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BBScreenShooter

A small tool to capture the current screen of a 71xx, 72xx, 8xxx BlackBerry.
Download here the BBScreenShooter software here.

Note: Before you are able to use BBScreenShooter to capture images from your BlackBerry display, you will need to install the BlackBerry Desktop Software.

The Set-UP

Click the […] button located next to the “folder” drop down menu.

This is where you will choose the location to store your new BlackBerry screenshots. You will note that there is a history list available in this option. The list stores up to 16 folders. This makes it quite easy to separate your screenshots into various projects or subject folders for easy access and sorting at a later date.

The next step is to decide what you want to name your screenshot(s). To do this, you need to type the desired name into the “filename” field.

There is a handy feature made available to you here, called Auto-Numbering. What this does, when checked, is save each consecutive screenshot in your current session with a number in square brackets appended to the end of the chosen filename. EG. application_screen[1].png, application_screen[2].png . . .

Now that you have chosen a location to save your BlackBerry screenshots, and selected a descriptive filename, it is time to decide which format you would like your BlackBerry to output your screenshots in.

You will be given the choice of .bmp, .jpg, or .png. For those who are not quite familiar with web-based image file types, here is a 10 second primer.

.bmp: This file type is known as a lossless format. This means that when your screenshot is saved, you will not lose any image data, as it is not compressed. .bmp file types will have the best quality of the three options presented, but will also have the greatest file size. I suggest using this file type if you are intending to manipulate the images using photo editing software before their distribution.

.jpg: This is one of the more common file types associated with the web. .jpg file types use a strong compression to reduce the file sizes by great amounts. The trade off here is in the quality of the image. Using the .jpg file type is fine if your BlackBerry screenshots are destined for the web or mobile distribution. I would suggest, however, that you go with either .bmp or .png if your files are destined for printing or email distribution.

.png: The .png file type is probably the most versatile of the three file types made available to you. Walking the line between compression and image quality, .png offers the ability to capture high quality BlackBerry screenshots, while also keeping the file sizes relatively small. I would suggest using the .png file type if you are finding that the .jpg compression is mucking up your final images with blurring or artifacting.

There are a couple more options you will have to address before actually taking your first screenshot. The first is selecting a “scaling percentage” to be applied to your final image to be output.

Depending on what type of display medium your images are destined for, you may want to increase the size of the final image, or decrease it accordingly. An example where you may wish to have a larger screenshot would be for sending in an email or promotional materials, in which case you may choose to scale the image output to 200% or more. For web- or mobile-based distribution, you may wish to go with a 50% scaled image to reduce browser load times.

The last option you will need to address is whether or not you would like a frame inserted around your image. To do this, you simply select the “frame” drop down menu and select a value for its width.

A value of 0 (zero) will result in no border being applied. If you wish to select a specific color for your frame, simply click on the color field to select or define a custom frame color. There is a slider, which when dragged will alter the frames shading effect. Pressing [CTRL] +left-click will reset the shading to a neutral position and clicking the up/down arrow will alternate the direction of the fade.

That’s it, folks, you are now ready to take some screen shots.

Taking your first screenshot

On the display you will see the [Take Screenshot] button.

Click on this button to take a screenshot of your current BlackBerry display. If you have password protection on your BlackBerry, or do not have your device connected, you will be prompted to enter it at this point or connect the device.

Once you have taken a screenshot of your BlackBerry display, it is automatically stored in the folder you selected at the beginning of this tutorial. As an added bonus, the image is also automatically copied to the clipboard for easy pasting into most applications.

To insert the screenshot into the application of your choice, simply locate the desired insertion point in your current document and press CTRL+V; or, in your menu bar, go to Edit – Paste.

With each new screenshot, the image that was saved in the clipboard is replaced with the most recent screenshot. If you ever need to get a previous image back into the clipboard, simply double-click the desired image. You can now paste it into your chosen application.

Additional Items of Interest

You will notice that there is a [!] button on the screen. When clicked, this button will check for online updates to the BlackBerry screen capture software. With this handy feature, you will always be sure to have the most up-to-date version installed.

The [pin] (little red pin) button is used to toggle the “sticky” or “stay on top” feature of this software, allowing the software to remain on top of any open applications on your computer.

The speaker button is used to toggle on/off any sound effects used by the BBScreenShooter.

The [?] button will display a help guide for anyone who is completely lost at this stage of the process.

The [Toggle Viewer] button is used to alternate between having the screenshot Viewer Window visible or hidden.

Inside the Viewer Window, you can perform a number of operations. These options are presented by right-clicking on an image. Upon right-clicking, you will have the option to add/remove frames, and delete files.

Double-clicking an image will send it to the clipboard, overwriting whatever image was previously stored there.

[CTRL]+double-click on any image and you will automatically add a default frame to the clicked-upon image.

[SHIFT]+double-click on any image to automatically remove a pre-assigned frame.

[DEL]+double-click will delete any image from folder they were previously saved.

Use the option fields at the bottom of the viewer window to sort the picture list by name, number or creation date.

The [up/down arrow button] changes the sorting order. The [rounded double arrow] button refreshes the display list.
(Due to program limitations, approximately only 128 pictures can be shown – the rest is hidden. Use more folders with fewer files instead)

Keyboard shortcuts:

[Enter] takes the screenshot
[F1] opens the help window
[F6] launches the updater
[F5] refreshes the viewer window
[F9] toggles the viewer window
[ESC] exits the current window or the program

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