Take screenshots On Windows to record part of, or the complete display is simple whether you’re using Windows 11 or Windows 10. Maybe you want to preserve the screen so you can show off a particularly impressive gaming achievement to your friends.
Windows 10 and 11 have the same built-in tools (Snip & Sketch and Snipping Tool), and you can snap a screenshot with a few keyboard commands.
There are alternatives for taking screenshots on Windows 10. Microsoft makes all of them easy to use, and you’ll need to use tools like Paint to save your screen captures.
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What Are Different ScreenShot Options In Windows?
On the top of the Windows screen, you’ll find a bar with multiple buttons. Choose the desired feature to take screenshots On Windows.
- Rectangular Snip: You’ll be able to use your cursor to draw a rectangle across your screen. Windows will save a screenshots on Windows of the region within the rectangle.
- FreeForm Snip: You can use your cursor to draw an arbitrary shape on your screen. Windows will take a picture of the region you’ve drawn around.
- Window Snip: The cursor will act as a crosshair in the window. You can drag it over a window and click to take a screenshot of that window only.
- Full Screen Snip: This button takes a screenshot of the entire screen.
- Close Snipping: The overlay is closed without a screenshot being taken. You can do this by pressing Esc on your keyboard.
How To Take A Screenshot On Windows 11 OS?
- With Snipping Tool Take Delayed screenshots On Windows
- Snip & Sketch Tool To Take A Screenshot (Small portion)
- Screenshot Entire Screen With PrtSc Key
- Windows Key + Prtscn Key Screenshot Of The Entire Screen
1. With Snipping Tool Take Delayed Screenshots On Windows
The Snipping Tool is pre-installed in Windows 11. It’s the same tool as the Snip and Sketch tool, with minor differences. Use it to capture screenshots on Windows 11.
- Use the Search feature to look for the Snipping Tool and open the program to take a screenshot.
- If you select New, a tiny Snipping Tool menu will appear, from which you can select from a variety of snips.
- You can select any of the four snipping choices before deciding on a delay.
- This will allow you some time to set up whatever you’re trying to screenshot, and it may be more convenient than snapping the shot manually.
- Simply press Win-Shift-S to copy the text to your clipboard.
- You can also alter the snapshot preview or save it to your computer as a JPEG, PNG, or another format by clicking on it.
2. Snip & Sketch Tool To Take A Screenshot (Small portion)
Perhaps you’d like to capture screenshots On Windows of a piece of their screen rather than the complete screen. Using the cut and sketch tool in Windows 11, you can grab only a partial screenshot:
- When you press Win + Shift + S, your screen flashes, and a little Snipping Tool menu appears at the top.
- Draw a box roughly what you wish to capture with a rectangular snip.
- Draw whatever shape around what you wish to capture using a free-form snip.
- Select a window to capture with Window Snip.
- Full-screen Snip: Take a screenshot of your entire screen (same as PrtScr).
- As with the Prt Scr key option, the screenshot will be saved to your clipboard once it’s captured.
- You can copy it and paste it somewhere else to look at it.
- You can adjust the screenshot (crop, rotate, and save it to your desktop) and save it if you click the Snipping Tool preview at the bottom of the screen.
3. Screenshot Entire Screen With PrtSc Key
- Press and hold the PrtSc key.
- The screenshot will be held to your clipboard, but no sign that it was captured correctly.
- Use Ctrl-V to paste the full-screen screenshot into a program like Paint or Microsoft Word or the body of an email.
4. Windows Key + Prtscn Key Screenshot Of The Entire Screen
- Using the Windows + PrtSc keys to capture a screenshot of your whole desktop is similar to using the PrtSc key.
- However, the screenshot will be saved to a folder on your computer.
- Your entire screen will flash if you hit the keys correctly, signaling that the screenshot has been taken and saved.
- All of your full-screen screenshots On Windows may be seen in Pictures -> Screenshots.
How To Take A Screenshot On Windows 10? (Screen Captures And Edit)
- Windows + Print Screen
- Snip & Sketch App To Take A Screenshot
- Snipping Tool To Take A Screenshot
- Use Alt + PrtSc keys
- Print Screen To Take A Screenshot
- 6. Game Bar To Take A Screenshot
1. Use Windows + Print Screen Keys
- Press the Windows key + Prtscn Key to snap a screenshot on Windows 10 and automatically save it to the clipboard.
- Your screen will dim, and a screenshot of the entire screen will be saved to the “Pictures then Screenshots folder” in the User folder or My documents.
2. Snip & Sketch App To Take A Screenshot.
On Windows, the Snipping Tool was superseded with the Snip & Sketch tool. Snip & Sketch is the easiest way to screenshots on Windows if you want to edit or share your screen captures.
- Use the Windows Key + Shift + S keyboard shortcut, or type Snip & Sketch into the search field.
- Your screen will darken, and a small menu will emerge at the top, allowing you to capture a rectangular, free-form, window, or full-screen image.
- You have the option of taking a screenshot in a variety of ways. These are the same options as the Snipping Tool’s options.
- You can paste it into a document or an image editor.
