How to take better screenshots on Linux with Flameshot
If you’ve run a Linux operating system before, you might have noticed that the default screenshot tools available in most desktop environments are not suitable for modern computer use, and lack advanced features such as drawing on screenshots, uploading to cloud support, drawable shapes, and more.
Introducing Flameshot. It’s an advanced screenshot tool for Linux that is sure to meet your needs. In this guide, we’ll show you how to install it, and how to use it too. Let’s get started!
Install Flameshot on Linux
Flameshot needs to be installed on your Linux PC before we go over how to use it. The app is quite easy to install, as the program has support on Ubuntu, Debian, Arch Linux, Fedora, and OpenSUSE. It is also available in the Snapcraft Store as a Snap package, and as a downloadable AppImage file.
To start the installation of Flameshot on your Linux PC, open up a terminal window by pressing Ctrl + Alt + T or Ctrl + Shift + T on the keyboard. From there, follow the command-line instructions that correspond with the Linux OS you currently use.
Ubuntu
On Ubuntu Linux, the Flameshot screenshot application can quickly be installed from the “Universe” software repository. To start, enable the “Universe” software repository on your Ubuntu computer.
sudo add-apt-repository universe
With the “Universe” software repository ready to go on Ubuntu, run the update command.
sudo apt update
Finally, install the Flameshot application to your Ubuntu PC using the Apt command below.
sudo apt install flameshot
Debian
On Debian Linux, the Flameshot screenshot tool is available in the “Main” software repository. To install it on your Debian system, use the Apt-get command below.
sudo apt-get install flameshot
Arch Linux
Arch Linux users can get their hands on Flameshot from the “Community” repository. To install Flameshot on your Arch system, ensure that the “Community” repo is enabled in your Pacman.conf file. Then, use the following Pacman command in a terminal.
sudo pacman -S flameshot
Fedora
Getting Flameshot on Fedora Linux is pretty straightforward, as the app is in the primary software repositories for the operating system. To install it, use the following Dnf command.
sudo dnf install flameshot
OpenSUSE
OpenSUSE makes Flameshot available to its users via the “Oss all” software repository. To install on your OpenSUSE PC, use the Zypper command below.
sudo zypper install flameshot
Snap package
Flameshot is available on the Snap store! So, if your computer has support for Snaps and you’d prefer to install it this way, open up a terminal and use the snap install command below to get the app.
Note: you must enable Snapd on your Linux PC before attempting to install any Snap packages. To learn how to set up Snaps on Linux, follow our guide here!
sudo snap install flameshot
AppImage
Flameshot is available as a standalone AppImage file. To get your hands on it, start by creating a folder called “AppImages” in your home directory (~).
mkdir -p ~/AppImages/
Move the terminal session into “AppImages” with the CD command and download the AppImage of Flameshot to the folder.
cd ~/AppImages/
wget https://github.com/flameshotapp/packages/releases/download/v0.6.0/flameshot_0.6.0_x86_64.appimage
Update the permissions of the file with chmod.
sudo chmod +x flameshot_0.6.0_x86_64.appimage
Run the app with:
./flameshot_0.6.0_x86_64.appimage
Take better screenshots on Linux
Launch the Flameshot application on your Linux desktop. When the app is open, you’ll see a Flameshot icon in your system tray. Click the tray icon with the mouse to bring up the screenshot UI.
In the screenshot UI for Flameshot, a purple box will appear. Drag the edges of the box to adjust the area of the screen you want to capture or, press the Enter key to capture the entire screen.
Draw an arrow
Need to draw an arrow pointing to something in your screenshot? Select the screenshot button, drag the capture box to the desired size. Then, select the arrow button to access the arrow feature. Then, use the mouse to draw arrows on the screenshot.
Draw shapes
To draw shapes on your Flameshot screenshot, take a screenshot and drag the capture box to your desired size. After that, click on the square icon or the circle icon to draw squares or circles on your screenshot.
Draw lines
To draw lines in a screenshot, take a screenshot and drag the capture box to fit how big you’d like the capture to be. Then, click on the line icon to draw lines. Alternatively, click the pencil or marker icons to draw freehand.
Blur
Flameshot can blur certain things in screenshots if you need it to. To use this feature, take a screenshot, and drag the capture box to your desired size. Then, click the blur icon.
Upload screenshot to the internet
Want to share your Flameshot screenshot to the internet? Here’s how! First, take a screenshot, and resize the capture box to your desired size. After that, click the cloud icon, and it will instantly upload to Imgur.
