Show HN: UpShot, Open Source Screenshot Sharing via Dropbox on OS X | Hacker News Reader

Show HN: UpShot, Open Source Screenshot Sharing via Dropbox on OS X

fredericiana.com

42 pointsfwenzel35 comments

Isnt the Dropbox Public folder going away or is already removed for new users ? I think they stated that in the Annoucement of their new "Share a link" feature.

If you are a longtime dropbox user you will keep it though.

https://www.dropbox.com/developers/blog/19 is what you're thinking of, so yes. It's unfortunate though. With the Public folder, you can right click on any file and get a "Copy link to file" button. With the new sharing stuff, it opens up a page in the web browser where you click a button to copy a link to the file, and that link takes you to the file inside a dropbox page instead of a nice direct link. It's pretty horrific.

Delightful. I might have to use the share API then.

Actually, there seems to be a way to opt in to a Public folder: https://www.dropbox.com/help/16/en (search for "Creating a Public folder" on that page).

I haven't tried it yet, but that seems easy enough!

the script I use on linux:

  #!/bin/bash
  userid="your id here"
  myfile=$(date +%Y%m%d%S).png
  scrot -s "/home/mononofu/Dropbox/public/$myfile" 
  echo "http://dl.dropbox.com/u/$userid/$myfile | xclip -selection c
  notify-send "Done"

Here's mine, a bit longer but has a few options: https://gist.github.com/803b05c449a5eea73101

I don't like having an app constantly running for this, or for it to intercept all my screenshots.

That is why I use a hacked version of Gyazo (http://gyazo.com/). I modified the script so that moves the file to dropbox instead of their monstrosity of a share page.

Gyazo is the best because you launch the app, are presented with a standard screenshot UI, and then the app closes and your URL is copied and opened in a browser.

Here is my modified gyazo script if you want to try it: https://gist.github.com/3390267

Worked off that to make one that uploads to s3:

https://github.com/RoboTeddy/dotfiles/blob/master/bin/screen...

- uses https, to keep url and screenshot secret

- uses long random filenames to prevent enumeration

- copies url to clipboard before upload starts, so you can paste it immediately

This is cool also from the standpoint of a nice example of using Python to do a Mac menubar app. I've got an idea for something I'd like to do and I've been looking for an easy to follow example like this for a while now. Thanks!

"when you do, it moves that file to the Dropbox public directory and copies the URL to the file into your clipboard automatically"

Sold. Given the amount of prototyping I do on my workstation requiring constant review of previous revisions for collaboration, this is something that lets me get a link sent and stays as far out of the way of my workflow as possible-and it supports an application my team already uses? Yep. Sold.

I might fork this so I can add the option to define which directory in /Public, since I'm OCD like that (having stray files kills me). Thanks for this!

Thanks for looking! I'd happily take a pull request for this :)

Feel free to file an issue for it for now -- or I will, tomorrow.

Also try GrabBox, which is this but a year or so ago: http://grabbox.devsoft.no/

I use an instance of S3itch (https://github.com/roidrage/s3itch) together with the old Skitch client.

I use http://monosnap.com/ because it allows one to edit screenshots in a way Skitch did (does).

This should get voted up. This app is exactly what Skitch should be. Thank you!

I'm excited to see a Cocoa app on github!

A year ago I hacked together an almost trivial Folder Action Script that does the same thing, and works really well. In case anyone's interested, here it is:

https://gist.github.com/4165548

Very nice! Good work.

I also agree on the Cocoa app on github. Haven't seen many of those!

I use Jing to do just this. It works on Windows and Mac and next to Screenshots also allows to capture up to 5 Minutes of Screencast at a time. Then I have the save location set to the Public Dropbox folder and the link is automatically put into my clipboard.

I actually just bought Captured on the appstore for this specific purpose. Wish I hadn't now, since imgur uploading (part of why I bought it) appears to be broken. This works wonderfully. I miss the old Skitch, but this helps me heal.

I used Captured and imgur and it's all working fine for me

It doesn't work at all for me. It just flashes the colorful lights for a minute, doesn't make the upload sound, and doesn't actually upload my screenshots. I tried emailing the author, but he hasn't responded. There doesn't seem to be any other way to get help. :\

fwiw, I am planning on adding additional upload options soon. Once I have that going, adding more of them should be easy.

"I found TinyGrab, which works with OS X's screenshot function. I can even upload the files to my own server, but only using unencrypted FTP, which is scarily insecure."

!true. tinygrab supports sftp. doesn't it?

On OS X? No. Not last I checked.

It works for me when I do Shift+CMD+3 (full screen), but Shift+CMD+4 (variable size screenshot) does not work.

OSX 10.8.2 and up to date dropbox.

That seems to be a bug: https://github.com/fwenzel/upshot/issues/28

Thank you, I'll look into it!

I fixed this bug and uploaded a bugfix release (0.9.1) to the download section: https://github.com/fwenzel/upshot/downloads

Feel free to download and replace your installation with that!

(PS: automatic updating is an upcoming feature also, but I first have to figure out how to do it :) )

The ability to just capture a portion of the screen is the only feature missing i would need. Awesome work.

Cmd-Shift-4 allows you to select a portion of the screen to screenshot. If you press Space after, you can select whole windows.

The thing is upshot doesn't seem to trigger if portion of the screenshot is selected. Capturing the whole window works though.

Edit: someone has opened a github issue for this https://github.com/fwenzel/upshot/issues/28

Yes this was unintentional. Thanks for reporting this, I'll look into it!

I'll also need to add automated updates soon, or I can't notify people of updates ;)

btw..did you consider https://droplr.com

> Evernote made it hard to share the URL to the image itself, rather than a webpage showing the image on it. This may help their revenue, but unnecessarily hampers the recipients' ability to use the images I share with them.

http://d.pr/i/P0hg

Yeah, that's a bit sad.

That said, UpShot is not trying to compete with all the services out there that also do something useful. I just wrote my own to scratch a particular itch of mine. I hope it's useful to others also.

If you're not bugged by the interstitial HTML document standing between you and your screenshot, good for you! :)

I am. So much. So thank you and keep working on it.

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