Copy screen tool

Resolved my issue. Clear instructions. Easy to follow. No jargon. Pictures helped. Didn't match my screen. Incorrect instructions. Too technical. Not enough information. Not enough pictures. By submitting your email, you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. You can use built-in screenshot features or third-party tools. Here are several different ways to do it. In Windows 11, as in previous versions of Windows, you can copy an image of your entire screen into the clipboard a temporary storage area for copying and pasting by pressing the Print Screen PrtScn key.

With a screenshot in your clipboard, you can paste the screenshot into any application that can receive pasted images. Once in the clipboard, you can paste the screenshot into any app that will receive images, like Microsoft Paint, Adobe Photoshop, or a free image editing app like Paint. To capture a rectangular selection of the screen, for example, click the leftmost icon on the toolbar, which looks like a rectangle with a plus in the corner.

When you release your mouse button, the area you selected will be copied to the clipboard. If you click it, the screenshot you just took will open in the Snipping Tool app where you can annotate, crop, or save it as necessary see the section below.

However, you can also paste the image directly into other applications, such as email clients and messaging apps. After that, close settings. Any time you want to open the screen snipping tool to quickly copy screenshots to the clipboard, just press Print Screen on your keyboard. Alternately, if you have a tablet or other device with a Windows logo button, you can press the Windows button and the Volume Down button at the same time to capture the entire screen.

Instead, you can save them to a file. After capturing the screenshot using one of the methods in the toolbar, it will appear in the Snipping Tool window.

Also, if you need to capture something with a timed delay, Snipping Tool is ideal. Click the clock icon in the toolbar and select a delay time in the drop-down menu that appears.

To save the file, click the floppy disk save icon on the toolbar and choose a location. Nice and easy! You can also take a screenshot or capture a video using the Xbox Game Bar. Similarly, to record a video of the currently active app, click the record button which looks like a small white dot inside the larger grey button circle.

Note that, for some reason, Windows 11 will not let you take a video of File Explorer or the desktop, only an active app. Among the dozens of free screenshot apps available for Windows, we recommend Greenshot as a good starting point. Many of us here at How-To Geek have used it for years. SnagIt offers a free trial , so we recommend you give it a try and see whether it meets your needs. If you take a lot of screenshots, it might make your life significantly easier.

SnagIt is an easy-to-use screenshot tool packed with powerful features. This will be what you copy. Click on "File" in the top of the Snipping Tool pop-up and scroll down to "Save As" if you want to save it.

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