screen key on my keyboard (with the Shift key held down of course) nothing happens, I don't get that screen in the clipboard I still get whatever I last screen-printed from the main window, when I try to paste into a JPG in Photoshop.

This isn't critical, as a work-around I just took a photo of my CRT monitor display with a digital camera. Of course, my 9-year-old monitor isn't flat-screen so the photo has serious spherical distortion and also major moire patterning but it is useable in my presentation. But it would be much nicer to use Print Screen if I could, the results are much sharper and easier to work with.

Any ideas why I can't do a Print Screen in the O&A display but can on the main window display in PTE? Is there a fix for this, am I overlooking something? (I did disable the box in Project Options where you can prevent Print screen from working in the EXE show, but that shouldn't affect print screen when I'm running PTE itself, and turning that box off didn't make any difference to my inability to print the O&A screen to Windows clipboard).

[Limey]

Hi Ed,

I'm using ver 5.5.

No problem using 'Print Screen' from O&A window.

Sorry can't be more help.

Limey

[Ed Overstreet]

Hi Ed,

I'm using ver 5.5.

No problem using 'Print Screen' from O&A window.

Sorry can't be more help.

Limey

Thanks for this, Limey. Interesting. When I go into ver 5.5, I can Print Screen the O&A window just fine. When I go into ver 5.6, I can't. I hadn't thought of checking that until your post, so thanks for the nudge.

I hesitate to call this a "bug" in 5.6, because it's not something that really affects PTE users per se, or at least not me so far, but it does affect folks who want to do a screen capture to paste into other software for an Acrobat or some other document to illustrate the software. But it is curious to know why Print Screen works OK in the O&A window in one version but not the next ... And whether it's something that might trigger or cause other bizarre problems down the road (it's been decades since I've done any programming but my very limited experience was that anytime anything doesn't work the way you think it should, start digging into the code because it probably means trouble later for you or someone else).

Maybe the developers might want to have a peek at this issue if/when they get a moment As I say, it's not a major issue, but it might be caused by something that might cause other problems??

[JRR]

I used to use PRINT SCREEN a lot, but then I had to have PhotoSHop open to copy it to and save the file as a jpg before putting it in a document

Now I tend to use Gadwin systems PRINT SCREEN software here and unless I want to draw circles etc around aspect of the image, I can paste it right into the document

If I want to do circles etc, I paste the saved "image" into Photoshop and do the regular work there.

Using this software, I can select only the part of the screen I want to copy

I just tried it in the O&A screen and it worked fine, see below. In this case I brought it into PhotoShop and made it a jpg

[Ed Overstreet]

I used to use PRINT SCREEN a lot, but then I had to have PhotoSHop open to copy it to and save the file as a jpg before putting it in a document

Now I tend to use Gadwin systems PRINT SCREEN software here and unless I want to draw circles etc around aspect of the image, I can paste it right into the document

If I want to do circles etc, I paste the saved "image" into Photoshop and do the regular work there.

Using this software, I can select only the part of the screen I want to copy

I just tried it in the O&A screen and it worked fine, see below. In this case I brought it into PhotoShop and made it a jpg

Thanks Jim. I'll download that and have a go.

(Strange communicating with you sometimes by this forum, sometimes by email, sometimes face-to-face Tuesday nights, but then my wife and I have been known to send each other emails from two different rooms on the same floor of the same house. Sign of the times, or maybe we've been playing with computers for too long

[davegee]

Hi Ed,

I copy that.

Cannot use Print Screen when in O&A in 5.6.

DaveG

[fh1805]

... my wife and I have been known to send each other emails from two different rooms on the same floor of the same house. Sign of the times, or maybe we've been playing with computers for too long...

Way too long, buddy!!!

regards,

Peter

[nobeefstu]

Ed & DaveG,

Using keyboard Print Screen key with v5.6 in O&A works just fine here. Im using XP.

when I use the Print Screen key on my keyboard (with the Shift key held down of course) nothing happens

Ive never used the Shift key combination with Print Screen key to make a capture.

