The Program Tab

The final tab in the Tools Options dialog, Program, allows you to adjust some general Recorder-related settings. Here we see two sections: Program options and Temporary file folder. Let’s talk about the Program options first. Notice that you have four check boxes:

• Always on top. This option keeps the Camtasia Recorder window on top and visible at all times. Any opened windows will still appear below the Recorder window.

• Enable tips. This option keeps a handy array of tips at your disposal. When experimenting with certain options for the first time (e.g., Time-lapse capture), a special tip dialog appears, explaining the feature in question. Note that you have the option of disabling individual tips by unchecking the Show tip again box within that dialog. This check box is merely a handy tool for enabling/disabling these tips globally.

• Display recording preview after recording is stopped. Remember the window that pops up after each recording and plays back your video? The recording preview allows you to quickly go over your work, and either discard it if you think it’s utter crap or give the file your stamp of approval so that you can save it. I personally find it an invaluable tool. However, for some applications systems monitoring, for example), previewing the file before saving is unnecessary. Also, some may prefer to disable it as a matter of personal taste, wanting to save themselves a little time by skipping the preview. This isn’t really a time-saver in my opinion, but it’s nice that Recorder gives you the option. You can turn the preview off by clearing this check box.

• Display options dialog after recording is saved. When this option is checked, you’re presented with an additional dialog after saving your file. It provides you with a few choices regarding what you want to do next. Three of them, actually:

  • Edit my recording, which brings your freshly recorded video into Camtasia Studio for further editing.

  • Produce my video in a shareable format, which skips the editing process and produces your clip as a stand-alone video in any of nine different file formats.

  • Create another recording, which takes you right back to the Camtasia Recorder, so you can get busy recording your next clip.

Unchecking Display options dialog after recording is saved is basically the same as always checking the third option. After saving, this dialog won’t appear, and you will always return to the Recorder to capture additional clips. Whether you’ll want to check this box depends on your own personal workflow.

Note 

When this dialog was introduced in version 3.0, I was initially resistant because I saw it as a disruption to my work method. Now I can’t live without it. I guess it’s important to keep an open mind - just because you’ve always done something a certain way doesn’t mean that your method cannot be improved upon.

Returning to the Program tab, you probably noticed here that you also have a field for specifying the application’s Temporary file folder. This is the directory where Camtasia Recorder will store data as it’s being captured, right up until the moment you finish the recording and save it as an AVI or CAMREC file. It will default to the Temp folder on your C: drive, but feel free to change it if you have another fast drive with more space. For instance, I have a large scratch drive where I save all my video work - my temp file is on this drive as well.