Sometimes it is very important to save a screenshot and it will be correct if you use exactly the program for this, the functions of which are best suited for each specific case.
In this article, you will find some tips on how to take a screenshot Windows tools and with the help of special programs, since the knowledge and use of several programs helps the user to achieve the desired result when creating a screenshot.
A screenshot is an image that stores information taken from the monitor screen, in literal translation it means a screenshot, which fully reflects the essence of such an image.
Why might the user need to save information from the screen of his monitor?
There are actually a lot of reasons, I will give some of them ...
There can be really a lot of reasons, and every computer user will find his own reason why he needs to save a screenshot.
Capturing a screenshot is a two-step process.
- The first stage is memorizing the contents of the screen in the computer's memory.
- The second step is to save this content as a graphic file on a drive or on the network at a special site.
And if we cannot influence the first stage in any way, then the quality of such a picture in the end can depend on the second stage in this process. This may depend on the program, which takes the image from the clipboard for further editing and saving.
Let's consider in detail the process of creating and saving an image from your monitor screen.
To take a screenshot by standard means Windows, you need to find the Print Screen key (Prt Scr, Prt Sc, etc.), which is in the top row near the F12 key.
Pressing the Print Screen button takes a screenshot of the entire screen. In order to capture only the active window, press Alt + Prt Scn simultaneously. If you are working on a laptop, then on top of that you will have to press the Fn button:
Fn + Prt Scrn for full screen capture.
Fn + Alt + Print Screen to take a snapshot of the active window.
The Print Screen key does not generate any graphic files on the hard drive, it sends the screen image to the clipboard.
Often, computer and Internet users are faced with the need to take a snapshot of what is happening on the computer screen, in other words, take a picture of the screen or part of it. Such a picture is scientifically called screenshot(from the English word screenshot).
Screenshot- This is a screenshot, that is, an image (photograph) of what a person sees on the monitor screen.
Here are some examples of when and why you might need a screenshot.
1) You are faced with some kind of computer problem or question and decided to contact the forum computer assistance... Explaining everything that happens on your computer in words is too long and not always appropriate. But to photograph and demonstrate the "problem" moment - just right. It is both fast and convenient!
2) You write instructions for working with a certain computer program... It will be just wonderful if you add illustrations to it (for example, as on the website).
3) You are a student and want your work to be computer discipline(essay, term paper, diploma) was highly appreciated. In this case, illustrations will be a big plus.
4) do you like to play computer games and would like to "capture" interesting moments.
In general, if you are working, studying or playing on the computer, you may need to take a screenshot, that is, a screenshot. It can be done in two ways - standard or using a special program. Let's start with the standard way, that is, in the Windows environment.
If you need to take screenshots from time to time, that is, a little and not often, then the easiest way is to use the button Print Screen(also called "PrtScr") on a computer keyboard.
Click on this button. As a rule, after clicking on it, nothing happens - no clicks, no flashes. But the photographed screen is already "fixed" in the computer's memory. You just need to extract it from there. To do this, you can open any program for working with images (Paint, Photoshop or another similar) or a program Microsoft Word and insert the screen we photographed inside.
I will show you how this is done in Paint program, since this is a standard program, and it is available on almost every computer.
Finally, open Paint (Paint.net).
Click on the "Paste" button or on the "Edit" item and select "Paste".
That's all - the screenshot is inserted! Now it remains to save it on your computer (File - Save As ...).
For more information on how to save to a computer in Paint, see the lesson "".
That is, if you want to take a screenshot of the entire screen, click on the button Print Screen on the keyboard, then paste the picture into the desired program(Paint, Photoshop, Word or other) and save to your computer. If you want to take a snapshot of only one window that is open at the moment, press the key combination Alt and Print Screen, insert into the desired program and save.
This method is universal, that is, it is suitable for any version of Windows. But if you have Windows Vista or Windows 7 installed on your computer, there is a more convenient way to “take a picture” of the screen. This is a small program called the Snipping Tool. Let's talk about it in more detail.
Screenshot in Windows Vista or Windows 7
Click on the "Start" button in the lower left corner of the screen.
A list will open. Select from it the item "All programs" ("Programs").
A rather long list will appear. Select "Standard".
Finally, open the Snipping Tool.
Most likely, a small window will open, and the rest of the screen will seem to be "clouded".
The cursor will be in the form of a plus sign. With this plus sign, you need to select the desired part of the screen or the entire screen, that is, press the left mouse button and, without releasing it, move over the desired part of the screen. As soon as you release the left mouse button, the selected part will be "cut out" and "added" to a special small program. In this program, you can make some edits and save the resulting screenshot to your computer (File - Save As ...).
Screenshot software
In the event that you need to take screenshots often, it is better to use special programs to create and edit screenshots. There are a lot of such programs. There are wonderful paid programs such as SnagIt or FastStone Capture. But there are no less wonderful free programs to create and edit screenshots.
I have tried many of these programs. I'll tell you about those that I especially liked and which I use myself.
Screenshot Maker- very comfortable, quick program with many functions. You can “photograph” the entire screen or a part of it, change the resulting image, save it in different formats and with different quality settings. And the best part is that this program does not require installation. That is, you save the downloaded program (file) to a computer or a USB flash drive, open it and use it. This is what it looks like.
You can download this program with or by clicking on.
