How to Screenshot on Windows Laptop

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Windows gives you at least six different ways to take a screenshot, and the best method depends on what you’re trying to capture. A quick keyboard shortcut handles full-screen grabs in under a second. The Snipping Tool provides precise control over exactly what part of the screen to capture. Xbox Game Bar records screenshots and video from apps and games.

This guide covers every screenshot method available on Windows 10 and Windows 11 laptops from any manufacturer – Dell, HP, Lenovo, Asus, Acer, Microsoft Surface, and others. If your laptop runs Windows, these methods work on it.

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All Windows Screenshot Shortcuts at a Glance

Windows has seven keyboard shortcuts for taking screenshots. Some capture the full screen, some capture a single window, and one opens the Snipping Tool so you can select exactly what to grab. The table below shows what each shortcut does, where the screenshot ends up, and which versions of Windows support it.

Shortcut	What it captures	Where it saves	Windows 10	Windows 11
PrtSc	Full screen	Clipboard only	Yes	Yes
Windows + PrtSc	Full screen	Pictures > Screenshots (auto-save)	Yes	Yes
Alt + PrtSc	Active window only	Clipboard only	Yes	Yes
Windows + Shift + S	Custom selection via Snipping Tool	Clipboard + notification	Yes	Yes
Windows + Alt + PrtSc	Active window via Game Bar	Videos > Captures	Yes	Yes
Fn + PrtSc	Full screen (compact laptop keyboards)	Clipboard only	Yes	Yes
Windows + G, then camera icon	Active window via Game Bar overlay	Videos > Captures	Yes	Yes

PrtSc (Print Screen) captures your entire screen and copies it to the clipboard. Nothing visible happens – no flash, no confirmation, no sound. The screenshot sits on the clipboard until you paste it into Paint, Word, an email, or any app that accepts images. Press Ctrl + V to paste.

Windows + PrtSc captures the full screen and immediately saves it as a PNG file. Your screen dims briefly to confirm the capture worked. Files go to This PC > Pictures > Screenshots, named Screenshot (1).png, Screenshot (2).png, and so on. This is the fastest way to save a screenshot as a file without opening any app.

Alt + PrtSc captures only the window you’re actively using. If you have five windows open and only need one of them – a browser tab, an error dialog, a settings panel – this shortcut grabs just that window. The screenshot goes to the clipboard, so you’ll need to paste it somewhere to keep it.

Windows + Shift + S opens the Snipping Tool overlay at the top of your screen. You get four capture modes: rectangle, freeform, window, and full screen. After you make a selection, a notification appears in the bottom-right corner. Click it to open the screenshot in an editor where you can annotate and save it.

Fn + PrtSc works on laptops where the Print Screen key shares a key with another function. Many compact keyboards from Dell, Lenovo, Asus, and other brands require the Fn key to activate PrtSc. If pressing PrtSc alone doesn’t do anything, hold Fn and try again.

How to Use the Snipping Tool on Windows 11

In Windows 11, Microsoft merged the older Snip & Sketch app into the Snipping Tool. They are now one unified application. If you’ve seen guides online that treat Snip & Sketch and the Snipping Tool as two separate programs, that only applies to Windows 10. On Windows 11, there’s a single app called Snipping Tool that does everything.

You can open the Snipping Tool two ways. Press Windows + Shift + S for a quick capture overlay that appears at the top of your screen. Or search “Snipping Tool” in the Start menu to open the full app. The full app gives you access to features the quick overlay doesn’t – the delay timer and screen recording.

Snipping Tool Capture Modes

Rectangle mode is the default. Click and drag to draw a box around whatever you want to capture. This is what most people reach for when they need a specific portion of the screen – a paragraph, a chart, an error message, or a section of a webpage.

Freeform mode lets you draw any shape with your cursor. The screenshot follows your exact cursor path. Useful for capturing irregular areas, though the edges tend to look uneven.

Window mode captures a single application window. Click on the window you want and the tool grabs it cleanly with its borders. Same result as Alt + PrtSc but through the Snipping Tool interface, which means it opens directly in the editor.

