Microsoft has a number of built-in tools to save your screen and whether you’re using a new Surface device or you’re still working with an older, trusted device, learning the basics like taking a screenshot on your computer is a must.
Probably the most versatile is Microsoft’s Snipping Tool, which lets you save your entire screen or a free-form screenshot. Here’s how to take a screenshot on a PC, including instructions for Windows 11 and older devices. Windows 7 too.
How to take a screenshot of the entire screen There are two different ways to take a screenshot on Windows
The first option is the Print Screen button: to capture the entire screen, press the Windows key and the PrtScn key at the same time. If your computer doesn’t have the PrtSc button, press Windows + Spacebar instead. To locate the image, open File Explorer, navigate to the Pictures folder and then the Screenshot subfolder.
For any device with the latest Windows 11, pressing the Print Screen key will open the Snipping Tool, which you can read more about below.
How to take a screenshot of an active window:
If you just want to save an image of the window you’re in right now, press the Alt and PrtScn keys together. This will place the image on your clipboard. While your computer saves screenshots to a specific folder, partial screenshots like this will go to your clipboard. You’ll need to move them from your clipboard into an image editor like Photoshop, the default Windows photo app or even a document editor like Microsoft Office to save them in the file format of your choice.
How to use the Snipping Tool You can use the Snipping Tool in Windows to further customize your screenshot. For any Windows 10 or 11 device, press Windows key + Shift + S together or the PrtScn key to open the Snipping Tool.
For those using Windows 8.1 or 7, you’ll need to find the app in the Start menu. Both options will give you a toolbar where you can customize your “snippet”.
You can take freeform or rectangular images of your screen, any screenshots captured by the Snipping Tool will be sent to your clipboard. from the clipboard, so you can save the image to the Screenshots folder, also rename the file and change the file format, you can also annotate your screenshots with the pen or highlighter icons
There are several keyboard shortcuts for the snipping tool that will help you customize your screenshot experience:
• Ctrl and +: Save the clip
• Ctrl + C: Copy the clip
• Alt + M: Select the crop mode
• Alt + D: Set a timer for the screenshot from 1-5 seconds
• Alt + M: Create another clip but with the same position. For example, if you take a rectangular snip, you can quickly make another snip using this method.
• Shift + Arrows: Move between different clip types
Bonus for Microsoft Surface users
If you have a Microsoft Surface device in tablet mode, press the power button and the volume up button at the same time to take a screenshot. If you have a keyboard attached, you can also follow the above steps, similar to the desktop, the screenshot can be found by going to the Pictures folder and then Screenshots.
