In this video, I’m going to show you how to record your screen on a Windows computer step-by-step.
Hi, I’m Andy from TechSmith, where we help you show what you know.
If you’re looking for an easy way to record the screen of a Windows computer,
this video walks you through exactly what you need to do.
Make sure to subscribe to our channel to keep getting helpful video content,
and click the bell to be notified as soon as it's available!
For this walkthrough, the first thing you’ll need to do is choose your screen recording tool.
At TechSmith we offer two flagship screen recorders
but they serve somewhat different needs.
Snagit is a screen capture tool that is great if you want to quickly record your screen and share it right away.
For longer recordings and a complete video editor with tons of options,
Camtasia is the ideal screen recording software.
I’ve got a link to free trials of both programs in the description below, so you can download one or both and follow along.
Let’s start with Snagit.
There are a few ways you can open Snagit, whether you launch it from your taskbar,
find it in your applications, or most Windows users prefer Snagit One-Click, the widget that is always ready and waiting for you to open it up.
Once Snagit is open, select video as your recording method.
This can be found in a tab over on the left hand side.
Next, make sure your capture Selection is set to Region.
This is what allows you to select a specific area of your computer screen to record rather than having to record the entire screen.
Though you can still do that too.
Finally, what audio or sounds do you want to record?
One of the benefits of both Snagit & Camtasia is the ability to record audio sources like your microphone or system audio.
If you turn on your microphone here, you can record yourself talking along with your screen recording.
Additionally, you may want to record some audio from your computer’s speakers,
which you can do by flipping this “Record System Audio” toggle to on.
Now that we have our settings, it’s time to hit the big red record button.
You can see that since we chose to capture a region of the screen, Snagit’s orange crosshairs are now visible.
Use them to select the region of your screen you wish to record.
With this magnifier Snagit shows you the precise pixels you’re selecting so you can get a perfect selection.
Then, just release the cursor and you have it!
Once you are ready, click record! After clicking the record button, Snagit will give you a 3 second countdown before starting the recording.
At any time while recording, you can pause or stop by clicking the buttons.
Additionally, if you want to turn on your camera and allow people to see you during the recording,
you can by clicking the webcam icon and switching to your camera!
You can even have a picture-in-picture so that your webcam is always up on screen while you are recording.
Once you are finished, hit the stop button. The video will automatically show up inside of the Snagit editor!
There is a pretty good chance that you’ll want to cut some small portions out of your recording.
Below your video in the Snagit editor, is the timeline, which shows you the length of your recording..
All you have to do to cut out mistakes is drag the green or red handles to select the part of your clip you want to remove.
Once you have those in place, click cut. This yellow line indicates where the cut was made.
Make any additional edits you need and, when you’re done,, you can export to the location of your choice.
Choose to save your video locally on your computer or hard drive,
or upload it to one of many popular destinations such as a Dropbox, Google Drive or YouTube with just a click!
If you use TechSmith’s free tool, Screencast.com,
once it’s done uploading, the URL is automatically copied to your clipboard for easy sharing with coworkers via email or chat tool.
Now, what if you need to record a much longer video, and DO want to do more editing than just trimming and cutting?
Maybe you’re looking to fade in or out, add text or effects or adjust your audio?
If that’s the case, Camtasia is what you should be using.
At the link in the description below both Snagit and Camtasia are available to download for a free trial.
Camtasia is what the pros call an NLE (non-linear editor), which just means you can move, rearrange clips, cut them up, and more.
The beauty of Camtasia is that it makes these professional techniques easy for everyone.
To record your screen with Camtasia click “New Recording” from the Welcome Window and similar to Snagit, choose what you want to record.
You can use a selection here as well, or set it to standard video aspect ratios like 1920x1080.
Do you want to include your webcam? Record Microphone or System Audio?
Turn these settings on or off using the toggles and selecting the correct sources from the dropdown menus.
Once everything is set, click Start Recording.
Camtasia gives you a 3 second countdown just like Snagit and then you’re rolling.
When you’re done, click stop and the recording appears in your Media Bin inside of the editor,
and if it isn’t already there, drag the clip to the timeline to start editing.
You can trim and cut your recording similar to Snagit, but with Camtasia you have so much more editing potential.
Add transitions to cuts, fade in and out. Separate your audio and video to edit them separately and even add music from our built-in library.
Finding yourself staring at a blank screen wondering where to start?
Try one of our video templates, which provide the perfect starting place for your video.
Finally, you want to level up and learn all about editing videos with Camtasia, click here for our Camtasia tutorials playlist and get to learning.
And there you have it! Two awesome programs that will help you record your screen on Windows, quickly make edits, and export the perfect video to share with anyone, anywhere!
If you haven’t yet, make sure to head to the link in the description to download Snagit or Camtasia and learn more about each of them.
We’d love to know which screen recording software you choose, and what you’re recording!
So join the conversation in the comments and let us know!
If you enjoyed this video, give it a like, and if you haven’t already, subscribe to our channel and click the bell to be notified when we release more great content.
Thanks for watching!