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Snipping Tool for Linux: screenshot, mark up and copy text

The short answer

Linux doesn't have Microsoft's Snipping Tool, but your desktop has its own screenshot tool, and it's free. On GNOME, Ubuntu's desktop, press Print: drag over an area, or pick a window or the whole screen, and the picture is saved and copied. On Linux Mint's Cinnamon desktop, Shift+Print grabs an area and Alt+Print a window. To add arrows or blur, Flameshot and Ksnip are free; to copy the text out of the screen, NormCap is free. PrintScreen.ly does capture, markup and text grab in one app on an X11 desktop, and keeps your screenshots in one private library with your Mac, PC and phone.

  • Tested on Linux Mint 22.3 (Cinnamon, X11) with PrintScreen.ly 0.11.0, the current Linux release.
  • Press Ctrl+Shift+2 anywhere, drag over text, and it's on your clipboard.
  • There's no built-in screenshot key on Linux: you bind printscreenly --capture region to one in your keyboard settings.
Try PrintScreen.ly on LinuxSee PrintScreen.ly

24 hours free with no card. 64-bit (x64) Linux, as a .deb or an AppImage.

  • Updated
  • Outside facts dated and linked at the bottom

Your options

The tools your desktop already has come first, then the free apps, then PrintScreen.ly. Each fact was read on the project's own page on the date shown.

  • Built in

    GNOME's screenshot tool

    Cost
    Free, part of GNOME
    Good for
    GNOME desktops: press Print for an area, a window or the screen; Alt+Print grabs the window in front and Shift+Print the whole screen. It records the screen too.
    The catch
    It has no arrows, text or blur, and it doesn't read text off the screen.

    GNOME Help: Screenshots and screencasts (read )

  • Built in

    Cinnamon's screenshot keys

    Cost
    Free, part of the Cinnamon desktop
    Good for
    Cinnamon desktops: Shift+Print for an area, Alt+Print for a window, Print for the whole screen. Add Ctrl to copy the picture instead of saving it.
    The catch
    The keys open the Screenshot app, which has no markup and doesn't read text.

    Cinnamon's default screenshot keys (cinnamon-desktop schema) (read )

  • Built in

    KDE's Spectacle

    Cost
    Free, part of KDE Plasma
    Good for
    KDE desktops: capture, annotate, record, and since Plasma 6.6, pull the text out of a screenshot.
    The catch
    It comes with KDE Plasma; on other desktops it's an extra install.

    KDE Plasma 6.6 announcement: text recognition in Spectacle (read )

  • Free

    Flameshot

    Cost
    Free and open source
    Good for
    Marking up an area: arrows, boxes, text and pixelate, with undo and redo.
    The catch
    It has no window capture and doesn't read text, and distro packages can lag its current v14 release.

    Flameshot on GitHub (v14.0.0, 2026-06-19) (read )

  • Free

    Ksnip and Shutter

    Cost
    Free and open source
    Good for
    Capture plus an editor for arrows, shapes and text; Ksnip can read text through a plugin.
    The catch
    Ksnip's last release was v1.10.1 in 2023, and its README asks for a co-maintainer.

    Ksnip on GitHub (v1.10.1) (read )

  • Free

    NormCap

    Cost
    Free and open source
    Good for
    Copying text off the screen, in many languages, plus QR codes, read on your computer.
    The catch
    It only reads text; it doesn't keep or mark up screenshots.

    NormCap on GitHub (v0.6.0, 2025-08-31) (read )

  • Our app

    PrintScreen.ly

    Cost
    24 hours free with no card; then $9.99/mo after a 7-day trial, or every premium Bravely utility for $95.99/yr or $399 once
    Good for
    Capture, markup and text grab in one app, with one private library across your computers and phone.
    The catch
    Paid after the trial, no built-in screenshot key on Linux, and recording, window picking and scrolling capture need an X11 desktop.

How to take a screenshot on Linux with PrintScreen.ly

Checked on Linux Mint 22.3 (Cinnamon, X11) with PrintScreen.ly 0.11.0.

  1. Install PrintScreen.ly

    Download the .deb and open it: your software installer adds PrintScreen.ly and the capture helpers it uses on an X11 desktop. On other 64-bit (x64) Linux systems, use the AppImage.

    Open PrintScreen.ly, sign in with Apple, Google or email, and take the guided first screenshot. Then choose 24 hours free with no card, or a plan that starts with 7 days free.

  2. Choose Capture Region

    Right-click the PrintScreen.ly icon in the tray and choose Capture Region. The same menu has Capture Window, Capture Fullscreen, Capture Scrolling, a 3 or 5 second delay, Copy Text from Screen and screen recording.

    Left-click the icon instead for a quick bar: 1 Region, 2 Scroll, 3 Window, 4 Everything, 5 Record Region, 6 Record Fullscreen.

    PrintScreen.ly's tray menu on Linux: Capture Region, Capture Window, Capture Fullscreen, Capture Scrolling, Capture with Delay, Copy Text from Screen, Record Screen, Record Region, Show Library and Settings.
    The tray menu. PrintScreen.ly 0.11.0 on Linux Mint 22.3 (Cinnamon, X11). Captured .

  3. Drag over the area

    The screen freezes and dims. Drag over the area you want; the badge shows its size. Press Esc to cancel.