[Ed Overstreet]

Yeah Peter I know. Computers, you can't live with them, you can't live without them! At least I'm not strewing punch-card confetti over the floor as I wander around the house. ( think I just outed my age group there )

OK, update on the Print Screen issue. I downloaded the Gadwin freeware that Jim suggested. It works, sort of.

I configured it to make two copies of the screen capture, one a JPG to the default folder it creates in My Documents. Works perfectly, no problem, thanks for the tip Jim!

Now the bad news. The other thing I configured for Gadwin was to put another copy of the screen capture in the Windows Clipboard. Guess what, when I open a New file in Photoshop and try Edit>Copy, nothing happens. The screen capture doesn't go into Windows clipboard like it's supposed to. Which is exactly the same thing that happens when I try Shift-PrintScreen to get a screen capture into the Windows clipboard from the O&A window in 5.6 (but no problem in 5.5, nor in the main window of 5.6).

So something in (my) PTE 5.6 O&A window (on my system) doesn't "like" EITHER Windows Print Screen OR Gadwin Print Screen, in terms of the windows clipboard, though Gadwin has no trouble giving me a nice JPG that I can open and play with in Photoshop to my heart's content

So what in blazes in PTE 5.6 O&A window doing to the Windows clipboard? Or maybe it's some system conflict.

I know this isn't a catastrophe, I know it won't affect all that many other users, and now I have a really nice workaround thanks to JRR. BUT -- whenever I see software/system anomalies like this, I get very twitchy. and start to wonder what else might be getting messed up, or leap out of the bushes at me sometime when I don't expect it and bite me in the ankle (I grew up in rattlesnake country).

I repeat, not a major problem, but really maybe the developers might want to have a peek at this.

[Ed Overstreet]

Ed & DaveG,

Using keyboard Print Screen key with v5.6 in O&A works just fine here. Im using XP.

Ive never used the Shift key combination with Print Screen key to make a capture.

Hi Stu. I'm running Windows XP Home Edition with Service Pack 2. I won't begin to list the gazillion other things I'm running, if this is a system conflict involving Windows, PTE 5.6 and God knows what else, I'll live with it, life is too short to try debugging things like that unless they're catastrophic, which this certainly isn't.

So far you're OK, Dave G and I aren't, anyone else ...?

Some days I really don't like Windows much.

[Ed Overstreet]

Ive never used the Shift key combination with Print Screen key to make a capture.

I've always had to use the Shift key; on my keyboard the key has "Print screen" at the top and "sys rq" (whatever that is) printed underneath on the same key face, suggesting I'd better use the Shift key if I want Print Screen. I've found in fact that I never got print screen from Windows unless I use the shift key with that key. Maybe we have different keyboards?

I can't re-check this because when I installed Gadwin I accepted the default hot key, which is Print Screen without the shift, so inow f I use that I get the Gadwin pop-up window immeidately. But I'm quite sure that on my system, until I installed Gadwin this afternoon, the only way I could ever get a screen capture was to use Shift-PrintScreen not just PrintScreen.

[fh1805]

Ed, Jim, DaveG, Stu, Limey and all,

It doesn't work for me either.

Vista Home Edition SP1, PTE V5.6 in O&A window, Shift+Prt Scr = nothing goes to clipboard

Vista Home Edition SP1, PTE V5.6 in main window, Shift+Prt Scr = image goes to clipboard

I've always used Shift+Prt Scr because, as Ed stated elsewhere, "Prt Scr" is on the upper half of the key ("Sys Rq" being on the lower half). By the way, my understanding of "Sys Rq" is that it stands for "System Request" and was used in "the good old days" to generate an "interrupt" into the software to let the software know that it should start reading the input device's (keyboard's) buffer.

Now who's showing their age!

regards,

Peter

[nobeefstu]

As a simple test ... open the clipboard viewer.

Use Run ... clipbrd or clipbrd.exe ... and the clipboard viewer should open.

