ShareX Screenshot Tool and Torn Edge Effect

ShareX is a great free and open source screen shot tool that rivals TechSmith’s Snagit. ShareX is packed with features but not very user friendly. I wanted to have screen captures automatically add a “torn edge” effect to a screen shot similar to what Snagit can do easily. It took me awhile to figure out how to achieve the effect, and then some more time to figure out how to automatically apply it after a capture.

Torn Edge Effect

1. Right click on the tray icon, select “Task Settings”.
   
2. On the Task Settings dialog, click “Effects” under “Image”. Check the “Show image effects window after capture”. This will allow you to turn off the effect for a particular image:

3. Click the “Image effects conafiguration …” button. On the dialog that appears, click “Add”->”Filters”->”Torn Edge”. Set the Depth to 8, Range to 5, Sides to Bottom, Right, and Curved Edges to False:

4. Click “Add” again, then “Filters”->”Shadow”. Set those settings to Opacity 0.2, Size 10, Darkness 2, Color 165, 154, 154 (grey), and offset 5.0:

If you’d like, experiment with the settings until you get the torn edge look you want.
 

5. Make sure the Torn Edge and Shadow Boxes are checked, type the name “Torn Edge with Shadow” in the name text box in the top right, and click “Export” to export the settings to backup. Close the dialogs.
6. Right click on the ShareX tray icon again, click on “After Capture Tasks” and click “Add image effects/watermark” to enable.

Image captures should now automatically result in the torn edge effect. You can follow the above steps to set other effects using the Image Effects Configuration” dialog.

Below is a YouTube video showing the same steps: