Library Subject Guides
Screencasting — also known as screen recording — is recording your device's screen to create a video of it. Screenshots — sometimes called screen capture — are static images taken of your device's screen that you can then use and manipulate like other bitmap images. Both of these methods can be done using tools on your computer so you don't need a separate device to take this material!
Screencasting videos and screenshot images can be very useful, but why might you use them?
One reason is for creating video versions of presentations and talks that use slides. Videos are easy to share online and a video version of a slide deck tends to add more information and context than someone just reading that slide deck through (though it depends on the slides and the talk). These can be created using any screencasting tool, and you'll want to ensure it can record narration as well. Even PowerPoint can allow you to create a video of your presentation with timings and narration!
Another reason you might use screencasting or screenshots is for instructions and explainer guides (like you might find here on the Skills Guides, for example this video about appointment schedules in Google Calendar). Showing people what screens look like can be a helpful addition to your guidance on how to do things with digital tools, allowing people to check that they are clicking the right thing, but you do have to update these whenever the tool's interface changes!
Generally, screencasting is good when you want a video of a screen and you should add narration to these videos to explain what is happening on the screen as well. We'll explore further on this page some of the accessibility considerations when creating these videos.
Screenshots are widely used to show problems you might be having, e.g. if you contacted IT Support, or to share things you've seen with others. They are also useful to add to webpages and presentations to show what screens look like.
Some things you need to consider when you might be using these methods are:
If you want to capture a single image from your screen, you don't need a camera. Every operating system has an internal way to take a screenshot:
Pressing the "Print Screen" key (often abbreviated to "Prt Scrn") on your keyboard will take a screenshot of your whole screen (or screens) and save it to your clipboard so that you can paste it elsewhere.
There's also the Snipping Tool, available from the Start menu, where you can select just a section of the screen.
There are multiple keyboard shortcuts on a Mac for capturing a screenshot. Shift + Command + 3 takes a picture of your whole screen, whereas Shift + Command + 4 changes the cursor to a crosshair to allow you to drag an area to take a picture of. Both of these will then be saved to your desktop. Shift + Command + 5 opens a box that gives a range of options for screen captures and screen recording, which can make it the best option for frequent screen capture.
Hold down the Power and Volume Down buttons at the same time for a few seconds to take a screenshot on an Android phone or tablet. The screen will be saved as an image. For more information, see Android's help page.
On newer iPhones you hold the Side button and then click the Volume Up to take a screenshot. Your screenshot will be saved in Photos. See Apple's help page on iOS screenshots for more information (as well as how to do it on older devices).
There are many tools out there that you can use to create screencasting videos. Which tool is best for you to use depends on exactly what you're looking to do, what kind of device you're using, and what tools you might already have experience with. We'll take a look at some of the options available at the University of York.
These suggestions are focused on tools available at the University of York. If you're not a member of the University, you will need to check what you have access to or use free options.
Microsoft PowerPoint can be used either to convert your slides into a video, or even to record a screencast of something that isn't a presentation (though this feature is only available on recent versions of PowerPoint on Windows devices). When using either of these options, you can also record audio, and you can export PowerPoint presentations as a video file from the Export options.
If you want to record a presentation, doing it directly in PowerPoint can be the easiest option. You can download Google Slides as PowerPoint .pptx format if you want to record these using PowerPoint too. You can also use it to take screenshots, and combine screenshots with shapes and text (once created, select all of the parts you made at once and right click > Save as Picture to save your final image).
Windows has some built-in options for recording your screen, though these aren't available on all University of York devices yet as these features are only on the most recent versions of Windows 10, or on Windows 11.
Windows 11 has a Screen Recorder built in to Snipping Tool, which allows you to record all or part of your screen (see Microsoft's guidance on how to record your screen on Windows 11.
If you've got an up-to-date version of Windows 10, pressing the pressing the Windows key and G together will bring up the Xbox game bar which allows you to record applications using similar controls to PowerPoint. However, it doesn't let you record Windows itself.
On a Mac, using the keyboard shortcut Shift + Command + 5 opens up a toolbar for creating screenshots and screen recording videos. It doesn't record audio, but you can easily create quick images and videos of your screen if needed.
The University of York has a licence for video editing application Corel VideoStudio, which has screen recording options built into its MultiCam Capture tool. This allows you to record screencast videos directly into a video editor and then edit other content into your video as well. See How to Screen Record in VideoStudio's own guidance for more information on how to do this.
Video conferencing tool Zoom is a useful way for recording screencasting videos, either with or without your webcam feed recorded as well. The screensharing options and ability to record Zoom meetings can be used together to create videos of your screen with narration (just make sure you're not on mute).
Make sure that you're signed in to your University of York Zoom account to ensure you have all the recording options necessary.
If you're preparing to record your screen, here's some tips that might help you get it right:
Tidy your desktop. Often it is much easier, if jumping around between windows, to just share your whole desktop rather than one window, but you might not want certain file or folder names or photos shared inadvertently. Check what your desktop background is!
Turn off notifications. Nothing spoils a great video like a pop-up from a friend mid presentation.
Get your audio as high quality as you can. An external mic, or USB headset with mic can really help with audio clarity, as can being a room with soft-furnishings, curtains etc so that the sound doesn’t become too boxy just because of the acoustics.
You are not the BBC. You are human, so you don't need to sound perfectly polished. Leaving some "um"s or mistakes in can reassure people and will save time editing later on.
Do a test first. You should always do a test first because there is nothing worse than giving an hour long presentation to discover it is video only and has no audio, or the video is a black screen. Always check what has recorded on your test before doing the real thing.
You might record your screencast video with narration and not need to make any changes to it - great! However, you might need to edit your video, maybe to add a title or credits, put overlays on top of the recorded screen, or add additional audio. Our video guidance will be useful if so:
Sharing your screen is inevitably a heavily visual way of communicating. But not everybody will be able to see your screen, and even people with perfect eyesight might still struggle to see all the detail in a heavily compressed low resolution streaming video. So what can you do to help paint the picture of what it is you're doing with your mouse pointer?
In a world of huge monitors we've got used to lots of screen real-estate and tiny writing that we can only read when close up. This is fine for working purposes but not so ideal for a demonstration. Before you present, go into your display settings and choose a smaller display resolution. It might take a few tries to find a smaller resolution in the right ratio for your screen — most monitors on campus have a resolution of 1920 x 1080 which you could downscale to 1600 x 900 or even 1360 x 768.
Macs make this process a little easier by having a scale option to control the resolution. Windows also has a scale option, but it works slightly differently by letting you resize text and other items without changing the overall resolution. Try some different options and see what might work best for your needs.
Bear in mind that if you're using a much lower resolution than normal, icons might be in different places, menus might get cut off, and some tasks that require a lot of screen might be harder. But this might serve as a useful reminder that a piece of software might look different on different setups, and not everyone using it will see it in exactly the same way that you do.
If you're recording a screen rather than sharing it live, there are other ways you can make things bigger in the edit, like occasionally zooming in to focus on a particular part of the screen. Try to keep this sort of thing as gentle as possible; you want to orientate, not disorientate. Another thing you can do at this stage is add captions, arrows, and other highlights to make what you're doing even more explicit.
It's not a silent movie, so give a good commentary. If you've ever listened to sport on the radio, think about how it differs to the commentary you get on television and maybe use a few of the tricks: say what's happening; explain what you're clicking on; give as good a description as you can. That way you're giving twice the instruction: not only can people see what you're doing, they can hear what you're doing too.
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