See what happens to the clipboard contents when you capture in O&A.

Ed, I use the standard 101/102 keyboard driver.

[Guest Yachtsman1]

Hi All

Just tried PS from my PS key using XP Proff, SP3, Elements 5 open blank file, edit, paste, PTE 5.6 no problems.

Yachtsman1

[cjdnzl]

Hello Ed et al,

I have just tried out your problem here, XP SP3, Dell laptop. Started PTE, went into the O&A screen, hit the printscreen key - no shift key, opened CS2 and set a new image, hit ctrl+V, and there she was, as per below.

Copy screen to clipboard is a basic Windows function, independent of any running software, except programs specifically coded to lock out the function, and I do not believe that Igor has done this to PTE.

Actually, I find that the Windows clipboard with its ability to hold only one image at a time is rather primitive. When doing multiple screen captures, as I think Ed is doing for his presentation, I have taken to using Bulent's Screen recorder ver 1.5, a free version, which has a programmable capture key - I use 'f' as my key - and you can capture screens as fast as you can press the key. It even makes a nikon-like shutter sound as it makes the capture! With a running show, for instance, you can easliy capture each image as it appears on the screen. The images are written as .bmp files to a nominated folder. Bulents will capture screens that are ostensibly locked out by software, a handy feature at times.

Here's the link for Bulent's: http://johnbokma.com/software-recommendati...enrecorder.html

Cheers,

Colin

[JRR]

Strange Ed

Whether I use SHIFT PRINT SCREEN of just PRINT SCREEN I can not capture the O&A window (XP SP2) even if it is open in a partial screen (i.e. less than full screen mode)

Gadwin worked for the first time capturing the O&A window - that was how I made the jpg I posted above. Now it won't do it ARRRGH !!!!

Glad the other way of having GADWIN write the file to a designated folder works !!

[Ed Overstreet]

As a simple test ... open the clipboard viewer.

Use Run ... clipbrd or clipbrd.exe ... and the clipboard viewer should open.

See what happens to the clipboard contents when you capture in O&A.

Ed, I use the standard 101/102 keyboard driver.

As Alice would say, "this is getting curiouser and curiouser."

Went into 5.6 O&A, did a screen capture by Shift=PrtScn. did run>clipbrd. The screenshot is right there in the Windows Clipboard. But, I go into Photoshop CS3, and CTRL-V doesn't do anything, and when I go to the Edit menu the "paste" command is greyed out. Photoshop isn't recognizing that there's anything in Windows Clipboard.

I go into either WordPerfect (my preferred text processor) or Word, and I can copy the screen shot from the clipboard into either a blank WPD or DOC file. The Edit menu in both programs shows "Paste" as an option. But NOT Photoshop CS3.

So now it's a problem with Photoshop CS3. But CS3 has no trouble getting screen shots out of the clipboard from 5.6's main page, just the O&A page. And it is any O&A page in my show, not just the one I've been trying to get. I've tried several, and NONE of them can be pasted into Photoshop from the clipboard, though the clipboard viewer DOES show the pages as I copy them.

But when I return to the main PTE 5.6 window and do Shift-PrtScn, that page copies into the clipboard OK AND CS3 pastes it into the New document, also now shows Paste as an option under the Edit menu.

ARGGGGGHHHHHHH

Enough for this evening. I'll come back tomorrow, see if anyone has any other ideas, who knows maybe after a cold reboot in the morning and a good night's sleep it will go away like a bad dream. Or not.

[Ed Overstreet]

Strange Ed

Whether I use SHIFT PRINT SCREEN of just PRINT SCREEN I can not capture the O&A window (XP SP2) even if it is open in a partial screen (i.e. less than full screen mode)

Gadwin worked for the first time capturing the O&A window - that was how I made the jpg I posted above. Now it won't do it ARRRGH !!!!

Glad the other way of having GADWIN write the file to a designated folder works !!

Now you've got it too.