Full-screen mode captures everything on your display. The advantage over pressing PrtSc alone is that the screenshot goes straight into the Snipping Tool editor instead of just sitting on the clipboard.

Delay Timer for Capturing Menus and Tooltips

The delay timer solves a specific problem: capturing dropdown menus, tooltips, right-click menus, and other interface elements that vanish the moment you click somewhere else. Open the full Snipping Tool app (not the quick overlay), click the clock icon, and choose a delay of 3, 5, or 10 seconds.

Click “New” to start the countdown, then quickly open the menu or tooltip you want to capture. When the timer runs out, the Snipping Tool freezes the screen and lets you select what to grab. Without the delay, there’s no way to capture these elements using the Snipping Tool because opening the tool closes the menu.

Screen Recording in the Snipping Tool

Starting with Windows 11 version 22H2, the Snipping Tool includes a built-in screen recorder. Open the full Snipping Tool app and click the video camera icon next to the camera icon. Select the area of the screen you want to record, click Start, and the tool records everything that happens in that area.

This is a straightforward screen recorder without audio narration or webcam overlay. It saves recordings as MP4 files. For basic screen recordings – showing someone how to change a setting or demonstrating a software feature – it works well enough that you don’t need third-party software.

Annotation Tools

After capturing a screenshot, the Snipping Tool opens it in a built-in editor. The toolbar offers a ballpoint pen, highlighter, ruler (for drawing straight lines), cropping tool, and text tool. You can undo and redo edits. When you’re done, save the file as PNG, JPG, or GIF, or copy it to the clipboard for pasting.

Remapping the Print Screen Key

Windows 11 added a setting that makes the PrtSc key open the Snipping Tool overlay instead of copying the full screen to the clipboard. On newer Windows 11 installations, this setting is enabled by default. If pressing PrtSc opens the Snipping Tool, that’s why.

You can toggle this setting at Settings > Accessibility > Keyboard > “Use the Print screen key to open Snipping Tool.” Turning it on is recommended – the Snipping Tool overlay gives you four capture modes from a single key press instead of just a full-screen clipboard copy.

How to Take a Screenshot on Windows 10

Windows 10 handles screenshots differently from Windows 11 in one significant way: both the old Snipping Tool and the newer Snip & Sketch exist as separate applications. Microsoft built Snip & Sketch as the replacement for the Snipping Tool, but never removed the original. Both apps are installed and functional on Windows 10.

Snip & Sketch is the recommended tool on Windows 10. It has a cleaner interface, integrates with the Windows + Shift + S shortcut, and includes annotation tools that the old Snipping Tool lacks. The old Snipping Tool still works but displays a deprecation notice directing you to Snip & Sketch each time you open it.

All keyboard shortcuts work identically on Windows 10 and Windows 11. PrtSc copies the full screen to the clipboard. Windows + PrtSc saves a full-screen screenshot as a PNG. Alt + PrtSc copies the active window. Windows + Shift + S opens the Snip & Sketch overlay (on Windows 10) or the Snipping Tool overlay (on Windows 11).

The one feature Windows 10 lacks is built-in screen recording in the Snipping Tool. On Windows 10, your options for screen recording are Xbox Game Bar (built-in) or third-party software like OBS Studio. The Snipping Tool’s screen recording feature is exclusive to Windows 11 version 22H2 and later.

How to Screenshot with Xbox Game Bar on Windows

Xbox Game Bar is built into both Windows 10 and Windows 11. Despite the name, it’s not limited to gaming. It works with most applications and provides a quick way to capture screenshots and record video without installing anything extra.

Press Windows + G to open the Game Bar overlay. The Capture widget shows a camera icon – click it to take a screenshot of the active window. For a faster workflow, press Windows + Alt + PrtSc to capture the active window without opening the full overlay. Both methods save the screenshot as a PNG file to This PC > Videos > Captures.

Game Bar captures only the active application window. It does not capture the full screen, the Windows desktop, the taskbar, or multiple monitors at once. This is by design – Microsoft built it to capture what’s happening inside an app.

