How to Find Screenshots on Windows 10 and 11

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The quickest ways to find screenshots on PC

Written by Nicole Levine, MFA

Last Updated: October 25, 2024 Fact Checked

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If You Used Snipping Tool or a Shortcut

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If You Used the Print Screen Key

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If You Used Game Bar

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Change Where Screenshots are Saved

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Wondering where Windows saved your screenshot? If you used the Snipping Tool , Snip & Sketch, or pressed Windows key + Shift + S , to take the screenshot, you'll find the screenshot in your Pictures folder in a subfolder called "Screenshots." If you used the Print Screen key alone, the screenshot is not saved anywhere—just open Paint and press Ctrl + V to paste it from your clipboard, then save it wherever you'd like.

Where Windows Screenshots are Saved

If you used Snipping Tool or pressed Windows Key + PrtScr, open File Explorer, open the Pictures folder, then open the Screenshots folder. If you just pressed the PrtScr key alone, the screenshot isn't saved—paste it by pressing Ctrl + V.

Section 1 of 4:

If You Used Snipping Tool or a Shortcut

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1
Open File Explorer

. This file app icon is in your taskbar or Start menu.
- If you took a screenshot using Snipping Tool, Snip & Sketch, or using a keyboard shortcut like Windows key + Print Screen or Windows key + Shift + S , your screenshot is in your Screenshots folder, which you'll find in your Pictures folder.
- If you used any other method for taking a screenshot, try this method first, and then move on to the next.
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Double-click the Pictures folder. You should see it in the "Quick Access" area of the left panel.
- If you don’t see it, try clicking This PC in the top bar first.
- If you use OneDrive to automatically back your files up to the cloud (common if you use Microsoft 365), click your name at the top-left corner (Windows 11) or OneDrive in the left panel (Windows 10), and then double-click Pictures .
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All the screenshots you've taken by pressing Win + PrtScn , using Snipping Tool, or Snip & Sketch, will appear here.

Section 2 of 4:

If You Used the Print Screen Key

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1
Open Paint. If you pressed the Print Screen key (e.g., PrtSc, PrScn, etc.) to take a screenshot, you won't find the screenshot saved on your computer—you must save it manually. The easiest way to do this is to use Paint.
- To open Paint , type paint into the Windows search bar, then click Paint in the search results.
This pastes the screenshot into the blank Paint file, making it easy to save in any format.
Click the File menu, select Save as , and then choose an image type—go with JPG or PNG for the best compatibility. Select the folder to which you want to save your screenshot, then click Save .

Section 3 of 4:

If You Used Game Bar

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You can do this quickly by clicking the Start menu and selecting Settings (or the gear icon). If you used the Game Bar Capture widget to take a screenshot or screen recording , this method will show you a super easy way to find the image or video.
You'll see it in the left panel on Windows 11, or click the Xbox icon on Windows 10.
This opens a menu that includes settings for Game Bar screenshots and recordings, as well as a quick link to the folder your existing screenshots are saved to. ^{[1]
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This opens the folder containing all screenshots and screen recordings you've captured with Game Bar.

Section 4 of 4:

Change Where Screenshots are Saved

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1
Open File Explorer

. This file app icon is in your taskbar or Start menu .
- If you want to change where Game Bar saves your screenshots, you can just move the folder to another location and Game Bar will automatically update the saving location. ^{[2]
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Create a new folder where you want to save your screenshots. This can be in any location, but remember the location because you'll need it soon.
- To make a new folder , right-click a blank area of an existing folder, select New > Folder , type a name, and then press Enter .
Click your Pictures folder in the left panel—you should see the Screenshots folder there.
This displays properties for your current Screenshots folder.
This opens your PC's file browser.
You should now see the path to the new folder you created in the field.
Now, any screenshots you take using Win + PrtScn , Snipping Tool, Snip & Sketch, or Win + Shift + S will be saved in the new folder.