Microsoft Windows operating system has evolved a lot in the past few years with a lot of intuitive features to take screenshots and capture desired screens. We come across a lot of websites and screens that we wish to preserve for further usage. Most of the users are aware of the Print Screen (Prt Sc) button on the top of the keyboard however if you wish to crop your screen captures, you may need to edit them using a picture editor.
Here in this article, you will explore different ways on how to take a screenshot on Windows and ways to take screenshots of the desired window, snippet, or selected portion of the screen. You will also explore methods to take Windows screenshots of scrolling screens. If you wish to record a video of your screen, this article will help you take a screenshot on a PC or record a video of the screen.
1. Print Screen (The Traditional Way)
Print Screen (Prt Sc) is the traditional way to take a screenshot on a PC. Print Screen method is used while using apps that change the layout if you try to hit a particular key combination. This option takes a complete screenshot of the screen to the clipboard and allows you to paste it into an image editor like MS Paint, Paint 3D, or other apps.
Print Screen option requires additional steps to edit or save the image on your computer. The process is a bit easy, simply hit the (Prt Sc) key when you wish to capture a screen and press (Ctrl + V) to paste the screenshot from the clipboard.
2. Alt + Print Screen
If you wish to capture the active window and not the entire screen, you can use the (Alt + Prt Sc) key combination. This enables you to capture just the active window on the clipboard and paste it into the picture editor. This method to take Windows screenshots eliminates the editing work to crop and save just the desired window.
3. Print Screen with OneDrive
If you have configured Microsoft OneDrive on your PC and it’s properly in sync with the cloud account, you can configure it to save a copy of your screenshot directly on the OneDrive folder. You can use regular (Print Screen) or (Alt + Print screen) to directly save the screenshot on your OneDrive folder.
Open Windows Explorer, Right-click on Microsoft OneDrive in the left-hand side panel and select the Settings option. Microsoft OneDrive Settings window will open. Go to the Backup tab on the top and put a check on the ‘Automatically save screenshots I capture on OneDrive’ option. Now whenever you capture a screenshot, it will automatically save a copy of the screenshot on the One Drive without opening a screenshot editor.
“Please Note: You only get 5 GB of storage with the free account. If you wish to get more space, you can upgrade the account for $6.99 per month.”
4. Snip & Sketch Editor
Windows operating system comes with an inbuilt tool Snip & Sketch to take Windows screenshots. The snipping tool for windows is evolved with added features to highlight, mark, edit, share or save the copy.
Press (Win + Shift + S) key combination and it will enable a screen to capture the screenshot. Your mouse pointer will turn into a plus sign. Press and hold the click button and drag it on the area that you wish to capture. A snippet will be captured and you will get a notification in the notification centre. Click on it and it will open in the Snip & Sketch editor. You can make the desired changes and save them to the preferred location.
5. Windows + Print Screen Key
If you just want to save the screenshot of the entire screen without editing or opening an editor to paste the screenshot, you can try this method on how to take a screenshot on a laptop and save it in a folder. This method will directly save the image in your Pictures folder.
Press the (Win + Prt Sc) key combination and the screen will darken for a moment. It will not give you any notification and directly save a copy of the screenshot in the Screenshots folder under the Pictures folder. If you wish to make changes, you can simply open MS Paint, Paint 3D or Photoshop and press Ctrl + V to use the screenshot for editing purposes.
“Please Note: (Alt + Win + Print Screen) key combination will save the copy of active window in the screenshots folder.”
6. Windows Game Bar
This is one of the best ways to take screenshots or capture videos during your gameplay. Windows operating system offers an intuitive option to take screenshots, capture video, record the last 30 seconds, turn Mic ON or OFF, record gameplay, or the entire screen. Check out the capture section on the top left.
7. Use TweakShot
Platform: Microsoft Windows
Processor: Intel Core i3 or higher
Memory: 4GB RAM or more
Operating System: Windows 10 and earlier
Hard Disk Space: Min 2GB free space, SSD for best performance
Display: 1280×768 size or better
If just taking screenshots doesn’t suffice your purpose, you may need an additional screen capturing and recording tool.
TweakShot is one of the best screen capturing tools for Windows in 2021. You can take screenshots, select a rectangular area, capture the scrolling screen, pick the screen colour, capture the active window, capture the video, image editor, and full-screen recording. This is the best way to take a Windows screenshot.
Summing Up
If you rarely take screenshots then you can try any of the above methods however if you are a frequent user and capture a lot of screens, TweakShot is the best tool that you can use. This is the best tool for students and working professionals to capture, edit, and save screenshots. For those who are unaware of how to take a screenshot on Windows, this article has a complete solution. Capture memories!