Game Bar also records video. Press Windows + Alt + R to start and stop a screen recording. Recordings save as MP4 files to the same Videos > Captures folder. This makes Game Bar useful for recording gameplay, software tutorials, or bug reproductions.

There are important limitations. Game Bar does not work on the Windows desktop, in File Explorer, or in the Settings app. If you try to capture a screenshot while one of those is the active window, nothing happens. It also won’t capture content in some system-level windows. For those situations, use PrtSc or the Snipping Tool instead.

If Game Bar isn’t responding at all, make sure it’s enabled. Go to Settings > Gaming > Xbox Game Bar and toggle it on. Some work and school laptops have Game Bar disabled by IT policy – if the toggle is grayed out, that’s likely the reason.

How to Take a Screenshot on a Surface Pro or Surface Laptop

Microsoft Surface devices run Windows and support all the standard screenshot shortcuts described above. But Surface devices also have hardware-specific methods that other Windows laptops don’t offer.

Surface without a keyboard (tablet mode): press the Power button and the Volume Up button at the same time. The screen flashes and the screenshot saves automatically to Pictures > Screenshots. This is similar to how screenshots work on phones and tablets. It works on Surface Pro, Surface Go, and any Surface device in tablet mode.

Surface with Type Cover attached: every standard Windows keyboard shortcut works – PrtSc, Windows + PrtSc, Alt + PrtSc, and Windows + Shift + S. The Type Cover has a standard key layout, so there are no special quirks.

Surface Pen: double-click the top button on the Surface Pen to capture the screen. By default, this opens the Snipping Tool overlay. You can customize what the top button does in Settings > Bluetooth & devices > Pen & Windows Ink. Options include opening the Snipping Tool, launching a specific app, or taking a full-screen screenshot.

Surface devices with the Surface Slim Pen 2 work the same way. The pen’s top button behavior is configurable through the same settings path. If you use a Surface Pen regularly, setting the double-click action to screenshot makes it the fastest capture method available on any Windows device.

How to Take a Scrolling Screenshot on a Windows Laptop

Windows has no built-in scrolling screenshot feature. Every method described above captures only what’s currently visible on the screen. If you need to capture an entire webpage, a long email, a spreadsheet that extends beyond the viewport, or any content that requires scrolling, you’ll need a browser feature or a third-party tool.

Microsoft Edge includes a web capture tool that handles scrolling screenshots for web pages. Press Ctrl + Shift + S in Edge (this is a different shortcut from the Windows Snipping Tool shortcut, even though the key combination looks similar). Select “Capture full page” to grab the entire scrollable webpage as one tall image. This only works inside Edge and only on web content – not other applications.

Google Chrome has no built-in scrolling capture. The GoFullPage extension fills this gap. Install it from the Chrome Web Store, click its icon when viewing any page, and it automatically scrolls and stitches the entire page into a single image. It exports as PNG or PDF.

ShareX is a free, open-source Windows application that captures scrolling content in any app, not just browsers. It can grab long documents, chat histories, code editors, and anything else that scrolls. ShareX also includes annotation tools, screen recording, and dozens of other capture options. Download it from getsharex.com.

Snagit from TechSmith is a paid tool ($63 one-time purchase) built for professionals who take screenshots constantly. It handles scrolling capture, video recording, GIF creation, panoramic capture, and includes a full annotation editor. It’s the industry standard for documentation, training materials, and technical writing.

Tool	Type	Price	Scrolling capture	Works in all apps
Microsoft Edge	Built-in browser feature	Free	Yes (web pages only)	No – Edge only
GoFullPage (Chrome)	Browser extension	Free	Yes (web pages only)	No – Chrome only
ShareX	Desktop application	Free	Yes	Yes
Snagit	Desktop application	$63	Yes	Yes

Where Do Screenshots Go on a Windows Laptop

The save location depends entirely on which method you used to capture the screenshot. This is the most common source of confusion – people take a screenshot and then can’t find the file. Here’s where each method puts your screenshots.

PrtSc and Alt + PrtSc copy to the clipboard only. No file gets saved anywhere. The screenshot exists only in memory until you paste it (Ctrl + V) into an app like Paint, Word, or an email. If you copy something else to the clipboard before pasting, the screenshot is gone.

