How To Take a Screenshot on Windows?

Modern life demands far more than just sitting on the couch and letting the voice commands do everything for us. Screenshots have become an integral part of our technology-driven lives. Someone might want to capture a worth-recalling conversation, while somebody else might want to save some critical stuff such as contact information. Many of us take a screenshot rather than jotting something down. Furthermore, students also find ways to take screenshots of their online lectures or notes. Be it a phone or laptop; every device must have a feature to capture the screen immediately.

But as it seems, this wee procedure can sometimes be bothersome too. Different devices have different keys that let you do the job. For phones, it can vary even among other models of the same company, and the same goes for a PC or laptop. Even a single device can have several ways of offering that service. That can be another dividing line between the Mac devices and Windows ones. However, this article mainly discusses taking a screenshot on Windows. So anyone who is now confused should go through these ideas and make things handier. Let’s get started with the topic now!

Ways To Take a Screenshot

The Print Screen Key:

The print screen button (shown as PrtScn) present at the top right corner of the keyboard is dedicated to this function. On some devices, you can change the settings for this key to be pressed alone, and the screenshot is right there. If that doesn’t work for you, the following are a few more ways:

• Windows key + PrtScn is a combination that saves the screenshots directly to the device without operating with Paint or any other application. This combination saves your time and captures the whole screen right away! It works for most devices unless yours is a little too specialized in functions.

• Alt + PrtScn is the next one here. It helps you capture the active Window if you are multitasking at that time and are too busy to deal with the mess of selecting what to charge. However, that varies in some aspects, as Windows 11 gets saved at once. But in Windows 10, the picture is merely copied, and you need to paste it somewhere else and then save it.

The Snipping Tool:

It is an old tool, yet it is pretty advanced to help you out, even in these modern times. You can use it to capture the entire screen or specific parts of the screen. In easier words, the snipping tool is more or less just like a pair of scissors. You can use this tool to capture:

• A rectangular shape that includes your desired area.

• A free form lets you cut the edges and curves just as you want. It is pretty much like a free-hand drawing.

• A certain Window.

• A full screen.

For this tool, too, there are several options. A few are:

• Pressing Windows Key + Shift + S will let you see a menu where you get to decide the type of capture you need at that moment.

• Fn key + PrtScn does the same as we have described earlier, and you can also change it in the settings.

The Volume buttons:

On some older devices like a Microsoft Surface device, you can screenshot the Window by pressing the power button and the volume up. However, the volume down button and the power key may do the task for some.

The Game Bar:

Here comes the most exciting part of taking screenshots on a Windows device; the game bar! You might or might not be aware of this fantastic combination. You can use the game bar for more features than you already have. To start using this feature, you need to press the Windows Key + G. However, if the game bar does not pop up even after you press the key combination, you must ensure you have enabled the game bar. You will find an option to “Record game clips, screenshots, and broadcast using Game Bar,” so click it, and there you go!

Now that the icons can be seen up on the top of your screen, you need to click the camera icon for an uninterrupted capture of your whole screen. You can also conquer the screen recording area with the game bar option. You have to use the record button and include the audio if you wish; the microphone icon is there to contain or exclude the audio. You can find the saved captures later in “all captures” within the game bar overlay or in “C:\Users\Username\Videos\Captures”.

The Run Program:

It is a little more complicated way of screenshotting your Windows, but you must understand it first. This option can help you when you want to screenshot all the windows simultaneously. This diverse option allows you to capture all you want up to 100 screens simultaneously. Furthermore, it’ll all be saved at the same spot. Firstly you need to open the first page of the sequence and then click the Windows logo to search. Type “run” to open the run program and then type “psr.exe” in the program. Here’s the command that you’ll be running.

A rectangular toolbar will pop up after you select “ok”. Start recording using the options present and keep opening the windows or screen you need to capture. Then stop the procedure using the “stop record” button and review the images before you save them. After making sure you did it correctly, save the whole thing. The computer will save it in an HTML file or ZIP folder. It’s a little demanding but lets you do something that might have taken a lot more time if done any other way, so it is worth giving a shot.

Third-Party Apps:

This one is a shortcut or an easier way, but it will demand a bit of interference. You can use an app to screenshot on your Windows device. We will now mention a few apps that you can give a try.

• Apowersoft Screen Capture Pro
• Snagit
• ShareX
• Droplr
• PicPick
• ScreenPresso
• CloudApp
• Screencast-O-Matic

Or else, you can use any of the following extensions that work on Windows and other devices as well:

• Page Screenshot
• FireShot
• Nimbus Screen Screenshot
• Lightshot
• Awesome Screenshot

Some are free, and others are paid programs but work seamlessly regardless.

How to Save a Screenshot?

We have mentioned earlier that in some cases, the screenshot is not saved immediately, and you have to do it on your own. First, you need to paste the copied screenshot somewhere, so you don’t lose it when you take another snap. You can paste it into the default Paint application present on the device. That way, you would not have to install another app.

For that purpose, you can use other built-in apps like Word or Photoshop, but in most peoples' opinion, Paint is the most effortless option to edit and save pictures. So you can further edit the image here in Paint to your liking and then save them by pressing Ctrl + S simultaneously. You can also choose the size and quality, i.e., JPG and PNG.