Jing Retirement and TechSmith Capture FAQ
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Jing Retirement and TechSmith Capture FAQs
With last year’s announcement that Jing would be retiring and a new solution provided, we wanted to provide answers to some of the questions we have heard. We will continue to add to this page as additional questions come up. We appreciate your continued support and we are excited to continue to offer you the best screen capture and recording tool we can.
Why is Jing being replaced?
Jing is being retired due to Adobe’s plans to retire Flash at the end of this year (2020). This means that the current video format .swf will no longer be supported by web browsers.
We also want to modernize the behind the scenes code base that Jing is built on. Since Jing has been around for more than a decade, it made more sense for TechSmith to build a new replacement for Jing rather than try to update an old, outdated product. This will allow us to meet modern security needs and file types. That replacement tool is TechSmith Capture, which can be downloaded here: TechSmith Capture
What is replacing Jing?
TechSmith Capture is our new replacement for Jing. Capture has been built from scratch to meet modern security needs and file types. You can read more and download TechSmith Capture here
Why can’t I keep using Jing?
Due to the aging code base of Jing, keeping the API involved with Jing could have created security issues which is not an option, as security for our users is a top priority. Instead, we focused on building the new replacement tool TechSmith Capture to address any potential security issues in the new tool’s API code.
What can’t I do in TechSmith Capture that I could do in Jing?
We are releasing TechSmith Capture in phases, and this first release has some differences compared to Jing, which has many more years of development behind it. Here are the main differences in work flows for this first version of Capture:
- Capture does not have a history, so you will need to share each capture before taking another
- For new users, Capture might upload your content to a default folder in Screencast,, which is public. Jing previously saved to a folder that was hidden. Here’s where you can find your Jing Captures. We plan to provide a feature to address this in future releases.
- MP4 files can not be saved locally.
- The Jing API will no longer work. If you are getting error messages, please read this
Jing’s workflow was easier. Will you make Capture’s workflow easier too?
Yes. Jing is over 10 years old, where TechSmith Capture is brand new. We released this basic, first version to get a basic replacement out before Flash is retired.
We are continuously working on next phases of Capture to roll out as we complete them, so watch for product version updates.
I had Jing deployed across my organization or team from an MSI file, but Capture doesn’t have one. Will one be available in the near future?
At this time, we do not have a TechSmith Capture deployment tool in our plans for the free version of this solution. Instead, our development is focused towards enterprise deployment tools for Snagit and TechSmith Knowmia for Enterprise. This will allow us to build a better deployment experience for the solutions that offer a richer set of features for enterprise customers.
If you are interested in an enterprise-wide solution, we would highly recommend considering a Snagit site license to deploy across teams or organizations. Snagit has a more robust feature set and streamlined workflow for larger deployments and various departmental use cases across an organization. To learn more about Snagit site licenses, please see this licensing page for licensing options
We also have TechSmith Knowmia for Enterprise, which is our enterprise-wide video learning platform. Knowmia is largely cloud based, and therefore easier for enterprise-wide deployments. You can learn more about Knowmia for Enterprise here
Where is the Jing Sun and can I get it back with TechSmith Capture?
The Jing sun is also retiring- for now. We are working on a feature to make it easy to always find and launch TechSmith Capture. Stay tuned for future updates. To keep TechSmith Capture easy to find, we suggest pinning it to your taskbar if you are on a Windows machine.
Feel free to reach out to us at this link if you have any questions regarding Jing or at this link for questions regarding TechSmith Capture.
-Team TechSmith
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Official comment
An Update from the Capture Team...
What have we been doing?
It looks like our Version History article for Capture has not been updated lately. (Note to self: fix that) Therefore some reasonably ask: What have we been working on lately...?
The biggest recent change in Capture is the addition of Picture-In-Picture while recording video. This help article about recording mentions PiP. Basically, instead of a full screen web cam you can include a "PiP" in the corner of videos you record. You can choose which corner its displayed in. You can resize it. It was a lot of work... and our customers who record a lot of videos seem quite happy with it. (and they pay the bills, so...)
What's in Progress, Right now?
Technical Debt. If you know what that is, you understand why it must be kept to a minimum. Without going into detail, we're specifically focusing on reducing/eliminating impediments that keep the team from iterating as fast as we'd like. Further, it's not secret the Mac part of our team is working to support macOS 11.
What's on deck?
Normally, we won't tell you what's up next nor provide road maps/timelines because, well... things change. We're making an exception here. Early in the new year, we plan to begin development of what many refer to as "history". It is an "expected" feature which benefits those who capture images as well as those who capture video.
Early design work is underway. As we approach "history" please keep these things in mind:
- It will not be the same as what Jing had
- It may roll out a little at a time (expect minimalism at first)
- We will listen to feedback
- Based on feedback, we'll do more, or not...