Windows + PrtSc saves a PNG file automatically to This PC > Pictures > Screenshots. Files are numbered sequentially – Screenshot (1).png, Screenshot (2).png, Screenshot (3).png. The numbering continues from where it left off, even if you delete old screenshots.

Snipping Tool and Snip & Sketch copy the screenshot to the clipboard and show a notification. Click the notification to open the editor, where you choose where to save the file. If you don’t click the notification, the screenshot stays on the clipboard only.

Xbox Game Bar saves screenshots as PNG files to This PC > Videos > Captures. Game Bar recordings (MP4 video) go to the same folder.

OneDrive can intercept your screenshots. If you have OneDrive installed, it can automatically save every screenshot you take to OneDrive > Pictures > Screenshots and sync them to the cloud. Check OneDrive > Settings > Backup > Screenshots to see if this is enabled. If your screenshots are appearing somewhere unexpected, this is often the cause.

If you’ve lost a screenshot and can’t remember where it went, open File Explorer and type “*.png” in the search bar. Sort the results by Date Modified (newest first) and you’ll find the most recent screenshots regardless of which folder they’re in. This is the fastest way to track down a missing capture.

Windows Screenshot FAQs

Why is my Print Screen key not working?

Several things can prevent PrtSc from working. On many laptop keyboards, PrtSc shares a key with another function and requires pressing Fn + PrtSc instead. On Windows 11, the PrtSc key may be remapped to open the Snipping Tool overlay instead of copying the full screen – check Settings > Accessibility > Keyboard. OneDrive or Dropbox might be intercepting the screenshot and saving it to their own folder instead of the clipboard. If none of these apply, try restarting the laptop. As a reliable alternative, Windows + Shift + S works on every Windows laptop regardless of keyboard layout.

How do I take a screenshot of just one window?

Press Alt + PrtSc to capture only the active window. The screenshot copies to the clipboard, so paste it (Ctrl + V) into Paint or another app to save it. Alternatively, press Windows + Shift + S and choose “Window Snip” from the toolbar at the top of the screen, then click the window you want. The Snipping Tool method is more flexible because you can pick any visible window, not just the one in focus.

Can I change where Windows saves screenshots?

Yes. Open File Explorer, go to This PC > Pictures, right-click the Screenshots folder, select Properties, click the Location tab, and choose a new folder. All future Windows + PrtSc screenshots will save to the new location. For Game Bar screenshots, open Settings > Gaming > Captures and change the save folder there. Snipping Tool screenshots always let you choose the save location manually when you press Ctrl + S.

How do I take a screenshot without the Print Screen key?

Press Windows + Shift + S to open the Snipping Tool. This shortcut works on every Windows laptop whether or not it has a PrtSc key. You can also open the Snipping Tool from the Start menu, or use Game Bar with Windows + Alt + PrtSc. On Surface tablets without a keyboard, press Power + Volume Up. The On-Screen Keyboard in Windows also has a PrtSc button – open it from Settings > Accessibility > Keyboard.

What is the difference between Snip & Sketch and Snipping Tool?

On Windows 11, there is no difference – Microsoft merged Snip & Sketch into the Snipping Tool. They are the same app. On Windows 10, they are two separate applications. Snip & Sketch is the newer one with a modern interface and the Windows + Shift + S shortcut. The old Snipping Tool still works on Windows 10 but shows a deprecation notice. If you’re on Windows 10, use Snip & Sketch. If you’re on Windows 11, just search for “Snipping Tool.”

How do I record my screen on a Windows laptop?

Three built-in options exist. On Windows 11 (version 22H2 or later), the Snipping Tool includes a screen recorder – open the full app and click the video camera icon. On both Windows 10 and 11, Xbox Game Bar records app windows – press Windows + Alt + R to start and stop recording. Recordings save as MP4 to Videos > Captures. Game Bar doesn’t record the desktop or File Explorer, only applications. For more advanced recording with audio, webcam, and scene switching, OBS Studio is free and professional-grade.

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