SnapAnnotate

A lightweight Win32 screen annotation tool for Windows that lets you draw shapes, add text, and capture annotated screenshots with a single hotkey.

Features

Drawing Tools

• Rectangle - Draw rectangular shapes
• Rounded Rectangle - Draw rectangles with rounded corners
• Ellipse/Circle - Draw elliptical or circular shapes
• Arrow - Draw arrows to point at specific areas
• Line - Draw straight lines
• Freehand - Draw freehand with mouse/pen
• Highlighter - Semi-transparent highlighting (like a marker)
• Text - Click anywhere to add text annotations
• Delete Marker - Draw rectangle with X cross to mark areas for deletion
• Mask Eraser - Draw rectangle that masks/hides background in final screenshot
• Cut & Paste - Select an area and move it to a new position

Eraser

• Eraser Tool - Erase drawn elements

Screenshot & Save

• Captures screen without cursor or UI elements
• Saves as PNG to configurable folder
• Auto-generates timestamped filenames
• Copies file path to clipboard automatically
• Optional: Copy image directly to clipboard

Quick Capture Mode

• Enable in settings for instant screenshots without the overlay
• Press hotkey to immediately capture and save the screen
• Great for rapid documentation workflows

System Integration

• Global Hotkey: Ctrl+Shift+S to activate from anywhere
• System Tray: Runs in background with tray icon
• Context Menu: Right-click tray for settings and exit

Keyboard Shortcuts

Shortcut	Action
Ctrl+Shift+S	Activate overlay (global hotkey)
Escape	Cancel/close overlay
Ctrl+S	Save screenshot
Ctrl+Z	Undo last action
Ctrl+Shift+Z / Ctrl+Y	Redo
1	Rectangle tool
2	Ellipse tool
3	Arrow tool
4	Line tool
5	Freehand tool
6	Highlighter tool
7	Text tool
8	Eraser tool

Building

Requirements

• Windows 10/11
• Visual Studio 2022 with "Desktop development with C++" workload
• Windows SDK 10.0 or later

Build with Visual Studio

1. Open SnapAnnotate.sln in Visual Studio 2022
2. Select Release | x64 configuration
3. Build → Build Solution (or press F7)
4. Output: bin\Release\SnapAnnotate.exe

Build from Command Line

# Open Developer Command Prompt for VS 2022, then:
cd C:\path\to\SnapAnnotate
msbuild SnapAnnotate.sln /p:Configuration=Release /p:Platform=x64

Or using the full MSBuild path:

& "C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio\2022\Community\MSBuild\Current\Bin\MSBuild.exe" SnapAnnotate.sln /p:Configuration=Release /p:Platform=x64

Usage

1. Run SnapAnnotate.exe - it minimizes to the system tray
2. Press Ctrl+Shift+S to activate the annotation overlay
3. Select a tool from the floating toolbar (or use number keys 1-8)
4. Choose a color and stroke size
5. Draw on the screen
6. Save by clicking the Save button or pressing Ctrl+S
7. The file path is automatically copied to your clipboard

System Tray Menu

Right-click the tray icon to access:

• Set Output Folder... - Choose where screenshots are saved
• Settings... - Configure app preferences
• Exit - Close the application

Configuration

Settings are stored in: %APPDATA%\SnapAnnotate\settings.ini

Setting	Description
SavePath	Folder where screenshots are saved
CopyPathToClipboard	Copy file path after saving (1/0)
CopyImageToClipboard	Copy image to clipboard after saving (1/0)
PlaySound	Play sound on successful save (1/0)
QuickCapture	Skip overlay, save screenshot immediately on hotkey (1/0)
DefaultStrokeSize	Default pen size (1=Small, 2=Medium, 3=Large)
DefaultColor	Default drawing color (as RGB integer)

Project Structure

SnapAnnotate/
├── src/
│   ├── main.cpp              # Entry point, hotkey, tray icon
│   ├── OverlayWindow.cpp/h   # Overlay window and floating toolbar
│   ├── DrawingCanvas.cpp/h   # Drawing logic, undo/redo, eraser
│   ├── Tools.cpp/h           # GDI+ shape drawing functions
│   ├── Settings.cpp/h        # INI-based settings management
│   ├── Utils.cpp/h           # Screen capture, file I/O, clipboard
│   ├── resource.h            # Resource IDs
│   ├── SnapAnnotate.rc       # Version info and resources
│   ├── SnapAnnotate.ico      # Application icon
│   └── SnapAnnotate.manifest # DPI awareness manifest
├── SnapAnnotate.sln          # Visual Studio solution
├── SnapAnnotate.vcxproj      # Visual Studio project
├── CMakeLists.txt            # CMake build (alternative)
└── README.md                 # This file

Technical Details

• Language: C++20
• UI Framework: Win32 API with GDI+ for rendering
• Architecture: x64
• Dependencies: Windows SDK only (no external libraries)

License

MIT License - Feel free to use, modify, and distribute.

Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Please feel free to submit issues and pull requests.

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Made with ❤️ for Windows power users