Five Firefox Addons To Take Screenshots Of Webpages

These five free Firefox add-ons make it easy to capture screenshots of webpages. Some include extra features such as editing the screenshot or capturing only a selection of a page. Others let you share the screenshot with others, capture Flash content or take a picture of the whole webpage.

Of course you could always use the traditional PrintScreen key to capture a screenshot and copy it to the Clipboard for pasting into a graphics editor etc. However, PrintScreen doesn’t let you capture only a selected part of the screen – or Flash video content or a webpage that scrolls off the screen, just the visible portion…

Updated March 2015 – removed add-on 4 as it is obsolete now.

1. Screengrab (fix version) – This is an updated version of the original Screengrab add-on (no longer compatible with the latest version of Firefox). Save webpages as images – or copy them to the Clipboard.

Save/copy the complete page, visible portion only or select an area via drag and drop. Appears as an icon in the Navigation toolbar and Add-on bar.

The drag and drop selection works but the selection ends as soon as you let go of the left mouse button which is not ideal – you can’t make changes to move/extend your selection afterwards so have to be very precise (or lucky) to select the desired area exactly. Saves in PNG or JPG format. Doesn’t copy Flash video.

FFscreenshot1

2. Abduction! – Webpage Screenshots Screen Capture – Save webpages as images. Save the complete page or select an area via drag and drop.

Adds a right click option ‘Save Page As Image’ to take screen shots. The drag and drop selection lets you make changes to move/extend your selection afterwards – it is based on highlighting page ‘elements’ which is intuitive if you’re used to the concept but could be a pain for the uninitiated.

FFscreenshot2

Saves in PNG format by default but you can save to any other image format by changing the filename to be saved e.g. xyz.png to xyz.jpg. Doesn’t copy Flash video.

3. Pearl Crescent Page Saver Basic – Save webpages as images (including Flash content). Save the complete page or visible portion only – can’t select an area via drag and drop.

Adds right click options ‘Save Image of Visible Portion’ and ‘Save Image of Entire Page’ to take screen shots. Variety of options available – via Firefox Add-ons:

FFscreenshot3

Display in Firefox Add-on bar, where to save files, image format/quality, capture Flash content etc. Saves in PNG or JPG format and copies Flash video. A Pro (paid) edition of Page Saver is available that adds features such as file upload, extensive command line options, and the capability to select a region on the page.

4. Pixlr Grabber – Copy or save webpages as images, share or even edit them. Save/copy the complete page, visible portion only or select an area via drag and drop. As well as saving or copying you can Edit your selection in pixlr.com or Share to Imm.io

Pixlr is a simple online image editor. Imm.io is a one-click easy image sharer – upload an image to show your friends or link from other sites (images are removed if they are not viewed in 30 days).

Adds right click option ‘Grab’ to take screen shots with a further onscreen menu to choose your required action – edit, share, save or copy. Variety of options available – via Firefox Add-ons:

The drag and drop selection lets you make changes to move/extend your selection afterwards and is particularly easy to use. Saves in PNG format.

There is currently a major flaw in the default filenames it creates as they append the current time e.g. 18:40:13 including the colons. Windows can’t save filenames with colons so this produces an error – you have to delete the colons manually each time before saving… Doesn’t copy Flash video.

5. Lightshot – Copy or save webpages as images (including Flash content). Edit online or upload to Prntscr.com or Share them via Twitter, Facebook or email. Select an area via drag and drop only – no option to capture the whole webpage and the only way to capture the visible portion only is to manually select it.

Adds right click option ‘Take Screenshot’ icon in Status Bar to take screen shots. Several options available – via Firefox Add-ons:

FFscreenshot5

Saves in PNG, JPG or BMP format. Copies Flash video.

Conclusion

There’s no overall winner from these five add-ons as it depends which features are most important to you. If you need the capability to copy Flash video then Pearl Crescent is my preferred solution – easy to use and great options but you can’t select a specific area (unless paying for the Pro version).

If you don’t need to copy Flash video, Abduction is my top pick as it does everything else very well – if you can get used to the concept of page elements…