Do you still take screenshots with PrintScreen? Nothing wrong with that, but it could be better! With some clever extensions – partly built into Windows, partly with some outside help – you can now take screenshots even faster. You also give them extra elements and you can easily share them with others.
We’ll start at the beginning: you can use PrintScreen in Windows to take a screenshot. Default makes Windows thus a screenshot of the entire screen, or of all screens if you use multiple screens. For a screenshot of the current window, use the key combination Alt+PrintScreen. The image is temporarily saved to the clipboard. The clipboard is a temporary storage place for Windows.
To see what’s stored on the Clipboard, use the key combination Windows key+V. You can then paste the image into another program, such as Paint or Word. The method is cumbersome: after all, the image is not saved by default, but must be saved via another program. With the key combination Windows key+PrintScreen it goes a lot smoother: Windows takes a screenshot that is directly saved in the folder Images Screenshots. This method is only available for taking a screenshot of the entire screen. Single windows are unfortunately not supported.
Snipping Tool
With Windows’ built-in Snipping Tool, taking screenshots is a lot smoother. Open the start menu and type cut. click on Snipping Tool. Although Microsoft has been trying to switch users to another program for some time (more on that below), Snipping Tool still remains a decent app.
click on Mode to determine which part to create an image from: free form, Rectangular, Window and Full screen. Then click on New to create the image. The image is created and displayed in the Snipping Tool editor.
Here you can add simple edits. Press the button Pen or Highlighter to annotate the image. Through Save clipping as (recognizable by the floppy disk) save the image. You can save the image as a jpg, png or gif file. You can also share the image directly by email: click the button Send clipping.
Shoot everything
Some parts seem difficult to understand at first glance photograph. For example, if you want to create an image of the right-click menu: activating the Snipping Tool immediately closes the open window in our example. It still works via the postpone function in Snipping Tool.
Click on the arrow next to Delay and determine here how much time can elapse between clicking the button New and actually taking the screenshot. In the meantime, open the relevant section and wait for the postponed photo opportunity. You can choose a pause of one to five seconds.
Customize options
In the main menu of the Snipping Tool you will find the button Options, with which you can further control the operation. Don’t want the screenshot to be copied to the Clipboard because you’re already saving it directly through the Snipping Tool? Then uncheck Always copy clippings to the clipboard.
By default, the Snipping Tool also includes the web address when you take a screenshot of a website. Fortunately, you can also disable that: uncheck Insert URL under clippings. Do you want the Snipping Tool to always be visible and not automatically become invisible when you try to take a screenshot? Then remove the checkmark from Show overlapping screen when snipping tool is active.
Finally, you can adjust the default color for making selections (via the option Ink color). To see what falls within a selection, you can activate the option Show marquee after making snips.
Cut and mark
Within Windows, the Snipping Tool has competition from another program: Cut and Mark. Open the start menu, type To cut and choose Cut and mark. The build is simpler than the Snipping Tool. Press the button New to create an image. You can delay the screenshot by three to ten seconds via the arrow next to it. After the screenshot is taken, you can edit it in the program. The buttons for this, such as a highlighter and pen, can be found in the toolbar at the top.
A handy feature of Snip and Annotate is the ability to open multiple windows of the program, so you can open and edit the snips in separate windows. Press the button More information (top right corner of the window) and choose Institutions. Turn on the slider On Bee Multiple windows. Here you will also find the option to add a selection border to the images (via the option Cutout contour) and choose a corresponding color (via Colour).
More possibilities
The key combination Shift+Windows Key+S gives you more options. You can immediately take a screenshot and indicate how this is done. For example, via the toolbar at the top of the screen you can choose a custom shape (where you determine the print yourself) or a print of a specific window. The nice thing is that you don’t have to determine this in advance, unlike the Snipping Tool discussed earlier. If you are satisfied with Cut and Annotate, you can make it the default program. This will now open when you press PrintScreen. Open the Windows settings window (Windows key+I) and go to Accessibility. Choose Keyboard and put the slider on On at the option Use the PrtScn button to make screen clippings.
Game Bar
Windows 10 also features the Game Bar. You call it up via the key combination Windows key+G. Interesting about the bar is the built-in screen capture feature. This way you can also record moving images and you are not tied to static images.
In the window Recording find the button to take a screenshot. This will be placed inside Gallery which opens automatically once you’ve captured an image. The images will be placed in the user folder Videos Recordings. Choose Open file location to open the corresponding folder. You can also copy the image or video to the Clipboard via the Game Bar editing window, so that you can edit it further in other programs.
Outside help
Sometimes you need more functionality, for example if you don’t want to take a static screenshot, but want to capture a part of a video. ShareX is a free program, the latest version of which can be found at www.getsharex.com.
The program has a good set of adult capabilities. On the left side of the main window you will find the options. click on To establish for an overview of elements that you can take a screenshot or recording. For example, you can choose the familiar rectangle, but there is also the option for a recording, so with a moving image.
Do you want to make a screen recording that is longer than what is shown on the image, for example a website? Then you can choose the option Scroll recording. This will take a screenshot as you scroll down the page.
You can determine the keyboard shortcuts you want to use for taking the screenshots. The current key combinations are shown in the table in the main window. Choose Shortcut Settings. Via the button add determine the new key combinations. If you want to see which images you have taken before, choose History images.
Record other matters
Unlike Windows’ snipping tools, ShareX also lets you capture moving images. In the menu To establish do you choose Screen capture (FFmpeg). Allows you to create a video of moving objects on the screen. Instead of a video, it is also possible to make a gif. This is useful for situations where you want to share compact files or post the image online.
In the menu To establish do you choose Screen recording (GIF). ShareX also features an OCR component. This allows you to take a screenshot of an image with text, after which ShareX uses an online service that converts the letters on the screen into typed text. This comes in handy when capturing images with text you don’t want to manually retype.
Automate tasks
In ShareX you can automatically perform fixed tasks once you have taken a screenshot. For example, you can automatically add a watermark or generate a thumbnail of the recording. You can also upload images directly to the cloud or print on the default printer. Choose Tasks after capture and specify what to do with the captured screenshot.
ShareX has the necessary options, especially in the field of post-processing. You can find them in the menu Tools. For example, you can create thumbnails of images (choose Image Thumbnailer). Determine the width, height and quality and specify the file name and location under which the thumbnails may be saved.
You can also combine multiple images into one image via ShareX. Choose from the menu of Tools in front of Combine images. A window will appear in which you can specify which images may be combined with each other.
in the cloud
Do you use OneDrive, then you can automatically save your screenshot there. Click the OneDrive icon in the Windows taskbar (you’ll find it near the clock). Choose Help and Settings and click Institutions. Choose the tab Backup.
In the section Screenshots put a check in Automatically save screenshots I take to OneDrive. click on OK. Now when you take a screenshot, it is still saved in the clipboard, but also saved in the folder OneDrive / Pictures / Screenshots. A maximum of 10 GB of screenshots is saved.