    Every capture is saved to Pictures/PrintScreen.ly with the date and time in its name, and put on your clipboard.

    A region being selected over a text editor on Linux: the rest of the screen is dimmed and a badge reads 1008 × 250.
    Selecting a region; the badge shows its size in pixels. PrintScreen.ly 0.11.0 on Linux Mint 22.3 (Cinnamon, X11). Captured .

  4. Mark it up

    The editor opens with your capture: select, pen, highlighter, eraser, arrow, rectangle, ellipse, text, blur and crop, in eight colours or any colour you pick. Undo steps back.

    Choose Copy to put the marked-up picture on the clipboard, or Save to keep the original and save the marked-up copy beside it.

    PrintScreen.ly's markup editor on Linux with a capture of a checklist: a red box around the first item, an arrow pointing at it from a Next label, and the link on the third line blurred.
    A box, an arrow, a text label and a blurred link in the Linux editor. PrintScreen.ly 0.11.0 on Linux Mint 22.3. Captured .

  5. Copy text off the screen

    Press Ctrl+Shift+2 anywhere, drag over the text, and it's on your clipboard, ready to paste. Nothing is saved and the editor doesn't open. A link that wraps onto a second line comes out whole.

    The text is read on your computer, and the Linux app reads English.

    A text editor on Linux showing a checklist pasted as text after Copy Text from Screen, with the link on the last line intact.
    The checklist from the previous screenshot, grabbed with Ctrl+Shift+2 and pasted as text. It read the first “1.” as “1,”. PrintScreen.ly 0.11.0 on Linux Mint 22.3. Captured .

  6. Add a key for screenshots

    PrintScreen.ly for Linux has no built-in screenshot key, so you add one. On Cinnamon: System Settings, Keyboard, Shortcuts, then Add custom shortcut. Give it a name and the command, then click the new binding and press your keys, such as Ctrl+Shift+1.

    With the .deb, the command is printscreenly --capture region. With the AppImage, use its full path, such as ~/Applications/PrintScreenly.AppImage --capture region. PrintScreen.ly's Settings, Hotkeys, lists every command with a Copy button.

    Cinnamon's Keyboard settings, Custom Shortcuts, with a shortcut named PrintScreen.ly region bound to Shift+Ctrl+!.
    A custom shortcut for the region command. Cinnamon lists Ctrl+Shift+1 as Shift+Ctrl+!; pressing it started a capture. Linux Mint 22.3, PrintScreen.ly 0.11.0. Captured .

Which one should you use?

For a quick picture of an area, a window or the screen, use the tool your desktop already has: it's free and it's already there. Add Flameshot or Ksnip if you want arrows and blur, and NormCap if you mostly copy text.

PrintScreen.ly is worth paying for when you want capture, markup and text grab in one app, and your screenshots in one private library that you also reach from PrintScreen.ly on a Mac, a Windows PC, an iPhone, iPad or Android phone, and on the web.

On Ubuntu's default desktop

PrintScreen.ly's capture on Linux is tested on an X11 desktop. Ubuntu 26.04 LTS runs its GNOME desktop only on a newer display system, not X11, and we haven't tested PrintScreen.ly there. On Ubuntu's default desktop, GNOME's own Print key is the answer for now.

What PrintScreen.ly doesn't do on Linux

  • There's no built-in screenshot key: you add one in your keyboard settings. Ctrl+Shift+2 for Copy Text from Screen is the exception.
  • The Linux editor has Undo but no Redo, and no share links: those come from PrintScreen.ly's phone apps, the web library and Windows.
  • Text grab reads English only, and doesn't read QR codes.
  • Recording, picking a window from a list, and scrolling capture that scrolls for you need an X11 desktop.
  • It runs on 64-bit (x64) Linux only.
  • There's no free tier: after the 24-hour trial, it's $9.99/mo or the Bravely bundle.

FAQs

Is there a Snipping Tool for Linux?

Not Microsoft's, but every Linux desktop has its own screenshot tool: GNOME's Print key, the Screenshot app on Linux Mint's Cinnamon desktop, and KDE's Spectacle. PrintScreen.ly adds markup, text grab and a private library that you also reach from your other devices.

What's the Snipping Tool shortcut on Linux?

On GNOME, Print opens the screenshot tool, Alt+Print grabs the window in front and Shift+Print the whole screen. On Cinnamon, Shift+Print grabs an area, Alt+Print a window and Print the whole screen; add Ctrl to copy instead of saving. In PrintScreen.ly, Ctrl+Shift+2 copies text, and you bind printscreenly --capture region to a key for screenshots.

How do I copy text from a screenshot on Linux?

Free: NormCap, Frog or gImageReader, and Spectacle on KDE Plasma 6.6 or later. With PrintScreen.ly, press Ctrl+Shift+2, drag over the text and paste. It reads the text on your computer, in English.

Is there a Linux screenshot tool with an editor?

Yes: Flameshot, Ksnip and Shutter are free and mark up screenshots, and KDE's Spectacle annotates too. PrintScreen.ly's editor has a pen, highlighter, arrow, rectangle, ellipse, text, blur and crop, with Undo but no Redo.

Sources, with the date each was read

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Updated . Facts about other companies’ products were read on their own pages on the dates shown and can change.