Taking a full screen screenshot on Windows 8 and 10
This techinformyou teaches you to take screenshots on your Windows computer. Computers running Windows 8 and 10 can use keyboard shortcuts to take and save a full screen screenshot, and all Windows versions support "taking a full screen screenshot using the print screen button. Custom screenshot taking and Surface Other methods, such as using snipping tools to take screenshots, are equally effective.
Method 1
Taking a full screen screenshot on Windows 8 and 10
1. Go to the screen you want to screenshot. Before taking a screenshot, you need to make sure that the screen you want to screenshot is without any distraction (eg, open windows or programs).
2. Locate the "Print Screen" key on your keyboard. The print screen key ⎙ is often found in the upper-right side of the main keyboard (not counting the number pad if you have one on your keyboard), and usually has "SysReq" ("System Requirements") written below it .
The print screen key will usually be abbreviated to "PrtSc" or something similar.
3. ⊞ Win key and print screen key ⎙ press at the same time. Doing so will take a screenshot of the current screen; In most cases, you will see the screen dim briefly.
If your computer has some display settings disabled, your screen will not dim. This is most common on older computers on which you upgraded to Windows 10.
If your screenshot does not appear when you are looking for it, try pressing the print screen or Fn + ⊞ Win + ⎙ print screen ⎙ ⊞.
4. Find screenshot. You'll find a screenshot of the screenshot inside the "Screenshot" folder, which is inside the "Pictures" folder on your computer. Each screenshot you take will be labeled "screenshot (number)" to correspond to the order in which the screenshot was taken.
For example, the first screenshot you take will be labeled "Screenshot (1)", etc.
Method 2
Taking a Full-Screen Screenshot on Any Windows Computer
1. Go to the screen you want to screenshot. Before taking a screenshot, you need to make sure that the screen you want to screenshot is without any distraction (eg, open windows or programs).
2. ⎙ Press the print screen key. It is usually found on the top-right of the keyboard, just right of the row of "function" keys (eg, F12) at the top of the keyboard. Pressing the print screen key will take a picture of the contents of the entire screen.
The print screen key may be entitled "PrtSc" or something similar.
If your computer has the FN key at the bottom-left of the keyboard, you may need to press the FN and ⎙ print screen at the same time.
3. Open paint. This program is installed on all Windows computers. To open it:
Open start image titled windowsstart.png
On Windows 8, open search
Click the search bar under the Start menu.
Type in paint
Click Paint at the top of the Start window.
On Windows 8, Paint will be in the search results.
For Windows XP computers, click Start, choose Programs, choose Accessories, and click Paint.
4. Paste in the screenshot. Once the Paint window opens, press Ctrl+V to paste in the screenshot. You should see the screenshot appear in the Paint window.
5. Save screenshot. Press CTRL + S, then enter a name for your screenshot, choose a save folder on the left side of the window, and click save.
You can change the file type of the screenshot by clicking the "Save a Type" drop-down box at the bottom of the window, and then click on a different format (eg, JPEG) in the drop-down menu.
The most common file types are JPG and PNG. The recommended format for screenshots is PNG, due to the high quality and small file size.
Method 3
Taking a One-Window Screenshot
1. Click on the window whose image you want to capture. The one-window screenshot function will take a picture of the "active" window on your screen, which means that it should be in front of all your other windows.
2. Press ALT and press PRETSSI ⎙. An image of the window will be copied to the clipboard. The dimensions of the image will be determined by the window size when the screenshot is captured. [1]
You will not receive any confirmation that the screenshot has been taken.
3. Open Paint. This program comes installed on all Windows computers. To open it:
Open Start Image titled Windowsstart.png
On Windows 8, open Search
Click the search bar at the bottom of the Start menu.
Type in paint
Click Paint at the top of the Start window.
On Windows 8, Paint will be in the Search results.
For a Windows XP computer, click Start, select Programs, select Accessories, and click Paint.
4. Paste in the screenshot. Once the Paint window loads, press Ctrl+V to paste in the screenshot. You should see it appear in the Paint window.
You can also paste the screenshot into other programs, such as Word or into the body of an email. Simply open the program that you want to paste the image into and press Ctrl+V.
