Window Snipping Tool: Snip, Pin, OCR and Annotate From Your Keyboard

Updated on 2026/10/08 to Version: 2.0.5

🖼️ Window Snipping Tool V2 – The Features That Make This a Must Have

Grab any part of your screen and it stays right there, floating on top while you work. Drag across some text and it’s on your clipboard. Mark it up with arrows, highlights and notes without ever reaching for a menu.

The Window Snipping Tool is a lightweight Windows utility built in AutoHotkey v2. It sits in your tray and gives you hotkey-driven screenshots, OCR and on-screen annotation for a one-time $4.99. You don’t need AutoHotkey installed to run it.

Why Not Just Use the Built-in Snipping Tool?

The Windows Snipping Tool is fine for the odd screenshot. But if you snip dozens of times a day, every extra click adds up. Getting text out of an image there takes a shortcut, a click on Text extractor, and then a copy. With Window Snipping it’s one drag, and the text is on your clipboard.

And your snip doesn’t disappear into the clipboard. It stays on screen as a small window that floats above everything else, right where you need it.

Three Hotkeys Do It All

You can change all three in Preferences.

Pin a Screenshot on Top of Everything

Every snip opens as an always-on-top clip. Use it to:

• Keep a number from one spreadsheet in view while you type into another
• Compare two screens side by side
• Snip one part of a long page or spreadsheet, then scroll. The snip stays put.
• Snip two things that are far apart, move one next to the other, and snip both together

Close a clip with Ctrl+Esc and it’s gone.

Copy Text From Anything on Your Screen

Need text from an image, a PDF you can’t select, an error message or a paused video? Drag a box around it with the OCR hotkey. It uses the OCR engine built into Windows, so it’s fast and works offline. If your OCR source and target languages differ, Google Translate opens automatically with the captured text.

Mark It Up Without a Menu

Set It Up Your Way

Preferences let you change the hotkeys, save folder, countdown length, highlight, text and arrow colors, resize step, OCR languages, and whether it starts with Windows.

Settings live in one INI file in AppData. Nothing goes in the registry, and uninstalling means deleting one folder.

Drop a Snip Straight Into an Email

Press Ctrl+C on a clip and paste it into your email. Gmail and Outlook both embed the picture right in the message, so there’s no saving or attaching. Clips are copied in several image formats, so they paste cleanly into Slack, Teams, Discord and Chrome too.

Who Uses It

• Support teams sending “here’s what I see” screenshots
• Analysts pulling numbers out of reports and PDFs
• Writers and trainers making quick annotated how-tos
• Anyone on a laptop who’s tired of flipping between windows

Frequently Asked Questions

Does it work on Windows 11?
Yes. It runs on Windows 10 or later, and English OCR is installed by default on both 10 and 11.

Do I need AutoHotkey installed?
No. You get a compiled .exe and a full user guide (PDF and HTML). The AutoHotkey v2 source is included too.

Is the OCR accurate?
It uses the OCR engine built into Windows, which reads clean on-screen text very well.

Can it read other languages?
Yes. It reads any OCR language installed in Windows. You can add more in Settings > Time & Language > Language & Region.

Does it work offline?
Snipping, OCR and annotation all run on your PC with no internet. Auto-translate opens Google Translate, so that part needs a connection.

Is it a subscription?
No. You pay $4.99 once and own it for life.

Built by Joe Glines at the-Automator.com — where AutoHotkey gets put to work.