Thanks for reading. We hope you appreciate the transparency. We are listening.
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- SnagIt has too much "stuff" to do a basic quick capture.
- Capture has no "sun" or similar to make quick mouse captures
- Can't capture and view multiple temporary grabs at once and move around screen
Geesh. Developers these days... Do you actually ask the users what they like and want? Seriously. Do you actually ask the users what they like and want? I see it everyday with every company with a new release. Your product is now useless to many, just like everyone else's. Sooo disappointing. I would have actually PAID to keep these features. Now, you've lost customers. Your product is now no better than the free open-source versions out there.
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JIng was much much better than the new upgrade. so simple to use. captured screenshot was stored in history clicks so useful to go back to view earlier clicked screenshot.
in Jing, we were able to take multiple screenshots at a time. but this capture allows only 1 unless the earlier taken screenshot is closed
what was the need to upgrade to capture tool? Jing was really so useful and easy to use. TechSmith has totally goofed up the tool not sure whose idea was it to upgrade. sometimes old is gold. please restore back JING
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was using jing for almost 10 years, jing was very simple and to the point, just press a shortcut > capture area > upload automatically with out doing dozens of clilcks > link automatically gets in clip board with out doing dozens of clicks.
Now the process have become more complex and difficult to use. Need to see some other simple alternatives. previously i had to just press one key and one click and I keep my focus on actual work. Now i have to pass through tons of screens and tons of clicks to do a simple screenshot uploaded.8 -
JING was much better than the new upgrade.
Capture:- too few colors- Text only in the middle- Text field without frame and color selection- No quick start at the edge of the screen8 -
The restriction that a preview must be saved or pasted prior to another being taken makes Capture unusable for me.
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I appreciate the lightweight simple design Jing has afforded for so many years.
A great recipe doesn't require altering.
I have a functional version of Jing running on my Windows 10 computer today. No hacks or hocus pocus required.
I prevent Jing from connecting to the internet through my firewall. McAfee internet security that is.
Thats all thats required to continue using it. I learned this trick in the previous forum. :)
If you want to upload images to Screencast. Uploading manually should work.
For anyone that may be skeptical. My desktop. Note the date and time in the taskbar.
Enjoy the day. I'm entering a long leave of absence from work. I'm enjoying the day very much.
Ginger
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I am so sad for this Change which no longer is user friendly If anyone finds alternative please advise. Looking for Jing replacement.
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This is the an awful upgrade. I am searching for alternatives and found that there is actually a site that offers Jing alternatives which are similar to the old Jing tool. I used this daily and would pay to have the old version back. Everything I used it for now takes longer and I MISS THE SUN on the top of the screen. I am so disappointed.
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I'm a Software Tester. JING was by far the most efficient screenshot tool for taking hundreds of screenshots a day (<500). Just 3-4 clicks per screenshot (with an arrow to show user actions). Most other tools are either slow to open/close the editor or require more clicks per screenshot to do the same thing.
Key Features that Capture Needs:
- Local Image History
- Capture and view multiple temporary grabs at once and move around screen (Thanks BDugan)
- Add a preference in settings: "Close Editor after Copy".
I have Snagit Pro. This is excellent at capturing parameterisation with Panoramic screenshots and capturing detailed information.
Edit: Spent some time editing/customising SnagIt Pro. I now use this for the bulk of my screenshots, plus the detailed organisation of the Image Library is a bonus.4 -
why change from the UI when only switching from SWF to MP4?! this "upgrade" ui sucks!
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Have not yet been able to get Jing's replacement to work. This is really hampering my ability to work efficiently.
Used Jing for many years, was super simple and did the job.
As far as i can tell, it was replaced with ... nothing.
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Where to begin... Fisrt I share the sentiment of the majority of comments about the sucessor to JIng. As a software developer this feels like the baby was thrown out with the bath water Even if the design was bad a couple of months at most to swap out swift with 1 or more differnet video capture and playback standards. This has the a feel of the development team driving the decison to want to work on something new and not have to work on that not so glamorus old stuff. It also seems that that there was no development speed bump to confirm current cutomer needs and proposed solution before work started. The management team needs to take a look at these comments and think about a plan B.
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Tweeted @techsmith @snagit regarding this post. Maybe they will care.
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Hello everyone,
I wanted to thank you for your feedback both in this thread and multiple others in these user forums. We do see it, and we are listening.
I know some of these choices seem strange- as renderman21 put it, why change the UI? But that's because this is a completely different application that began in our Knowmia service, and has none of the (extremely old) Jing code in it. It is by no means a simple matter to just plop in Jing code in another app. I assure you that it would be more work than what we are doing which is:
We are continuing to iterate on and improve TechSmith Capture. It has extremely advanced video recording capabilities, and has grown to include basic screen capture and annotations, like Jing.