5. Save your screenshot as an image file. Click on the file, click on save, enter the file name, click on a place on the left side of the page and click on save.
You can change the file type of the screenshot by clicking the "Save a Type" drop-down box at the bottom of the window, and then click on a different format (eg, JPEG) in the drop-down menu.
The most common file types are JPG and PNG. The recommended format for screenshots is PNG, due to the high quality and small file size.
Method 4
Using the snipping tool program
1. Open the snipping tool. The snipping tool is available in all versions of Windows Vista, 7, 8 and 10 except for Starter and Basic Edition. It is not available in Windows XP. [2]
In Windows Vista and 7, click the Start button, select All Programs, select Accessories, and select the Snipping Tool from the list.
In Windows 8, just start typing the snipping tool on the start screen and select it from the search results.
In Windows 10, click the start image titled Windowsstart.png, type in the snipping tool, and select the snipping tool from the search results.
2. Select snip size. The "rectangular snip" is selected by default. To change the snip size, click the arrow button next to the mode button.
Free-form snip lets you draw any shape with your mouse. The area inside the shape will be sliced.
The rectangular snip lets you select the rectangular area that will be truncated.
Window Snip lets you choose a window to snipe.
Full-screen snip snips the entire screen, including all windows (except the snipping tool window).
3. Adjust snip border. By default, any snipe you make will have a red border around it. You can disable or change it by clicking the Tools tab in the top-left section of the Snipping Tool toolbar, selecting Options from the drop-down menu, and unchecking the box next to "Show selection ink after snips are captured". Huh. This will remove the border from any future snips.
4. Create a new snip. Click the New button to begin the selection. The screen will fade, and you can draw your snipe area, or select the window if you have chosen the window snip. Release the mouse while selecting to make a snip.
If you have Full Screen Snip selected, your snip will be created automatically after clicking New.
5. Annotate the snipe. Once you make a snip, it will open in a new window. You can use the pen tool to draw on it and make notes, and the highlight tool to draw attention to the text.
The erase tool will only erase annotations, not screenshots.
6. Save the snipe. Click on the floppy disk icon to open the save dialog. Type in a name for the screenshot and "Save as type:" field if desired. Now you can send the screenshot by email or put it on a website.
Windows 7 and 8 have a PNG default format. It is a harmless compressed format, which means that it will take high quality screenshots at a small file size. This is the recommended format for taking screenshots.
JPG or JPEG is the default format in Windows Vista. This is a harmless format, which means that the screenshot will look slightly blocked and some colors may be slightly off. It is designed primarily for photographs, and is not recommended for screenshots.
GIF color is unsuitable for reproducing photographs, but is well suited for images such as graphics or logos with solid areas of color, resulting in crystal sharp edges between color areas.
7. Copy the snip. By default, the snip is copied to the clipboard when you create it. This means you can paste it into Paint or Word, like you would with a full screen screenshot. In Paint, you can make more edits than you can in the Snip Annotation Editor.
To paste a snip, open a window that presses Paste and CTRL + V.
Method 5
Using the snipping tool shortcut
1. Go to the page you want to screenshot. Open the program or screen you want to take a picture of, ensuring that any windows or items you don't want on-screen are out of the way.
2. Press ⊞ Win + ⇧ Shift + S. By doing this your screen will turn light-gray, and your mouse will turn into a crosshair icon.
3. Select a region for the screenshot. Click and drag your mouse from the top-left corner of the area that you want to screenshot in the bottom-right corner.
For example, if you want to screenshot the whole screen, you click and drag your mouse from the top-left corner of the screen to the bottom-right corner of the screen.
4. Release the mouse button. Both of these will take a screenshot of your selected region and save it to your clipboard, from which point it can be pasted into any program that accepts pasted photos.
5. Paste your screenshot. Open any program that supports pasting in photos (eg, Paint, Word, etc.) and press CTRL + V. You should see the section of the screen you selected in your program.
You can save the document in your screenshot by pressing Ctrl + S, entering the name, selecting the save location and clicking Save.
Photos can also be pasted into some online services, such as email.
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