ZoomIt is a screen zoom, annotation, and recording tool for technical presentations and demos. You can also use ZoomIt to snip screenshots to the clipboard or to a file. ZoomIt runs unobtrusively in the tray and activates with customizable hotkeys to zoom in on an area of the screen, move around while zoomed, and draw on the zoomed image. I wrote ZoomIt to fit my specific needs and use it in all my presentations.
Using ZoomIt
The first time you run ZoomIt it presents a configuration dialog that describes ZoomIt’s behavior, let’s you specify alternate hotkeys for zooming and for entering drawing mode without zooming, and customize the drawing pen color and size. I use the draw-without-zoom option to annotate the screen at its native resolution, for example. ZoomIt also includes a break timer feature that remains active even when you tab away from the timer window and allows you to return to the timer window by clicking on the ZoomIt tray icon.
Shortcuts
ZoomIt offers a number of shortcuts which can extend its usage greatly.
| Function | Shortcut |
|---|---|
| Zoom Mode | Ctrl + 1 |
| Zoom In | Mouse Scroll Up or Up Arrow |
| Zoom Out | Mouse Scroll Down or Down Arrow |
| Start Drawing (While In Zoom Mode) | Left-Click |
| Stop Drawing (While In Zoom Mode) | Right-Click |
| Start Drawing (While Not In Zoom Mode) | Ctrl + 2 |
| Increase/Decrease Line And Cursor Size (Drawing Mode) | Ctrl + Mouse Scroll Up/Down or Arrow Keys |
| Center The Cursor (Drawing Mode) | Space Bar |
| Whiteboard (Drawing Mode) | W |
| Blackboard (Drawing Mode) | K |
| Type in Text (Left Aligned) | T |
| Type in Text (Right Aligned) | Shift + T |
| Increase/Decrease Font Size (Typing Mode) | Ctrl + Mouse Scroll Up/Down or Arrow Keys |
| Red Pen | R |
| Red Highlight Pen | Shift + R |
| Green Pen | G |
| Green Highlight Pen | Shift + G |
| Blue Pen | B |
| Blue Highlight Pen | Shift + B |
| Yellow Pen | Y |
| Yellow Highlight Pen | Shift + Y |
| Orange Pen | O |
| Orange Highlight Pen | Shift + O |
| Pink Pen | P |
| Pink Highlight Pen | Shift + P |
| Blur Pen | X |
| Draw a Straight Line | Hold Shift |
| Draw a Rectangle | Hold Ctrl |
| Draw an Ellipse | Hold Tab |
| Draw an Arrow | Hold Ctrl + Shift |
| Erase Last Drawing | Ctrl + Z |
| Erase All Drawings | E |
| Copy Screenshot to Clipboard | Ctrl + C |
| Crop Screenshot to Clipboard | Ctrl + Shift + C |
| Save Screenshot as PNG | Ctrl + S |
| Save Cropped Screenshot to a File | Ctrl + Shift + S |
| Copy a Region of The Screen To Clipboard | Ctrl + 6 |
| Save a Region of The Screen To a File | Ctrl + Shift + 6 |
| Start/Stop Full Screen Recording Saved as MP4 (Windows 10 May 2019 Update And Higher) | Ctrl + 5 |
| Crop Screen Recording Saved as MP4 (Windows 10 May 2019 Update And Higher) | Ctrl + Shift + 5 |
| Screen Record Only The Window That The Mouse Cursor is Positioned Over Saved as MP4 (Windows 10 May 2019 Update And Higher) | Ctrl + Alt + 5 |
| Show Countdown Timer | Ctrl + 3 |
| Increase/Decrease Time | Ctrl + Mouse Scroll Up/Down or Arrow Keys |
| Minimize Timer (Without Pausing It) | Alt + Tab |
| Show Timer When Minimized | Left-Click On The ZoomIt Icon |
| LiveZoom Mode | Ctrl + 4 |
| LiveDraw Mode | Ctrl + Shift + 4 |
| Start DemoType | Ctrl + 7 |
| Move back to the previous snippet (DemoType) | Ctrl + Shift + 7 |
| Advance to the next snippet (DemoType User-driven Mode) | Space Bar |
| Exit | Esc or Right-Click |