Gmail + Snipping tool : adding screenshot to report bugs made easy

If you are a one like me who waste a plenty of time with the Print Scrn + MS Paint + Email attachment approach to add a screenshot for a bug during the validations cycles, then the below combination can save tons of time for you:

Snipping Tool in Windows + Gmail in Chrome/Firefox 

The snipping tool will handle the cropping of the error portion and the doodling if needed. It will also copy the image directly to the clipboard. Gmail in Chrome/Firefox supports pasting images from clipboards which means we can paste the image directly in the compose box.

Here are step by step procedure about how to do this:

1. Do this once : Click Windows icon > Type 'Snipping Tool'  to search for it  >  pin this tool to the task bar

2. Next time when you want to take a screenshot of some bug / error message, click on this snipping tool icon in the ask bar.

3. You will see a cropping tool using which you can select only the portion needed to be captured.

4. Once the portion is captured, it will be shown in a mini-editor where we can add texts, doodle , etc.

5. As we edit the captured image, it automatically gets copied to the clipboard.

6. Open Gmail in Chrome (or) Firefox > keep the cursor in the compose area and press Ctrl+V to paste the image from clipboard. Now the email can be sent to the bug tracker.

7. We can also create a bookmark to open a gmail composer, add to email address , add subject and description, etc.  in a single click.