Is Winterlude still on this weekend? What are those mascots they have, the people in the giant white groundhog suits called, the Snowhogs or something (I can't remember, I always avoid the Canal area during winterlude 'cause I hate crowds )... Maybe the Snowhogs are casting spells on our computers. God knows. I don't.

[Ken Cox]

Is there a possibility that during O/A mode that we are using some of WMP's functions?

if we are, make these changes

see

http://labnol.blogspot.com/2005/11/capture...om-windows.html

ken

[davegee]

Ed,

It appears to be a Photoshop thing which I have had before but had (temporarily) forgotten about.

If you do the "Print Screen" from O&A and then open CS3 it will paste into a new document.

Do it a second time and it will not work.

Close CS3 and start again and it will work.

It has nothing to do with O&A on the face of it.

I THINK THIS IS THE ANSWER (POSSIBLY):

BEFORE GOING BACK TO O&A FOR THE NEXT PRINT SCREEN IMAGE HIT:

EDIT / PURGE / ALL.

DaveG

[fh1805]

Ah ha!

If I first launch Photoshop (Elements 5 in my case), then capture the PTE O&A window with Print Screen (using shift key), then do File...New...Image from clipboard in Photoshop I get nothing pasted.

If I Print Screen from O&A window before I launch Photoshop, I can then do File...New...Image from clipboard successfully.

There isn't a Purge option under Edit in Elements 5. There is a Clear option but the "Clipboard contents" is greyed out. So, even though I have just successfully used the clipboard contents to create a new image, Elements says there is nothing on the clipboard.

So, I can get a copy of the O&A window onto the clipboard and use it in Photoshop Elements; but I have to close down and re-launch Photoshop in order to get the next O&A window capture. Photoshop isn't exactly the quickest starting software, so this is a right p.i.t.a!

regards,

Peter

[Antbrewer]

This is a fun way to spend Sunday morning!

I often use 'Prt Scr' for the same reasons as Ed, ie, for tutorial pages etc but have always used word. No problem whatsoever.

I am finding that I too cannot 'Print screen' of the O&A window into any CS version (1,2,or 3) . The main PTE window comes up but not the O&A.??????

Anthony

Peter's comment 'p,i,t,a,' and DaveG's desire to 'PURGE ALL' is a little drastic so early in the morning so I will continue with word documents! No pain at all.

[davegee]

Anthony,

Why is the PURGE action drastic?

I know it's a pain, but drastic?

I have always assumed that it is purely clearing the current "clipboard" in PS for the currently open image.

Nothing drastic about that. It is less painful than having to close and re-open CS3.

Some would call it a "workaround" but when time is so limited workarounds are sometimes the easiest option.

PURGE HISTORY might be an alternative if PURGE ALL is too much?

DaveG

[Ken Cox]

USING V5.6 FINAL, i opened a show, put the o/a of a picture on screen and using my copy of PRINTKEY 2000 - a version described here

http://www.webtree.ca/newlife/printkey_info.htm

[which i have used since before pte ver 3.4]

it is in my computor start up group -- very small memory footprint +- 20 kb

did a

alt/printscrn function

i captured the screen and after a rough crop saved it to my screenshot file as a gif

no problem whatsoever

ken

[davegee]

Peter,

I'm not sure about your statement?

My experience with this "problem" has been that Photoshop, whether it is open or not, will accept the first Print Screen.

The second and subsequent Pr.Scr. CAN be problematic.

In the past I have always closed CS3 and rebooted.

This morning I decided to try PURGE and found that it works.

I have just opened Elements 7 and the CLEAR command is identical to PURGE in CS3.

I have just consulted Martin Evening and he says that it is purely a method for clearing Scratch Disc memory for the open image.

If all we are doing is Pr Scr and opening in CS3 or Elements to create a JPEG then Purging or Clearing is doing nothing to other open images but is allowing us to carry on "working around" whatever is causing this anomaly.

P.S. Does anyone know the difference between Pr Scr and SHIFT + Pr Scr? They both do the same thing for me.

DaveG