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Capturing, saving, and printing screenshots on your Windows laptop or MacBook
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If you're wondering how to use the Print Screen feature on your PC or Mac laptop, it's easy. This wikiHow teaches you how to take a screenshot of what's happening on your laptop's screen.
Quickly Print the Screen on a Laptop
If you're using Windows 10 or 11, press the "Win + Prt Scrn" keys on your keyboard to take a screenshot. On a Mac, press Shift + Cmd + 3 . Find your screenshots in the pictures folder (PC) or your desktop (Mac).
Steps
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Press ⊞ Win + PrtScn on the keyboard. Different makes of laptops will have different labels for the Print Screen key, like PrntScrn, PrntScr, Prt Scn, PrtScr, and PrtSc. The screen will dim for a moment to indicate that a screenshot is being captured.
- Once the screenshot is ready, it will be saved to your Pictures folder in a sub-folder called Screenshots . [1] X Research source
- Some laptops will open Snipping Tool when you press PrtScn without pressing the Win key. If the screen dims when you press the Print Screen key, click the dimmed screen to take a screenshot.
- Depending on your laptop, you may need to press FN + Windows key + Prt Sc instead.
- If you have more than one display, this method will capture all displays instead of only one.
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Print your screenshot (optional). You'll usually find it in your "Pictures > Screenshots" folder under "This PC" in the left panel of the File Explorer.
- Press Ctrl + P to open the print dialog.
- Select your printer if it's not already selected.
- Click Print .
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Open Snipping Tool or Snip & Sketch. These apps come pre-installed on Windows laptops. Windows 10 has Snip & Sketch, while Windows 11 uses the Snipping Tool. But if you can't find either one, download them for free from the Microsoft Store. [2] X Trustworthy Source Microsoft Support Technical support and product information from Microsoft. Go to source To open the app:
- Click the Windows search bar and type snip & sketch or snipping tool .
- Click the app in the search results.
- Alternatively, press ⊞ Win + ⇧ Shift + S to start Snipping Tool or Snip & Sketch quickly.
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Select your options for your screen capture. While all the icons are available directly on the bar for Windows 10, the newer versions of Windows 11 have the types of snips hidden inside the drop-down menu, which is the third icon. Set them up first to make sure you're capturing what you want.
- The third button on the control bar represents a different type of screenshot. Hover your mouse over each icon to see which type of screenshot each represents. Here's a little cheat sheet for the icons:
- Rectangular Snip , the first icon in the drop-down, lets you click and drag a box around the part of the screen you want to capture. When you finish drawing your box, a screenshot of the selected area will appear as a preview.
- Window Snip , the second icon in the drop-down, lets you capture the contents of a single open window. After clicking this option, click a window to snap a screenshot and display a preview.
- Fullscreen Snip , the third icon in the drop-down, takes a full screenshot of the entire desktop and displays a preview.
- Freeform Snip , the fourth icon in the drop-down, lets you draw any shape (freehand) around the part of the screen you want to capture. When you finish drawing your shape, a screenshot of the selected area will appear as a preview.
- You can also toggle between the camera and recorder icons to switch between taking a screenshot and recording your screen.
- Delay Snip , or the fourth icon on the menu, looks like a timer and lets you choose if you want a countdown before the screenshot.
- The third button on the control bar represents a different type of screenshot. Hover your mouse over each icon to see which type of screenshot each represents. Here's a little cheat sheet for the icons:
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Click New . It's in the top left corner of the app and will dim your screen so you can take a screenshot.
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Click the screen you want to screenshot. If you have more than one monitor, clicking on one screen will take a picture there instead of taking a screenshot of all of them (like most other options do).
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Click the disk to save the image. It's near the top-right corner of the preview. This brings up the Save As dialog.
- You can also edit it in Paint easily by clicking Edit in Paint to the left.
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Select a saving location and click Save . This saves the screenshot as an image file to your laptop.
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Print the screenshot (optional). If you'd like to send the screenshot to your printer, follow these steps:
- Click the ••• menu at the top-right corner of the app.
- Click Print .
- Select your printer if it's not already selected.
- Click Print . [3] X Trustworthy Source Microsoft Support Technical support and product information from Microsoft. Go to source
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Press ⇧ Shift + ⌘ Cmd + 3 on your keyboard. This saves your screen to your desktop. [4] X Research source
- If you want more options, like what screen or window to capture, open the Screenshot app by pressing Shift + Cmd + 5 .
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Print the screenshot (optional). If you'd like to send the screenshot to your printer: [5] X Research source
- Double-click the screenshot on your desktop to open it. Its name should be something like Screen Shot date at time .png .
- Press ⌘ Cmd + P to open the print dialog box.
- Select your printer from the drop-down menu on the bottom-left corner of the window.
- Click Print .
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Community Q&A
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QuestionWhat if I'm using a Windows laptop that doesn't have the "Print screen" button?Community AnswerIf you have a snipping tool, you can use that for screenshots and printing. Most up-to-date Windows systems have this tool, but if yours doesn't, you can download one.
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QuestionMy Print Screen its not working, I'm on windows 7. What should I do?Isaac TagCommunity AnswerOn Windows 7, when you Ctrl + PrtScrn, it saves it to your clipboard. You can then copy it into Paint and save it.
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QuestionWill the screenshot appear when I paste it from the clipboard?Community AnswerYes. If you press, "Print Screen," and then paste or hit Ctrl+V onto a Word or Paint document, you should be able to paste the screenshot you took.
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References
- ↑ http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/take-screen-capture-print-screen#take-screen-capture-print-screen=windows-8
- ↑ https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/4488540
- ↑ https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/use-snipping-tool-to-capture-screenshots-00246869-1843-655f-f220-97299b865f6b#ID0EDD=Windows_11
- ↑ https://support.apple.com/en-us/102646
- ↑ https://support.apple.com/guide/mac-help/print-mh35838/mac
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