Having access to your recent captures is near the top of our todo list. It is also the main reason there are so many prompts- we didn't want anyone to lose their work. Once there is a way to get back to your capture, we will not need the confirmation prompts about closing, or going back to your capture after a Copy.
We really are doing our best to provide you all with a great, free tool to replace Jing, which had stopped working well on modern OS's, used a video format that Adobe retired, and no longer lived up to modern security standards.
That said, if you really take screenshots often, and it's a core part of your workday, then a free tool like Capture may not be for you. Snagit is born and bred to do this well. It's far more powerful, yet quick to use. I think that the Snagit team would be interested in your feedback, Radams91, and also we may have some good suggestions for how you can get Snagit to work the way you want (like by turning on OneClick).
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i paid for snagit. it is hot garbage. Jing was great.
snagit has made me never want to buy another techsmith item. Snagit is everything i don't want. i used Jing nearly everyday. what a waste of money. Techsmith should be embarrassed at this horrible item.
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Hi there
Just as a SnagIt fan, I'm sad to see you dislike it.
I'd strongly encourage you to take some time and articulate exactly what it is you dislike about the way SnagIt works. I'm sure that would be vastly more helpful to the development team than simply hearing it's "hot garbage". Of course, personally I disagree with that assessment. I use it perhaps 100 times each day and it does what I need quite nicely. But I am not you so I'm sure for your own workflow it may not seem to fit.
But only by advising what you perceive is wrong will the development team have a clue as to what could be made better.
Cheers... Rick :)
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@GingerBread Thank you for the idea. I tried registry fixes, hosts list edits, etc. I will try reinstalling and blocking via firewall.
@Magus75 If you read through this thread, you will see several of us have explained EXACTLY what we miss from Jing. I appreciate you defending a product you use and works well for you. We shouldn't "bash" SnagIt. It is a good tool for many people. However, this thread is meant to express to TechSmith our displeasure with them doing away with what was a "perfect" tool for many of us----one we would have gladly PAID for. It is obvious from your comment you don't use SnagIt the way we used Jing---it is impossible. OneClick is a weak attempt to replicate Jing.
I emailed several TechSmith executives and their response (I believe) was through/from Paul Middlin above. Unless they decide to rename and re-release Jing as a trial-to-purchase revenue producing product, I afraid it's back to looking for another option and firewall blocking.
- Brent
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As GingerBread noted a month ago, just block Jing in your PC firewall (Google it). This keeps Jing from checking-in with TechSmith and then shutting-down. This may be a security risk, because Jing is no longer updated, but I don't use the video feature anyway. Working great!
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This is a great example of the worst upgrade ever.
Jing was the perfect tool product:
1. easy to manage History
2. can capture several images and keep several captures open in the same time.
> Today you must finish works on the print screen you took and only then create a new one.
3. After capturing an image there is an additional frustrating question "Your Capture is ready to be pasted" (Close Preview // Close Editing)It was better to update the older version of Jing and ask for your clients to pay for the update rather than upgrade to TechSmith and to lose customers.
Look how many topics and questions are pointing to the great old product Jing and how many explanations why you move to TechSmith.
Great JOB of your Product Manager.
From my organization, 70 employees stopped using your products
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We didn't use Jing as much as some here did, but we also miss it and it sounds as if the replacement is less robust and more clunky. Although by no means a Jing replacement, we've been using Fireshot for screen and page captures and annotations. And thanks to GingerBread for the workaround shared. We're going to give that a try...
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To be fair, I did give TechSmith Capture a try for several months and also tried a few other competing products a try, they all fell short of the capabilities and ease that Jing had.
Kudos to who ever designed and built Jing!, they were way ahead of their time (and still are as far as front end)! TechSmith Capture and other competing tools may have a modern backend but if the front-end and underlying workflow doesn't meet the users needs that doesn't really matter to us.
At this point I would be happy with a Minimum Viable Product to meet my needs (that is also efficient!). If I could have Jing without the Video Capture, without Cloud Saving, etc. that would still be better than any other options currently available.
I was able to restore my Jing on 3 machines I already had it installed on via disabling/blocking the firewall for Jing, but I have 3 new machines that I tried loading Jing (from scratch) on and that trick does not work. Perhaps there is something (file) I can copy from machines it already has been loaded on, to the new machines? Or perhaps I could use Postman to send something to the API call during loading to trick it and allow it to initially load?
I have thought maybe the answer is about somehow removing or modifying the API lookup Jing does to initial setup and authenticate saving content to the Techsmith cloud, as I only really need local saving, but not sure how to proceed with this? Any ideas?
