What Buttons Do You Push for a Screenshot?
Although taking a screenshot is not by any means a complicated process, you should take some care while doing so when the resulting image will be used in a business context. Depending on what programs and files you have open when you take the screenshot, you may inadvertently capture information that should remain private, such as customer details or internal company documents. Furthermore, identifying the relevant parts of an uncropped screenshot may be difficult for the intended viewer. Take care to arrange your screen correctly before taking a screenshot.
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Arrange the windows on your screen so that all the windows you want to include in the screenshot are near one another, clustered as closely together as possible. Close all other files and programs you may have open, or position them away from the windows you want to include.
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Press "Windows-PrtScr." This key combination takes a screenshot of your entire screen and automatically saves it in your computer's Pictures folder, inside a subfolder called "Screenshots."
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Open the screenshot in an image-editing program such as Paint, GIMP or Photoshop. Crop the screenshot so only the relevant windows remain and save the file.
References
Tips
- Press "PrtScr" alone to copy the desktop into your buffer. From there, use "Ctrl-V" to paste the image into an open document such as a word processor or an image editor.
- Press "Alt-PrtScr" to take a screenshot of just the active window.
- Use the Snipping Tool utility built into Windows to take a shot of an area of the screen of your choosing.
Warnings
- Information in this article applies to Windows 8. It may vary slightly or significantly with other versions.
Writer Bio
Laurel Storm has been writing since 2001, and helping people with technology for far longer than that. Some of her articles have been published in "Messaggero dei Ragazzi", an Italian magazine for teenagers. She holds a Master of Arts in writing for television and new media from the University of Turin.