Microsoft has provided a variety of ways to take screenshots on your desktop for years, and some may say that there are too many. Windows 11 streamlines this process, adding a video screen recorder (see Snipping Tool below).
Windows 11 has some of the most effective ways to screenshot your computer. The tools range from keyboard shortcuts that have been around for a long time to more recent and powerful ones. These allow you, among other things, to set up timers to capture screenshots.
Use PrintScreen to print the screen
To take a screenshot, simply press Print Screen (or PrtScrn, depending on which system you have) and the Windows logo. Images are saved to your Screenshots as PNG files. File Explorer should show the Screenshots subfolder. However, if it doesn’t appear immediately, you may need to look under the Pictures section.
Windows 11’s upcoming update could change the way things work. Update KB5025310 makes your Windows 11 system work so you can use Snipping Tool to capture screenshots. It allows you to grab a snapshot of a free-form or rectangular area on the screen. You’ve had the option to change your Print Screen button to activate the Snipping Tool, but that was not an issue. You can easily get back to your old way of doing things if the Print Screen key is what you use to capture a full-screen screenshot.
Snipping Tools
Snipping Tool has existed since Windows Vista. Windows has said for the past couple of years that it will no longer be available, but Windows 11 is still using this tool. Snipping Tool was removed from the start menu list but is still available via the search field.
Start the process by clicking the New icon. If you want to take something other than the default rectangular screenshot, then choose free-form, window, and full-screen.
Snipping Tool will not automatically save any screenshots. Instead, you’ll need to manually store them before closing the tool.
Print Screen
The Print Screen key is sometimes referred to as PrtScn. This will only copy your screenshot onto the clipboard. It’s necessary to launch an image editing program (such as Microsoft Paint), copy the screenshot and save it.
If you want to set PrtScn as the shortcut for the Snip & Sketch, go to Settings > Accessibility > Keyboard. There, toggle on Print Screen Shortcut and use PrtScn.
Windows 11: screenshots using key combinations
During the early days, when computers first became popular, the [Print] button served one purpose: it printed the screen content displayed by operating systems such as MS-DOS onto paper. With each successive version, this function was changed. [Print] is now a multi-purpose hotkey to take screenshots with Windows.
Windows 11’s [Print] function allows users to save screenshots to a clipboard, or the temporary memory of the OS. You can combine [Print] with other keyboard keys to select only certain areas of the screen. Below are some of the most useful key combinations in Windows 11 for taking screenshots:
By pressing [Print] on your keyboard (often also called [Prnt] and [Prnt Scrn]), you can save everything that appears in the window to your clipboard. The screenshot can be pasted into Paint or Word (or any other application that displays images) using [Ctrl]+ [v].
Windows 11 only takes screenshots when [Alt] is combined with [Print]. You can do this by selecting the desired window using the mouse.
Windows 11 users can save a screenshot by using the combination [Windows]+[Print]. In this case, an image of the entire screen is stored in PNG format in the user-specific directory .\Images\Screenshots.
] + [s] It allows you to capture any portion of your screen as a snapshot and copy it into the clipboard. It is possible to screenshot and cut a window, as well as the whole screen.
Windows 11 screenshots of content on the web and with browser extensions
Windows 11 has a few options available for screenshots. You can choose to photograph a certain area or your entire screen. To capture web pages or entire websites, including dynamic content, special browser extensions are required.
FireShot or Awesome Screenshot is a good extension for popular browsers such as Google Chrome, Firefox, and Mozilla.
If you install the desired extension into your browser you can use the address-bar button to customize it and screenshot whole websites.
You can manually locate the shipping tool
You can also search for Snipping Tool by clicking on Windows on your taskbar. It will then open SnippingTool, where you can adjust your settings. If you are ready to create a screenshot click on “+New”, hold down your left mouse button while dragging the cursor around the area to be captured, and then release.
Clipboard Activated Window Captured by Alt + Print Screen
If you want to screen capture your desktop more often, it’s best not to do so. Instead, select only the application you are currently using. Windows 10/11 will copy the screenshot of only the currently active window to your clipboard if you press Alt + PrtScr.
If the app contains more than one screen, it is important to know that only the current window will be captured. It will not capture the parent window if the pop-up appears within a child.
The Snipping Tool Captures Windows Regions
It’s possible that you only want a snapshot of a tiny portion of Windows desktop. The screenshot could show a small portion of your web browser, or it can be multiple windows. Windows Key + Shift + S is the shortcut to launch the Windows Snipping application. This will immediately give you a rectangular area around which you can capture anything from Windows 10/Windows 11.
Microsoft has recommended the Snip & Sketch Tool for Windows 10. It is also available in Windows 11 as a “Snipping Tool”. Whatever you call it, the keyboard shortcut brings up the right tool.
In addition to capturing a rectangular part of Windows, you can capture the whole screen or a window that is currently active. This will save your screenshot to the clipboard. But you’ll get a Windows notification showing you what you took. And if you select it, it’ll take you directly into the editor, where you can crop, highlight, and draw over top.
Take a screenshot with Windows 11 and the Xbox Game Bar
You can still use it to create screenshots even if the Xbox Game Bar doesn’t have any gaming-related features.
Step 1: Click the Windows key and G to open up the Xbox Game Bar.
Step 2 – Click on the “8Screenshot” (Camera icon)8 to the left of the Capture box. You can alternatively press Windows > Alt > Printer Screen.
Step 3 – You can find it in the This PC menu under Videos.
Windows 11 Tips: How to Take Screenshots
- After loading an image in Snipping Tool you can crop the image and further specify which portion of it to keep. No need to recreate the screenshot.
- The screenshot can sometimes show colors or shapes if the desktop wallpaper contains them. If you want to prevent this, set the wallpaper to all-white.
- You can add an outline to your Snipping-Tool screenshots by opening up the Snip Tool’s Settings and selecting Snip outline. The border can be any color.
- Sizer is a free utility that resizes windows to meet specific requirements for height and width before you take a snapshot.
- You could also try using screenshot apps. For increased functionality, you may want to consider a separate app. For example, a screenshot application allows you to capture an entire webpage, which is impossible with the previous steps.