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Summary: A screen shot is an image of your entire computer screen, and it is fairly easy to capture this image.
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What's a Screen Shot, and how do I make one? |
A screen shot, or screen capture, is a way to "take a picture" of your computer screen.
Why?
Say you're trying to explain a computer problem to a technical friend of yours and you're trying to describe what you see on the screen: the dialogs, the buttons, the messages, whatever. You're not sure of the terms to use and your friend is having a difficult time understanding your description of what you see.
You know what they say: "A picture is worth a thousand words." And it can go a long way to eliminating miscommunication.
Let's take a picture of your screen and email it to your friend.
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Ever wonder what the PrtScn key is for? A long time ago it did what you might think. Push it, and your printer would print an image of whatever was on your screen. It was kinda cool.
But that's not what it does in Windows today.
When you press the PrtScn, an image of your screen is placed on your clipboard. Now, rather than printing it, you can do something with it.
Like email it to a friend.
First we need to make a file out of it. After you've pressed PrtScn, fire up your favorite image editor or use the Paint program that comes with Windows by pressing Start, All Programs, Accessories and then Paint. Now in Paint (or your equivalent), hit Edit, Paste and you should now have an image of your screen within the image editing program.
Now save this image to a file. Typically that means File, Save As.... Give it a file name you'll remember. I'd also suggest selecting either a JPEG or PNG file format instead of the default bitmap; they're smaller in file size.
Hopefully you can see the value. You're presented with a complex situation or a huge, long error message that you don't want to re-type and just wish that you could show someone. Press PrtScn, paste it into your paint program, save it to disk, and email the picture as an attachment.
A couple of additional notes:
PrtScn takes a picture of the entire current screen.
ALT+PrtScn takes a picture of the currently active window only.
PrtScn does not work on blue screens. The Windows operating system provides the PrtScn functionality and if the operating system has crashed, the function's not there.
Related:
Can I avoid retyping error messages when I need to report them? Windows error messages can often be quickly and easily copied to the clipboard with a single keystroke.
Microsoft - How to Capture Screen Shots in Windows Using the Print Screen Key
Article C2080 - June 22, 2004
I found you by way of a Google search.
I have not been able to do a screen shot since I got my wireless keyboard. I was hoping to find an answer here. I used to be able to do it the way you explained.
Now I feel stupid for having to ask this question because when I go to my paint program there is no "paste" option available. This makes me need to know where to find my clipboard. (Hanging my head in shame.)
Posted by: Skittles at September 4, 2007 10:04 AMSuch a basic function, and so easy to forget. Thanks for making it so easy to do, and for including so many details. I used Adobe PhotoShop to paste my screen shot into and got a perfect image. I was also able to paste it into a MS Photo Editor easily, but just as PhotoShop has easier to use functions in every other regard (like cropping, a basic), it is also easier for pasting a screen shot, since it automatically creates the canvas size in the same dimensions as the image. I have no idea how MS Photo Editor decides what size to make the canvas, but it is inconvenient if one does not know the exact size of the image to be pasted.
Posted by: Victoria at September 29, 2007 10:59 PMAnyway, thanks, Leo, for making this an easy task.
Everything Leo says about your Print Screen Key is a fact, but....instead of saving it right off in a "program", paste it in an email and save it from there...(Aol email can also resize) and will automatically be saved as a Jpeg file. If u paste in your programs such as Paintshop Pro etc first...u also can crop it cause we very seldom want to save our whole screen. Then can email cropped and resized results...
Posted by: Sharlene Morgan at November 13, 2007 7:56 PMHi there,
Posted by: Rifat Türkkan at December 25, 2007 11:10 AMPrtScn command is easy enough, but how about if you're working on a program that works in DOS and covers the whole display? I PrtScn the display; hit the Windows key on the keyboard to go back to MsPaint, I hit 'Ctrl+V' and nothing happens, because there is nothing captured in the clipboard. Do you have a solution to this? Thanks by now.
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Try pressing ALT+Spacebar. For many DOS based programs that will actually
switch them into Windows mode where your printscreen will work just fine.
Doesn't work for all, but does work for many.
Thanks,
Leo
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Posted by: Leo A. Notenboom at December 26, 2007 9:55 AMw93ub4lq2F2Yn5qPjoTicbI=
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Great help!
Posted by: Allard at May 1, 2008 7:56 AMI often use these trics (PrtScn - Alt PrtScn) mixed up with the freeware Windows Snapshot Maker to explain 'how to do things' to all my 'digilliterate' friends (in Dutch we call these digibeets from analfabeet, illiterate)
Works great, saves MUCH time!!!
How do i place a screen shot on a Forum????
Posted by: Stetson at July 9, 2008 3:19 PM-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
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Depends entirely on the forum. You'll need to with the
forum documenation to see how to upload pictures.
Leo
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99% chance you will use Function button (Fn) + Prt Sc. "Prt Sc" will share space with something else (letter or number) on one key. This depends on model
Posted by: griff at February 23, 2009 11:12 AMhey everybody, i figured it out. try pressing f lock on your keyboard and then try it. it worked for me after fooling around with a few buttons. best wishes,
Tye.
Posted by: Tye at April 19, 2009 5:02 PM