How to Take a Screenshot on Windows Desktop

Screenshot on Windows Desktop

It’s not unusual to want to take screenshots on Windows, whether for future reference or to share your screen with someone else. Fortunately, you can capture anything on your Windows PC screen and save it as an image file.

In addition, Windows OS allows you to capture a portion of your screen or the entire screen, depending on your needs. This means you only capture and save what you want to. 

However, screenshotting on a Windows device mainly depends on the operating system the device is running, albeit most people nowadays use Windows 10 or 11.

For that reason, this review will discuss how to screenshot on Windows running Windows 10 or 11. We’ll cover how to screenshot the entire screen and parts of it. Let’s go!

Print Screen (PrtScn) Key Method

Perhaps the simplest way to screenshot on Windows 10 and 11 is the Print Screen (PrtScn) method. To screenshot the entire screen, simply click the Print Screen (PrtScn) key on the top-right corner of your keyboard. 

If your PC runs Windows 10, the screenshot will be copied to the clipboard. To save your screenshot, open any app that allows you to insert images, like Ms. Word, and paste it. 

If your PC is running Windows 11, pressing the Print Screen (PrtScn) key on your keyboard will save your file in the ‘Screenshots’ folder under ‘Pictures.’ If you have set up OneDrive on your Windows 11 device, the screenshot will also be saved there. 

Snipping Tool Method

This is one of the best in-built tools for screenshotting. Why? Because with this tool, you can capture the entire screen, a rectangular portion of the screen, or a free-form. 

To take a screenshot with the snipping tool:

1. Open the snipping tool application. To do this, enter ‘Snipping Tool‘ on the search bar and click on the app to open it. You should see a snipping tool pop up on your screen. 

2. Once you see the snipping tool pop-up on your screen, pick the ‘Mode‘ of the screenshot, you’d like to take. Basically, there are four options; rectangular mode, window mode, full-screen mode, and free-form mode. Most people use rectangular mode because it’s the default.

3. This tool also gives you the ability to set a delay for screenshotting your screen, which is handy when you want to screenshot pop-up menus. You have four options with regard to delays; no delay, snip in 3 seconds, snip in 5 seconds and snip in 10 seconds.

4. Once you’ve chosen your preferred mode and whether you want or don’t want a delay, click on the first button labeled ‘New.’ If you selected a delay, your screen will fade after the chosen time; otherwise, it should fade immediately. 

5. Now that you’ve screenshotted, you have several options; you can save the screenshot as an image by clicking on the icon that looks like a floppy diskette and choosing the folder you want to save it to. In addition, you can copy the screenshot by right-clicking on it and clicking ‘Copy‘ or clicking Edit by clicking on the pen icon.   

Snip & Sketch Method

The other handy in-built tool for screenshotting on Windows is Snip & Sketch. The process of screenshotting using this tool is as follows:

1. Start by launching the snip & sketch application. To do this, enter ‘Snip & Sketch‘ on the Windows search bar and click on the app to open it. You can also open it using your keyboard by pressing ‘Windows Key + Shift + S.’ 

2. Now, you should notice your screen dim, and a small pop-up menu appears at the top. 

3. After the pop-up menu appears on your screen, you can choose the ‘Mode‘ of your screenshot. There are four options; rectangular snip, window snip, full-screen snip, and free-form snip. Most people use rectangular snip because it’s the default.

4. Next, capture your screenshot. Once you do this, you should see a large window open on your PC where you will see what you’ve captured. You can edit the screenshot in this window using the built-in highlighter, pen, or pencil. 

5. Once you’re done editing the image, you can copy (Ctrl + C), Print (Ctrl + P), or Save (Ctrl + P). You can also share the image by right-clicking on it and clicking ‘Share.’

In conclusion, that’s how to take a screenshot on Windows. If you want to capture the entire screen, you’re better off using the Print Screen (PrtScn) method. But if you want to capture a specific part of your screen and edit the screenshot, use the snipping tool or snip and sketch. 

See Also

How to Take a Screenshot on Windows Laptop?

How to Screenshot on HP Laptop?

How to Connect HP Printer to Wifi?

How to Take a Screenshot on a Dell Laptop?

How to Take Screenshot on iPad