Just like we frequently take screenshots on our smartphones, we also like to do the same on our laptops or PC. There are multiple ways to take a screenshot on a Windows laptop or PC, such as keyboard shortcuts, the snipping tool, and third-party free tools. You should be aware of all these approaches to use the right method at the right time. So, let's explore these approaches one by one in this blog.
Screenshot with Keyboard Shortcuts
Almost all keywords come with a dedicated "PRT SCN" or "PrtScn" button that is located close to the F12 button. When you press the "PrtScn" button, it takes the screenshot of the entire window screen and saves it in the clipboard. Afterward, you can paste the screenshot in Word, PowerPoint, Paint, or any other app by pressing "Ctrl + V" and then save the file. In the case of laptops, you might have to press the "Fn" button and "PrtSc" buttons to use this functionality.
The "PrtScn" button is handy when you want to take a screenshot of the entire screen. However, if you want to take a screenshot of one window (program), press "Alt + PrtScn". It will capture the screenshot of the currently active window, which you can now paste on any other app.
By default, your clipboard only stores the recent screenshot you have taken. So, if you have taken 2 screenshots of two different windows, you will only be able to paste the recent most. But you can elevate this process by enabling the "clipboard history" feature. Press "Windows logo key" + "V" and then click "Turn on" to enable clipboard history. Once done, take multiple screenshots using the "PrtScn" button, then press "Windows logo key + V", and paste them one by one.
The "PrtScn" saves the screenshot on the clipboard, but what if you want to save the screenshot directly to your laptop or PC as an image file. You can do it by pressing "PrtScn + Windows logo key" or "Alt + PrtScn + Windows logo key". Doing so will save the screenshot in the Pictures > Screenshots folder or OneDrive - Personal > Captures folder respectively.
Screenshot with Snipping Tool
The keyboard shortcuts for taking screenshot works best if you want to take a picture of the whole screen or window. However, if you want to take a screenshot of some portion of the screen, then you have to use the built-in "Snipping Tool" available in Windows.
Press "Windows logo key + Shift + S" to launch the snipping tool. Once the tool is launched, it gives you multiple screenshot options, such as rectangular snip, freeform snip, Window snip, or fullscreen snip.
Let's assume you want to take a rectangular snip. To do that, select rectangular snip, press the left mouse key and drag the mouse to the end of the area that you want to screenshot. This way, the selected area will be added to your clipboard and also shows you a notification at the bottom right corner about the screenshot. You can click that notification to do some basic editing to the picture, such as adding highlights, cropping, marking, etc. Once done, you can press the "Save" button to save that picture on your PC.
You can also launch the snipping tool by searching "snipping tool" from the Windows search bar. Alternatively, you can also set the "PrtScn" button to launch the snipping tool. To do that, click the ellipses from the top right corner and then click "Settings". Afterward, click "Change in settings" under "Print Screen shortcut". Lastly, turn ON the button located next to "Use the Print screen button to open screen snipping". This way, whenever you now press "PrtScn", it will launch the snipping tool.
Scrolling Screenshots in Edge Browser
Edge browser offers built-in support for taking scrolling screenshots. For example, open any webpage on the Edge browser. Right-click the mouse, click "Web capture", and then click "Capture area". Drag the mouse downward and you will see that it captures all the areas while scrolling the webpage. Once you release the mouse, you get two options, i.e., either you can copy the picture to the clipboard or use "markup capture" to do basic editing before saving the picture.
You can also screenshot the whole webpage through the Edge browser. To do that, right-click the mouse, click "Web capture", and then click "Capture full page". This will take a screenshot of the whole webpage.
Screenshots within Office Apps
Office apps also offer screenshot support for instant capturing and pasting pictures. For example, open a new project in PowerPoint, go to the "Insert" tab, click "Screenshot, and then pick the screenshot of the currently open windows or press "Screen Clipping" for a customized screenshot. Once the screenshot is taken and added to the slide, you also get to do more advanced editing, like adding shapes, texts, etc.
Other than PowerPoint, all other major apps of Office such as Word, Outlook, OneNote, and similar others support this screenshot feature.
ShareX Screenshot Tool
ShareX is a free ultimate screenshot tool that offers rich features to take advanced screenshots. With ShareX, you can not just take screenshots, but can also record screens. Visit the ShareX webpage and simply download and install the tool. Once the tool is installed, it shows the main shortcut keys that you use to initiate the basic functionalities of the tool.
To access multiple screenshots and recording options in ShareX, click "Capture" from the left menu bar. This gives you access to screenshot options like fullscreen, window, monitor, region, screen recording, etc. It also offers many unique features that you won't find with Windows built-in screenshot option. For example, click "Capture" and then click "Text capture". Now highlight the area of a picture that contains the text. Once you release the mouse, the tool will smartly extract all the text from the picture and present it to you in the text form.
Once you have captured the screenshot, ShareX offers a lot of editing options. For example, you can add text, emojis, shapes, borders, blur areas, add highlights, and do plenty of other functionalities. Moreover, you can also add image effects, such as filters, borders, images, text watermarks, etc.
Once you are done with editing, you can save the file to your computer, clipboard, etc. You can even upload the file to your image host, such as Google Photos, Twitter, Flickr, etc.
Wrapping Up
Windows users somehow need to take screenshots of the whole desktop screen or the currently opened programs occasionally or regularly. Windows make it easy for us to take screenshots instantly using the keyboard shortcuts or snipping tool. However, if you want to get a feature-rich experience of taking screenshots, then you can try out ShareX right away.
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