Posted onMar 26, 2022 • Edited onMay 17, 2023

i3wm Screenshot Shortcuts

#i3wm #linux

Have excellent screenshot shortcuts in youri3wm.

Feature	Shortcut
Full Screen	`PrtScrn`
Selection	`Shift` +`PrtScrn`
Active Window	`Super` +`PrtScrn`
Clipboard Full Screen	`Ctrl` +`PrtScrn`
Clipboard Selection	`Ctrl` +`Shift` +`PrtScrn`
Clipboard Active Window	`Ctrl` +`Super` +`PrtScrn`

All the screenshots are saved on~/Pictures/CURRENT_DATE.
The keysuper refers to the modifier key (window/command or alt by default depending on config).

Requirements

maim
xclip
xdotool

Set-up

Set this on your i3 config file~/.i3/config.

## Screenshotsbindsym Print exec --no-startup-id maim "/home/$USER/Pictures/$(date)"bindsym $mod+Print exec --no-startup-id maim --window $(xdotool getactivewindow) "/home/$USER/Pictures/$(date)"bindsym Shift+Print exec --no-startup-id maim --select "/home/$USER/Pictures/$(date)"## Clipboard Screenshotsbindsym Ctrl+Print exec --no-startup-id maim | xclip -selection clipboard -t image/pngbindsym Ctrl+$mod+Print exec --no-startup-id maim --window $(xdotool getactivewindow) | xclip -selection clipboard -t image/pngbindsym Ctrl+Shift+Print exec --no-startup-id maim --select | xclip -selection clipboard -t image/png

You may want to remove the default or any other screenshot shortcuts to prevent errors.
Don't forget to reload your window managersuper+shift+c.

The source of this information is from my gistMy i3 shortcuts to take screenshots.

Top comments(7)

Crosson David

Joined
Sep 24, 2020

• Sep 14 '22

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I made some changes, and I had to provide explicitly the format to use in order for the clipboard cases to work.

# For screenshots install :# apt-get install maim xclip copyq##  Screenshots in filesbindsym Print exec --no-startup-id maim --format=png "/home/$USER/Pictures/screenshot-$(date -u +'%Y%m%d-%H%M%SZ')-all.png"bindsym $mod+Print exec --no-startup-id maim --format=png --window $(xdotool getactivewindow) "/home/$USER/Pictures/screenshot-$(date -u +'%Y%m%d-%H%M%SZ')-current.png"bindsym Shift+Print exec --no-startup-id maim --format=png --select "/home/$USER/Pictures/screenshot-$(date -u +'%Y%m%d-%H%M%SZ')-selected.png"## Screenshots in clipboardsbindsym Ctrl+Print exec --no-startup-id maim --format=png | xclip -selection clipboard -t image/pngbindsym Ctrl+$mod+Print exec --no-startup-id maim --format=png --window $(xdotool getactivewindow) | xclip -selection clipboard -t image/pngbindsym Ctrl+Shift+Print exec --no-startup-id maim --format=png --select | xclip -selection clipboard -t image/png

Crosson David

Joined
Sep 24, 2020

• Sep 14 '22

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thanks for sharing :)

Artemis

Joined
Feb 13, 2024

• Feb 13 '24

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Hello, thanks for the script ! Really useful
However I like to have my screenshots both saved to a specific directory and copied to clipboard, it seems it's one or the other, is there a way to do both ?
Thanks !