Techsmith SnagIt 9.0 is a powerful screen-capture application, that allows much more than simple screenshots. It edits and organises images, text and even video.

A short video briefs you before you begin, but it's not required. Rarely have we come across such an intuitive system as Techsmith SnagIt 9.0's contextual menus. Indeed, after our testing we continued to use Techsmith SnagIt 9.0 (although it does set itself as your default screen-capture utility; irritating if you're using the trial version).

With Techsmith SnagIt 9.0 you make your capture, edit it and then output your image. The user interface (UI) is slick and well laid out, with a modern, black theme.

When you open Techsmith SnagIt 9.0, you're offered 10 capture profiles. You can customise your preferred mode of capture, but the profiles cover almost everything. As well as simple options such as drag and click, there's more complex functionality.

We like scrolling capture, for instance. Click the middle of a web page, and Techsmith SnagIt 9.0 scrolls up and down to grab a single image of the whole page. In our tests 'Text from window' was less successful, although it works well in small doses.

After capture comes storing and editing, and here the options are myriad. SnagIt Editor launches as a separate window with your captures saved, within the program, on the fly.

Within the library created by your captures, you can tag images with nine 'flags', or add keywords. Even better, Techsmith SnagIt 9.0 records and stores the application you captured from, and even the website featured in an image.

NEXT PAGE: editing captures