Screen Snapshot Windows

Take a snapshot to copy words or images from all or part of your PC screen. Use Snipping Tool to make changes or notes, then save, and share.

You can take a screenshot in Windows 10 by just pressing the Print Screen button (sometimes labeled as Prt Sc) from your keyboard. The entire screen will be copied to your clipboard. In order to view and manipulate this screenshot, open the default Paint program on your computer and paste it in. (Print Screen Shortcuts) The Print screen shortcut button is the key to press to take a full-screen screenshot and copy it to the clipboard. Sometimes the easiest way to make a copy of something is to take a snapshot of your screen. While you can already capture your screen using your keyboard’s PrtScn button, you can now press Windows logo key + Shift + S to open the new modern snipping experience (also called the snipping bar), then drag the cursor over the area you want to capture. SnapCrab is a free screen capture tool available for the Windows platform. It captures images as per the user-defined area, full screen and saves the images in JPEG, PNG and GIF format. It has various customization options such as defining your own hotkey, modifying how to take a snapshot of the screen. Greenshot is a light-weight screenshot software tool for Windows with the following key features: Quickly create screenshots of a selected region, window or fullscreen; you can even capture complete (scrolling) web pages from Internet Explorer. Easily annotate, highlight or obfuscate parts of the screenshot.

Windows 10 has another screenshot app you might also like to try. When you open Snipping Tool, you’ll see an invitation and keyboard shortcut to Snip & Sketch. For more info on this app, see How to take and annotate screenshots on Windows 10.

Capture any of the following types of snips:

Free-form snip

Draw a free-form shape around an object.

Rectangular snip

Drag the cursor around an object to form a rectangle.

Window snip

Select a window, such as a dialog box, that you want to capture.

Full-screen snip

Capture the entire screen.

When you capture a snip, it's automatically copied to the Snipping Tool window where you make changes, save, and share.

Open Snipping Tool

For Windows 10

Select the Start button, type snipping tool in the search box on the taskbar, and then select Snipping Tool from the list of results.

For Windows 8.1 / Windows RT 8.1

Swipe in from the right edge of the screen, tap Search (or if you're using a mouse, point to the lower-right corner of the screen, move the mouse pointer up, and then select Search), type snipping tool in the search box, and then select Snipping Tool from the list of results.

For Windows 7

Select the Start button, then type snipping tool in the search box, and then select Snipping Tool from the list of results.

Work with your screenshots

With your Snipping Tool open, select one of the following to create and work with your screenshots.

Capture a snip

In Snipping Tool, select Mode. In earlier versions of Windows, select the arrow next to the New button. Next, when you choose the kind of snip you want, you’ll see the whole screen change slightly to gray. Then, choosing from anything currently displayed on the screen, select the area of your screen that you want to capture.

Capture a snip of a menu

  1. After you open Snipping Tool, open the menu that you want to capture. For Windows 7, press the Esc key before opening the menu.

  2. Press Ctrl + PrtScn keys. The entire screen changes to gray including the open menu.

  3. Select Mode, or in earlier versions of Windows, select the arrow next to the New button. Select the kind of snip you want, and then select the area of the screen capture that you want to capture.

Annotate a snip

After you capture a snip, you can write or draw on or around it by selecting the Pen or Highlighter buttons. Select Eraser to remove the lines you've drawn.

Save a snip

  1. After you capture a snip, select the Save Snip button.

  2. In the Save As box, type a file name, location, and type, and then select Save.

Remove the URL

When you capture a snip from a browser window and save it as an HTML file, the URL appears below the snip. To prevent the URL from appearing:

  1. In the Snipping Tool, select the Options button.

  2. In theSnipping Tools Options box, clear the Include URL below snips (HTML only) check box, then select OK.

Share a snip

After you capture a snip, select the arrow next to the Send Snip button, and then select an option from the list.

Keyboard shortcuts to use in Snipping Tool

Press these keys

To do this

Alt + M

Choose a snipping mode.

Alt + N

Create a new snip in the same mode as the last one.

Shift + arrow keys

Move the cursor to select from different types of snips.

Alt + D

Delay capture by 1-5 seconds

Ctrl + C

Copy the snip to clipboard

Ctrl +

Save the snip

Enlarge, rotate, or crop your snip

With your capture open in Snipping Tool, select Edit > Edit with Paint 3D to use features for sizing, color, text, and many other enhancements.

How to take screen snapshot windows 10

Print a snip

In the folder where you’ve saved your snip, right click on the snip. Select Print from the options and make choices for how you want to print your image.

Place tool on the taskbar

Screen Snapshot Windows 7

In the search box on the taskbar, type snipping tool. You’ll see the Snipping Tool app and a list of actions you can take. Select Pin to taskbar.

Delay your screenshot

How To Screenshot On Windows Microsoft

First, identify the menu or other components you want to capture. In Snipping Tool, select Delay and then select, for example, 5 seconds. Select Mode to start the 5-second countdown. Within 5 seconds, open a menu or otherwise compose your image. At 5 seconds, when you see the screen turn gray, use the mouse to draw around the area you want.

Related info

For info about other Windows 10 features, see What's new in recent Windows 10 updates.