Mail screenshot in Gmail

It’s nice to keep users informed of software updates but they just don’t understand. Enter screenshots.

Non-cumbersome screenshot emailing with Ubuntu 12.04 and Gmail can be done like this:

Install some utilities

sudo apt-get install imagemagick gnome-gmail

Make a script:

#!/bin/bash

NAME=screenshot.png

DIR=/tmp

import $DIR/$NAME

if [ $? != 0 ]; then

  xdg-email --attach $DIR/$NAME

fi

Put it in

/usr/local/bin/send-screenshot

or similar and do chmod +x

/usr/local/bin/send-screenshot

Make a shortcut

  • Open System Settings

  • Open Keyboard

  • Open Shorcuts tab

  • Click Custom Shortcuts

  • Click Plus sign button

  • Enter Send screenshot and send-screenshot

  • Click Disabled

  • Press the PrntScrn button

Whew. Anyone got a bash command for this?

Send your first

  • Press the PrntScrn button

  • Select a rectangle with the mouse, or press Ctrl-C to cancel

  • When asked, set gmail-gnome as default email app, and enter your gmail credentials.

Quite the procedure, huh? Please go and do a feature request with the Ubuntu devs to make this a builtin for ALT-PrntScrn or similar.