Apart from using the traditional method of pressing the Print Screen button on the keyboard, and pasting the contents of the clipboard in an MS Paint file, Windows 10 also has a built-in program called Snipping Tool that makes capturing screenshots extremely easy.
Here’s how:
Step 1
Launch Snipping Tool
Type SNIPPING TOOL in the Cortana search box and press Enter. This launches the Snipping Tool app. The interface of the program looks more like a menu bar and the ribbon of any window or MS Office application.
Step 2
Select a mode
Click the small down-facing arrow next to the Mode icon, and click your preferred capturing mode (the default Rectangular Snip is left selected as an example in this step). This selects the mode for capturing a screenshot. The Rectangular Snip lets you take a screenshot of a particular area of your computer screen.
Step 3
Capture screenshot
Left-click and drag the mouse over the area of the screen you want to capture, and release the mouse button when the entire section is covered. This automatically captures the covered area and displays its preview within the Snipping Tool’s interface. If the area isn’t captured correctly, you can always click the New button to get back to the capture mode.
Step 4
Save the screenshot
Click the Save icon from the Standard Toolbar at the top, use the Save As box to browse and choose a location to save the screenshot to, select your preferred file format from the Save as type drop-down list (JPEG for this example; default is PNG), type a name for the screenshot image in the File name field, and click Save. This saves the captured image to the location you choose and with the name you specify. Depending on the compatibility and preference of the target platform you intend to use the captured image on, you can choose from PNG, GIF, JPEG, or MHT formats to save the image file as.
Other capturing modes
Apart from Rectangular Snip, the other capturing modes that Snipping Tool offers are:
Free-form Snip: This mode allows you to drag your mouse freely over any section of the screen forming an irregular shape. Once you release the mouse button, the covered area is captured as an image.
Window Snip: When this mode is selected, you can capture an image of a window you move your mouse to and click. Unlike Free-form Snip and Rectangular Snip, you don’t need to drag your mouse over the window, but merely clicking on it once does the job.
Full-screen Snip: As soon as you select this mode, Snipping Tool automatically captures an image of the entire screen, without having you to do anything else. In this mode, you don’t get to choose an area, section, or window to take a screenshot, and everything that’s visible on the computer screen is captured.
Here’s how:
Step 1
Launch Snipping Tool
Type SNIPPING TOOL in the Cortana search box and press Enter. This launches the Snipping Tool app. The interface of the program looks more like a menu bar and the ribbon of any window or MS Office application.
Step 2
Select a mode
Click the small down-facing arrow next to the Mode icon, and click your preferred capturing mode (the default Rectangular Snip is left selected as an example in this step). This selects the mode for capturing a screenshot. The Rectangular Snip lets you take a screenshot of a particular area of your computer screen.
Step 3
Capture screenshot
Left-click and drag the mouse over the area of the screen you want to capture, and release the mouse button when the entire section is covered. This automatically captures the covered area and displays its preview within the Snipping Tool’s interface. If the area isn’t captured correctly, you can always click the New button to get back to the capture mode.
Step 4
Save the screenshot
Click the Save icon from the Standard Toolbar at the top, use the Save As box to browse and choose a location to save the screenshot to, select your preferred file format from the Save as type drop-down list (JPEG for this example; default is PNG), type a name for the screenshot image in the File name field, and click Save. This saves the captured image to the location you choose and with the name you specify. Depending on the compatibility and preference of the target platform you intend to use the captured image on, you can choose from PNG, GIF, JPEG, or MHT formats to save the image file as.
Other capturing modes
Apart from Rectangular Snip, the other capturing modes that Snipping Tool offers are:
Free-form Snip: This mode allows you to drag your mouse freely over any section of the screen forming an irregular shape. Once you release the mouse button, the covered area is captured as an image.
Window Snip: When this mode is selected, you can capture an image of a window you move your mouse to and click. Unlike Free-form Snip and Rectangular Snip, you don’t need to drag your mouse over the window, but merely clicking on it once does the job.
Full-screen Snip: As soon as you select this mode, Snipping Tool automatically captures an image of the entire screen, without having you to do anything else. In this mode, you don’t get to choose an area, section, or window to take a screenshot, and everything that’s visible on the computer screen is captured.