ShareX for PC
What Is ShareX?
Windows has a screenshot tool built in, and it’s fine — for basic needs. But the moment you want more — annotated screenshots, GIF recordings, automatic uploads, real control — you hit its limits fast. ShareX is what you install next: a free screenshot and screen-recording tool with serious depth, no watermark, and no limits.
Built by the ShareX Team and free forever, it’s the tool of choice for tutorial writers, bug reporters, streamers, and anyone who communicates with pictures of their screen. If you’ve ever thought “I wish I could just capture this region, draw an arrow on it, and have the link ready in five seconds” — that’s ShareX’s entire reason for existing.
Key Features
Region, window, and full-screen capture. Drag a rectangle around exactly what you want, capture a single window, or grab the whole screen — including multi-monitor setups. Scrolling capture can even stitch a long web page into one tall image.
Built-in editor with annotations. The moment you capture, ShareX can open its editor: arrows, boxes, highlights, text, blur for hiding sensitive info, step numbers for tutorials. You annotate and share without ever opening another app.
Screen recording and GIF creation. Record your screen as video or as a GIF — perfect for showing a bug in action, demonstrating a quick workflow, or making a reaction GIF from anything. The GIF quality options keep file sizes sensible.
Automatic uploads to dozens of services. This is ShareX’s killer feature. After capture, it can automatically upload to Imgur, Google Drive, Dropbox, your own server via FTP/SFTP, and dozens more — then copy the shareable link straight to your clipboard. Capture, annotate, link ready: one workflow, seconds total.
Customizable workflows. Define exactly what happens after each capture: save to a folder, upload somewhere, copy to clipboard, open the editor, add a watermark — chain these “after capture” tasks however you like, with different profiles for different hotkeys.
Color picker, ruler, and extras. Beyond screenshots, ShareX packs a screen color picker, on-screen ruler, image combiner, QR code tools, and more. It quietly replaces half a dozen tiny utilities.
OCR text capture. See text in an image you can’t copy? ShareX can run optical character recognition on any screen region and hand you the text. Screenshots of error messages, text in videos, scanned documents — all become copyable in seconds.
Pin images to your screen. The “pin to screen” tool floats a captured image above all your windows. Comparing two designs, keeping reference material visible while you work, following steps from a screenshot — it’s one of those features you didn’t know you needed until you try it.
Why ShareX Stands Out
Most screenshot tools stop at capture. ShareX owns the entire pipeline from capture to shared link, and that end-to-end thinking is what makes it feel magical in daily use. The difference between “screenshot, open editor, save, open browser, upload, copy link” and “press a hotkey, paste the link” is the difference between a chore and a reflex.
It’s also completely free with no watermarks or upload caps — remarkable given how much it does. The interface looks technical at first glance, but you only need to learn the three hotkeys you actually use. Everything else waits patiently until you’re curious.
Give it a week and you’ll wonder how you lived without it. The moment capturing and sharing becomes a reflex instead of a chore, you’ll start documenting things you never bothered with before — and your future self will thank you for it.
Is ShareX Free?
Yes — ShareX is free and open-source, with no paid tier, no watermarks, and no limits on captures or uploads. (Upload destinations like Imgur have their own limits, but ShareX itself imposes none.)
How to Download ShareX
Download the installer from the official site — Windows only. During setup, pick your capture hotkeys (Print Screen is the classic choice) and connect an upload destination if you want auto-uploads. Then just press, capture, annotate, and share.
Writing tutorials or documenting bugs? Our WordPress speed optimization guide shows the kind of technical writing ShareX screenshots were made for. And for more free tools worth installing, see our best free AI tools roundup.
Download: ShareX (official link)