Abandoned Jing Champion and Promotor, Mark
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Lookslike the typical cry of wolf from a development team tired of working on an old product, but if itis not brokent don't fix it or better yet don't throw out the babay with the bath water. Like someone has suggested get rid of the offening swt or just disable form GUI and release to community. The current release lacks the essence of simplicity from it predessor and I have moved to a differnt product. Bring back Jing.
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I don't care about that video format, and i think most users don't care too !
Just give us back the Screen Capture and history :)
Waiting for Jing to come back, Silvia
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As some of you may have noticed, there is a comment that keeps being repeated. These are not obsessed users who like to remember Jing and SWF's retirement, but rather a creative spam bot that has been getting through the automated filters. Our apologies. So, I'm going to delete these rogue comments. Your own comments may seem out of context after I do that, so that's why I posted this response.
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I had a power outage this past summer and after bringing the Desktop back up that Jing had been working because it was loaded before being dropped by Techsmith it no longer works now. I had been using it before power outage via the "blocking the firewall" fix.
I've been struggling with trying to use other products/solutions but they are all a step back in productivity from where Jing already was years ago!
I would be curious as well if anyone has been able to successfully load and port "Registry settings" or something to make Jing work on a new install or reinstall (to install that stopped working)?
I don't know if anyone at Techsmith reads these, but "All I want for Christmas is my Jing back!"
Could you PLEASE bring Jing back, even in the form of unsupported Shareware with only image capture capabilities (We don't need video capture which is why the baby was washed out with the bathwater) ?
Abandoned Jing Champion and Promotor, Mark
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I too was a user of Jing for many years. Was absolutely perfect for what we did. The new version is practically useless. So bad we have deleted it from of our PCs and moved to Greenshot (which to be very honest is also aggravating to use, but at least it has some functionality). I understand Adobe made changes but what your gave us to use now is of no use. If you guys can figure out how to replicate the old Jing i would be a paying customer, till then I will go elsewhere and keep watching you to see if you all figure it out.
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A Smart Trick To Reuse The Old Beloved Jing From TeckSmith
To All lovers of the Lovely Old Jing
Yes, I agree with you all that this is the worst upgrade made ever. I even could not use the upgrade after downloading because I don't have Windows 10 (I have Windows 7 32-bits).
However I discovered a nice trick that enabled me to continue using Jing. You too can rejoin with your beloved Jing easily by disconnecting your Internet connection, then, click on Jing's sun on the Taskbar. Wait for a few seconds, then, after Jing's sun appears on top of the desktop, reconnect with the Internet. Jing will work perfectly until you turn off your computer.
In case Jing was uninstalled, search for the source program on your computer or on the Internet and install it again then do the trick.The demerit caused by the new upgrade is that you have to repeat doing the trick every time you want to use the beloved Jing. Although this is an additional burden added by Teck-Smith on our shoulders, Jing worth it.
The old Jing can be downloaded from here:
https://downloads.digitaltrends.com/jing/windowsRegards
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Hi Brent
Indeed I'm aware that many have expressed exactly what they dislike about the replacement as well as what they liked about Jing. Kudos to those folks. That's a helpful thing to do.
My comments weren't generically aimed at the thread in general, but were specifically targeted toward the user venomousduck. It's something to ponder when reporting issues in nearly any forum about any product.
While it may help the frustrated user to vent their frustrations, it doesn't help anyone responsible for the maintenance of any product in the least. Other than to know that someone, somewhere, isn't happy about it.
But that's the nature of life. You could produce the most amazing product ever seen, but someone, somewhere, will have issues with it and dislike it.
I've used both Jing as well as SnagIt for years. And because I'm accustomed to the way SnagIt works, Jing always made me feel "boxed in" or "hamstrung" with wanting to do this or that and being unable to because it was so easy to do in SnagIt, I am fully aware that many folks loved Jing. And I watch the outcry because it's gone. I feel badly for those folks. But I also realize that times change and things "progress" and that often means leaving things that seemed extremely useful behind.
A personal case in point is Windows paintbrush. I loved that little app. But it disappeared and doesn't seem to be returning. Another case in point is the Windows Snipping Tool. I use it instead of SnagIt. Mostly to capture pesky SnagIt dialogs that can't be captured by SnagIt itself. And every time I open it up, I'm seeing a warning that it's going away and will be replaced by something else.
Cheers... Rick :)
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What else is there to add than what everyone has already said about the Jing replacement Capture other than it is pure crap. Once again the replacement of an excellent model with something that is useless and monumentally less user friendly. Begs the question... was this made in China. Btw is it even compatible with Windows 7. Time to find a replacement.
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