- A new window will display if you search for Snip & Sketch in the search field.
- You can start capturing your screenshot by clicking New in this box, or you can click the arrow pointing down to Snip in 3 or 10 seconds.
- The screen will dim, and a Snipping toolbar will appear at the top once you select one of the options.
- After you’ve chosen one, you can snap the screenshot you want, whether it’s a rectangle, a freeform, a specific window, or the entire screen.
- Snip & Sketch will open when you’ve taken the screenshot, and you’ll see your screenshot.
- You can use a ballpoint pen, a pencil, or a highlighter to make annotations here. You may use an eraser to remove them and a ruler to make the marks at the angles you wish.
- After you’ve finished modifying the image, use the buttons in the top right corner to Save, Copy, or Share it.
- When you click Save, you’ll be able to choose where you want to save the image.
- Click on the “Copy” to save the image to Clipboard, and then Share to send the image to your contacts via email or other apps.
3. Snipping Tool To Take A Screenshot
The snipping tool is the ideal option if you want to customize, annotate, or share your screen captures on Windows.
Take screenshots on Windows of the entire Windows screen, a rectangular portion of the screen, or a free-form screenshot of the entire screen.
Using a snipping tool to take screenshots On Windows does not save the screenshot as an image file by default, but it does have the option.
Here’s how to snap a screenshot with the snip and snipping tools:
- You’ll have to search for the Snipping Tool in the search box to activate it.
- If the search bar isn’t visible, right-click on the taskbar, hover over Search, and select Show Search Box.
- Choose the “snip” mode that you want to use. A full-screen snip, a free-form snip, a rectangular snip, a window snip, or a free-form snip.
- The Snipping Tool also allows you to specify a snapshot delay, which allows you to take screenshots On Windows after a particular amount of time has passed. This is useful for capturing tooltips and pop-up menus.
- Click on delay to choose the amount of time you want to wait before taking a screenshot in seconds.
- Click New when you’re ready to take a screenshot. The pointer will change to a cross as the screen fades out. If you choose the delay option, the screen will fade after the number of seconds you specify.
- You can use the Rectangular snip mode to create a rectangle on the screen by clicking and dragging.
- If the Free-form snip is selected, you can click and draw whatever shape you desire. Remember that the screenshot will be taken once you have finished pressing the click.
- You can click on the specific Windows you wish to snap a screenshot of if you selected the Window snip.
- If you select a full-screen snip, the tool will capture the entire screen.
- Select “File” then “Save” to save the image to the selected location. You can save it as a file.
- You can send it by email or as an attachment to an email by selecting File>Send to > Email recipient.
- By selecting File > Print, you can print the screenshot.
- By selecting Edit > Copy, you can duplicate the screenshot to the clipboard.
- You can also use the Highlighter And Pen functions to change the screenshot. The color of the pen can be changed.
4. Use Alt + Prt Sc Keys
- Use the keyboard shortcut Alt + Prt Sc to capture a single window.
- To take a screenshot of the window, not just any window, you must first pick the window you want by clicking on it.
- Then hold down Alt + Prt Sc.
- It will copy the screenshot to the Clipboard, which you can then paste someplace else to recover it.
- If you need to save the image as a file, you can utilize a keyboard shortcut.
- Simply hold the Windows key while pressing the Prt Sc key.
- This creates a file from the image.
- It’s located in C drive by default. Screenshots by “username>Pictures, then “Screenshots.”
5. Print Screen To Take A Screenshot.
The Print Screen (Prtcn) key on Windows 10 is the simplest to take screenshots on Windows. This button is usually found near the Function (F#) keys on the top row of the keyboard.
This method transfers the image to the Clipboard rather than saving it as a file. You can then paste it into a document, such as a Word or Google document.
- Just press PrtScn on the side (upper-right) of the keyboard to capture the complete screen.
- Use the PrtSc buttons on the keyboard to snap a screenshot on a PC.
- Take a screenshot of the entire screen. Hold the PrtScn or Print Screen buttons. Your Windows clipboard will be saved with the screenshot.
- Paste the screenshot into any editing tool. It allows you to input images, such as Microsoft Word or MSPaint, to save the file.
- Now, Tap the Windows key + Print Screen key to capture the complete screen and save it as a screenshot. To Signify that you’ve taken a screenshot, the screen will dim for a brief moment.
- Go to “Pictures” then “Screenshots.” It is where the screenshot will be kept.
- You may require to press the Function (Fn) key and the Print Screen button on some keyboards to activate the screen capture.
- This will take screenshots on Windows of the entire screen and save them to the clipboard.
6. Game Bar To Take A Screenshot
You can capture gameplay footage and snap screenshots On Windows 10’s Game Bar functionality. Even if you aren’t recreating a game, you can snap screenshots On Windows.
- Press the Windows Key + G to bring up the Game Bar overlay.
- A window labeled Broadcast & capture can be found in the top right corner of the screen.
- Select the Camera icon and press the Print Screen button to take screenshots On Windows. The screenshot will be kept as a PNG file and saved in “C:/Users/Username/Videos/Captures.”