How to make a screenshot on a PC.

Taking a screenshot on a PC is a useful way to share all kinds of things. You may want to share something that you have seen online, or maybe your computer is misbehaving and wants to show technology what you are seeing.

There are many different ways to take screenshots on a PC, some methods capture what is on your screen and add it to your clipboard, some allow you to select selections from the screen to capture, and one allows you to immediately capture the entire screen and Save it as a PNG image file.

Let's review the various methods that a screenshot can take in Windows 10 and explain the options for more advanced and adjusted screenshots.

First of all, identify your key Print screen

Your keyboard must have a Print Screen button, although it may be written in abbreviated form, such as "PrtSc". It can also be the secondary function of a key, so you may need to use the "Fn" key on your keyboard to use it.

How to capture your entire screen

If you just want to take a screenshot of everything that happens on your monitor so you can share it with someone, the process is incredibly simple. You can also use a modified process to capture only your active window.

Step one: Press the Print screen key. (Alternative: to capture only your active window, press Alt + Print screen).

This will immediately take a screenshot of your entire screen (including the extended desktops you have) or its active window if you follow the alternative process. The screenshot is added to your clipboard, allowing you to paste it elsewhere.

Step two: Paste the capture screen capture wherever you want it.

You can paste it into an image editor, such as Paint 3D, to edit it and save it. Or, you can share it with a friend or colleague by pasting the image in a chat or email.

That's all there is to it if you just need a way to quickly share what's on your screen. However, there are more advanced forms of screen capture on PC.

How to capture the entire screen directly in a file.

The above process is useful for unique screen captures, but if you need to capture a series of screenshots quickly, we have a better process.

Copying to the clipboard means that you need to paste the screenshot elsewhere before taking a new screenshot. If you do not paste it somewhere, the first screenshot will be overwritten with the second one.

So, instead, you can use this method to quickly take a screenshot and have Windows instantly save it as a PNG image file.

Step 1: Simply press the Windows key + Print screen. (Alternative: add the Alt key to the key combination to save a quick screenshot of only your active window).

That's all about it. Once you have made that step, Windows will save the file. By default, it should appear in the file path of this PC> Images> Screenshots.

However, when you take a screenshot of the active window, you may not go to this folder. In our case, we saw that the screenshots go to This PC> Video> It captures the path of the file. However, Windows should present a pop-up window when using this alternative technique, so you can see where your screenshot is saved.

How to capture portions of your screen.

If you prefer to be a little more precise with your screenshots, Windows 10 has a couple of tools that can help you. The first is the Snipping tool, but Microsoft plans to replace it with the Snip & Sketch application, which performs the same function. We will focus on the latter, since it will have the most useful once the change is made.

Step one: run the Snip & Sketch application.

You can simply type "Crop and Draw" in the Windows 10 search bar to find the application and start it.

Step Two: In the upper left part of Snip & Sketch, press the "New" button.

This will darken the screen and provide some options at the top of the screen. If you want to take a delayed screenshot, you can click on the down arrow next to the "New" button.

How to make a screenshot on a PC

Image credit: TechRadar

Step Three: Click and drag to draw a box around the section of screen you want to capture. (Alternative: You can also draw a free-form capture space by selecting the Free-form option of the buttons at the top of the capture screen).

As with the first screen capture technique we analyzed, this method captures the screenshot and adds it to the clipboard. Snip & Sketch will also immediately display your new screenshot within the application, allowing you to quickly edit it and save it as a file.


If you want to make an extra quick screen capture with Snip & Sketch, some newer versions of Windows 10 (Creator Update and later versions) use the keyboard shortcut Shift + Windows Key + S to go directly to capture mode.