How To Take A Screenshot On A Windows Computer: 4 Ways + Best Programs To Take Screenshots

2023 Author: Gordon Kinson | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-11-26 08:36

Windows users are well aware that there is a Print Screen button on the keyboard to take screenshots. But what if this key is not physically present, or is it labeled in an incomprehensible way? Then you need an alternative way to take screenshots in Windows. Moreover, as practice shows, the classical method using the Print Screen key and then inserting an image into Paint is rather slow.

And this is just one of the reasons why the user can refuse to use the Print Screen key. Let's try to learn how to take screenshots in Windows without resorting to the well-known and classic solution using the helper button.

How to take a screenshot of the screen on a Windows computer using the PrtScr key (Print Screen)

To take a screenshot on a Windows computer in the classic way, press the PrtScr button on the keyboard. Pressing the Print Screen key will save the capture object (screenshot) - the entire screen, including the taskbar.

Then open a graphics editor, for example, the standard Paint application. Create a new document and click the Paste button, after which the screenshot will be pasted from the clipboard.

Notes:

In newer Windows versions, the PrtScr button may be disabled by default. To enable it, open Windows Settings, go to Accessibility → Keyboard and set the Print Screen switch to On.

In addition, in some Windows versions, pressing the PrtScr button launches a special utility for creating screenshots (more details below).

How to take a screenshot of the screen in Windows using the Snip & Sketch utility or the Scissors utility

Any modern version of Windows already has a built-in utility designed just for creating screenshots. It is called simply - "Scissors". With its help, users can quickly take screenshots of the entire screen, and of its individual parts: windows, rectangular fragments, arbitrary selections.

Scissors

Just open the Start menu and select Scissors from the Windows Standard Programs. Launch the program and you can already use this simple and effective tool.

"Scissors" allows you to take a screenshot of the entire screen, its selected part or a selective window of the active application. The settings for these parameters are located in the Mode tab.

Working with "Scissors" will turn out much faster than pasting a picture into Paint and then cutting out a fragment of it there. It is no coincidence that many users have "Scissors" pinned to the taskbar for quick access.

Fragment and sketch

And if you are working in Windows 10, you can use the new system utility - "Snippet and Sketch", which is launched by pressing the Print Screen button on the keyboard or by using the Win + Shift + S key combination.

You can launch the screenshot utility directly from any Windows application.

Where are screenshots stored in Windows when using PrtScr and the Slice & Sketch and Scissors utilities?

Screenshots created by standard tools are not saved to the computer, but copied to the clipboard. In order to see the screenshot taken, launch a graphics editor, for example, Paint and click Paste or use the Ctrl + V key combination.

After that, the image will appear in the editor, where it can be edited or saved in the required format.

The best third-party apps to take screenshots on Windows

And while Windows offers several built-in solutions for taking screenshots, sometimes it makes sense to turn to third-party programs. Yet they offer more control and customization options. Choose the best screenshot tool (links below) and customize your keyboard shortcut.

As a rule, after installing a program, its icon appears in the tray.

In addition, third-party applications allow you to define different keyboard shortcuts for different types of screenshots. For example, you might have Ctrl + Shift + 3 for a full screen screenshot and Ctrl + Shift + 4 for a screenshot of the current window.

And after taking a screenshot in most of these applications, you can also launch the editor of the resulting picture, in which you can apply arrows, footnotes and many other objects that will help explain and describe the picture and even hide the necessary details.

Moreover, almost every third-party screenshot software has the ability to upload the resulting screenshots to the Internet for free and share with users using a link.

With these capabilities, primitive editing in Paint simply becomes pointless.

The best free screenshot software for Windows

• LightShot (download)
• Screenshot (download)
• Screen Capture (download)
• Joxi (download)
• Monosnap (download)

Reassigning a different key instead of Print Screen

If you do not have the Print Screen key, what prevents you from reassigning it? Moreover, there are special tools for remapping keys in Windows. One of them is the SharpKeys application.

With this program you can change the assignment of any unused key. It can be Power or Media Play. They can be temporarily assigned the functionality of the Print Screen key.

This method can be quite useful if you really need a dedicated key to capture screenshots.

To change the functionality of the key, install, launch the SharpKeys program, and then click on the Add button.

In the left column, select the key whose functionality you want to reassign, and in the right column, select the key to which you want to reassign. In our case, we changed the functionality of the "Right Alt" key to PrtSc. Click OK.

Press the Write to Registry key to write the changes to the Windows registry.

To apply the changes, restart your computer.

Attention. Before you start working with SharpKeys, make sure that the remapped key will not be used for its original functionality.

In any case, in the program itself, it will be possible to delete all created changes (the Delete key followed by a computer restart).

How to take a screenshot in Windows using the on-screen keyboard

One of the accessibility tools available with Windows is the onscreen keyboard. It will be useful for people who have problems using the physical keyboard or when you need to enter text, but your keyboard does not work for some reason. However, you can also use this solution to access the Print Screen key. Open the on-screen keyboard by typing keyboard next to the Start button in the search box.

After launching the utility, a regular Windows application window will appear, inside which there will be an image of the keyboard. Press the PrtScn key on the right side of it and your system will respond exactly as if you had pressed the Print Screen button on a real keyboard.

But this solution has a drawback - the screenshot will be taken instead of with the virtual keyboard window open.

♥ BY THEME: How to make Windows 10 look like Windows 7.

How to enable screenshots in games in Windows 10

With Game Mode enabled in Windows, you can easily take screenshots while playing the game. To activate the option, open Windows Settings and go to the Games section.

Select Game Menu and set the corresponding radio button to On.

To create screenshots in games, use the suggested combinations or specify your own.

Conclusion

With the methods described above, you can completely forget about using the Print Screen key to take screenshots in Windows. Moreover, the alternative methods are faster and more flexible than pasting into Paint. Try one of the suggested options and improve your workflow.

See also:

• 32- or 64-bit Windows: What's the Difference and Which System Should I Install?
• How to speed up Windows 10, 8 or 7 by disabling unnecessary operating system services.
• How to automatically switch the language (layout) on the keyboard in macOS or Windows.