Author Topic: Screen Shots in Windows  (Read 1351 times)

Offline urthegman

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Screen Shots in Windows
« on: September 07, 2012, »
This is probably old news to many of you but if you need a picture of your screen here is how to do it with out
downloading another program.

Have you ever pressed the PrtScn (print screen) key on your Windows keyboard and wondered why it was there since it never seemed to do anything? Well, it does do something! It copies an image of your screen onto the "clipboard," ready to paste into any graphics program. These steps show you how to use it along with Windows' standard image editor, Microsoft Paint, to save an image of your screen. You can also watch a video version of this tutorial.
Difficulty: Easy
Time Required: 1 minute
Here's How:

Press the Print Screen key on your keyboard. It may be labeled [PrtScn].
Open an image editing program, such as Microsoft Paint.
Go to the Edit menu and choose Paste.
If prompted to enlarge the image, choose Yes.
Optional: Use your image editor's crop tool to crop out unnecessary portions of the screen shot.
Go to the File Menu and choose Save As.
Navigate to the folder where you want to save the image.
Type a file name for the image.
Select a file type.
Click the Save button.
Tips:

Hold the Alt key down while pressing Print Screen to capture only the active window.
Generally the GIF format works best when saving screen shots of application windows. The JPEG format usually makes screen shots (especially those with text) blurry, blotchy and discolored.
See related resources below for more screen shot tips and listings of screen capture software that offers many more options for capturing screens and portions of screens on Windows and Macintosh computers.
The Windows "clipboard" is a term used to describe the temporary storage space in memory where an item is placed when you copy or cut. When you paste, the item is transferred to the program you're working in. If you copy something else, the old item is replaced with the new. You can't manipulate the clipboard directly; it's only used for copy and paste operations.
If you have windows Vista, you can capture screen shots much more easily using the Snipping Tool included with Vista.
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Offline jnealand

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Re: Screen Shots in Windows
« Reply #1 on: September 07, 2012, »
On my dual monitor system it even got both screens and pasted them together.  Surprise surprise.
Jim Nealand
Kennesaw, GA

Offline scharbon

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Re: Screen Shots in Windows
« Reply #2 on: September 07, 2012, »
And if you press Alt+PrtScr it will only copy the active window to the clipboard (as opposed to the whole screen).  This should minimize (if not eliminate altogether) the need to crop your photo to only get the window of interest.

Steve

Offline tennhillbilly

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Re: Screen Shots in Windows
« Reply #3 on: September 08, 2012, »
Good information , Thanks

Offline Steve Gase

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Re: Screen Shots in Windows
« Reply #4 on: September 08, 2012, »
There is a nice free piece of software, call LightShot.

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It allows you to select parts of the display to go into your clipboard, it also allows upload into a web hosting site, and editing capabilities as well.  you can use some or all of its features, and its very handy.
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Offline rrowan

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Re: Screen Shots in Windows
« Reply #5 on: September 08, 2012, »
Windows 7 (maybe vista but I never used it) comes with Snipping Tool for screen capture

Rick R.
Light Animation Hobby - Having fun and Learning at the same time. (21st member of DLA)
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Warning SOME assembly required

Offline urthegman

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Re: Screen Shots in Windows
« Reply #6 on: September 08, 2012, »
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Windows 7 (maybe vista but I never used it) comes with Snipping Tool for screen capture

Rick R.
Cool!!! I typed snipping tool into search and there it is!!! Thanks!

Offline mkozik1

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Re: Screen Shots in Windows
« Reply #7 on: September 08, 2012, »
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Windows 7 (maybe vista but I never used it) comes with Snipping Tool for screen capture

Rick R.

Snipping Tool is 'da bomb I have to say.  This has helped me more than a print screen.  You can copy to clipboard and paste in other docs/emails or you can save it as a pic.  Great tool!!!
- Mark

Offline JonB256

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Re: Screen Shots in Windows
« Reply #8 on: September 08, 2012, »
Thanks. Never saw the Snipping Tool mentioned anywhere.
Too bad I use WinXP at work where I need to use it.

Offline kjam22

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Re: Screen Shots in Windows
« Reply #9 on: September 08, 2012, »
If you are looking for more functionality you can purchase snagit.  Adds a lot of editing functions that you can't get with the Win 7 Tool

Offline meman

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Re: Screen Shots in Windows
« Reply #10 on: September 09, 2012, »
I install a free capture utility called MWSNAP on every computer I come in contact with. Light, powerful and indispensable.
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Offline winwin

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Re: Screen Shots in Windows
« Reply #11 on: September 09, 2012, »
You have a lot of choice! Here is another neat one that I use often. It is called Greenshot. Being an open source software, it is free.
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AL.