Screenshots are a great way to capture something on your computer and save it as an image file, whether it’s a screenshot of a coworker’s webpage edit, or a snapshot of your family’s holiday photos. They’re also an essential skill to have when working in tech support, as they can help you provide quick documentation of your computer’s functionality.
Take a screenshot of your laptop
There are a few different ways to take a screenshot on your laptop, including using Windows keyboard shortcuts and the built-in Snipping Tool. Depending on your computer and the type of screenshot you’re taking, each method will work differently, but they all get you what you need quickly.
Using Windows Shortcuts: The simplest way to capture a screenshot on a laptop is by pressing the Print Screen key, which is often located in the top row of keys (but can be on other parts of the keyboard as well). When you press this key, your computer copies the screen to your clipboard and then pastes it into any application that supports copying to the clipboard.
Use the Snipping Tool: For most Windows computers, you can use the Snipping Tool to take a screenshot of any area of your screen or window. This tool is available in most versions of Windows, and you can install it by clicking “Snipping Tool” in the search bar and following the on-screen instructions.
Snipping Tools are handy for capturing an entire screen or window, and you can also crop, highlight, and draw using many different ink colors to add a personal touch to the image. You can then save the image and share it with other people or use it as a reference.
Another option is to use an app that specializes in capturing screen images, such as Snip & Sketch. This app is included in all Windows 10 computers and lets you take a variety of screenshot types, such as Rectangular, Freeform, or Fullscreen.
You can also take a screenshot of a specific window on your laptop, such as the active window, by pressing Fn + Alt+ PrtScn together. This will copy the active window to the clipboard and paste it into a program that supports copying to the clipboard, such as Microsoft Paint or Word.
On a MacBook, you can take screenshots of the whole screen or a selected capture by pressing Command, Shift and 3 at the same time. For a whole screen, place the crosshairs on the area you want to take a screenshot of and drag them diagonally. For a selected capture, place the crosshairs at one corner of the area you want to select and then click and drag until you’ve selected what you want. Upon release, the MacBook saves the screenshot to the desktop. You can then open and edit the image in a program like Microsoft Paint or Illustrator, or you can copy it to the clipboard and paste it into whichever application you want to use it in.