Floomby- this program is suitable for those who create screenshots for publication on the Internet (on forums, blogs, social networks). The fact is that the screen you photographed or part of it is automatically published on the Internet on the website of this program. That is, the resulting screenshot is not saved on your computer. This is convenient because you immediately receive a picture uploaded to the Internet and a link to it, which you can post on a forum, blog, or social network. This is what this program looks like.
Hot Key Screenshot- and this program is perfect for those who like to play computer games. This program quickly creates a screenshot using the assigned key and saves it to the computer in special folder pic, which is located in the program folder. It is also convenient that this program does not require installation. This is what it looks like.
You can download it with or by clicking on.
All of these programs are easy to use and take up very little space on your computer. Hope you can figure them out on your own. But if you still have questions or difficulties, please refer to or leave a comment at the end of the lesson.
Content
The screenshot is clearer and more eloquent than the copied text, and sometimes you can't do without a screenshot. Windows has a special function, but after improving the OS, the question arises: where are screenshots saved on Windows 8? In addition to the built-in capabilities of the system, there are special programs - screenshots, for example SnagIt, Screenshot Maker or FastStone Capture, where the folder for saving is specified by the user. They make sense if you make and process screenshots all the time, but many people lack the Print Screen button. It remains to figure out how to find the pictures.
How to take a screenshot of the screen using Print Screen
Print Screen key in all Windows versions, including Windows xp, is used to create a screen. By simply clicking on the button, you take a complete screenshot. Everything that is there at the moment is captured. If you need a picture of one active window, use a combination of alt + printscreen. Then the top window you are working with will be copied.
These keys work only in Windows, for example, on a MAC OS, capturing the entire screen is done using the Command + Shift + 3 combination. And to "catch" a fragment, instead of a three, you need to press a four, selecting the desired area with the mouse. On a Mac, the images made by default are placed on the desktop, like png files. We'll figure out where screenshots are saved on Windows below.
Where the printscreen is saved on Windows
In all versions of this OS, up to the release of Windows 8, the screenshot was placed only on the clipboard. Then you need to use a graphical editor, insert and process. The sequence is as follows:
- free the screen from unnecessary open elements;
- press the print screen;
- start an image editor (Paint or another);
- using the Ctrl + V combination or through the context menu, insert the picture into the open editor window;
- make the necessary changes, or just set the folder on your computer where your screenshots are saved, select a format, confirm.
Important: if you do not save the picture right away, then you will not find it. Temporary files are overwritten with new ones. When making multiple screenshots, save them one at a time. Images obtained after pressing Alt + Print Screen are also placed in the clipboard, and all actions with them are similar to those described above. The most popular format for pictures is jpeg, you don't know what to save in, choose it.
Since the eighth Windows versions, users got new opportunity to save images. The combination Windows + Print Screen places your screen in a special folder, to view it you need to go along the path: Libraries \ Images \ Screenshots. This allows the user to capture several images in a row, and then process them all at once.
Where steam screenshots are stored
Gamers take screenshots all the time, especially when it comes to online games such as Warface, Dota 2 and fallout 4. In addition to the print screen, screenshots for most Steam games are made by pressing F12. By default, they are in the Steam profile, in the "cloud". The way there is through the browser, go in and download. There are other possibilities as well. In the Steam client settings, select the "In-game" tab, click on the "Save uncompressed copy on your computer" option. In order not to search every time where screenshots are located in the incentive, set the folder.
There is an option to have time to click on the print screen during the game, and then do everything according to the standard scheme: capture a fragment, open graphics editor, insert and save the picture. Many people press Print Screen or F12, and then they can hardly find where the screenshots are saved. If the folder is not specified, you can find where the screenshots were saved as follows:
- Dota2. The F12 key sends screenshots to the "cloud". In order not to search for them in the browser, go to the initial Steam window, lower the slider. The option to view the library will appear, click on it, then select "Show on disk".
- Warface. To watch the filmed fragments of the game on the C drive, through the folder "Users" / username / saved games / My games / Warface / ScreenShots.
- Fallout 4. There is no separate place for pictures, their storage is the root folder of the game itself.
Video: Where are screenshots in Windows 7
If you haven’t experienced taking screenshots, there is a detailed video tutorial to help you figure it out. An experienced user will guide you all the way, from capturing the image with a print screen, to the final saving of the processed image. You will learn how to edit an image using Paint, which is installed by default, but not everyone uses it.
Found a mistake in the text? Select it, press Ctrl + Enter and we'll fix it!Almost all computer users sooner or later need to save the screen image to a file. Such a screenshot is called a screenshot, from English Screen Shot - a screenshot. In this article I will show you how to take a screenshot of the screen on a computer. standard ways and with the help of cool programs, and below you can watch the video.
This is mainly needed to communicate with the service. technical support or to help someone himself by showing him what a window of some program looks like. Sometimes this is done just to make yourself a new screensaver for your desktop or for a wide variety of other uses.
The easiest way to get a screenshot
Carambis Screenshooter allows you to save screenshots with a minimum of action. After standard installation use buttons:
- Alt + Shift + 1: Screenshot of the whole monitor
- Alt + Shift + 2: Selected part of the screen
- Alt + Shift + 3: Take a snapshot of the selected window
If you chose the 2nd option, then press Enter to finish the selection of the area, cancel - Esc. A simple editor will open:
Here you can draw arrows, various shapes, add text with adjustable transparency, crop the image. Click on the "Save" button and the screenshot is uploaded to the Carambis cloud by default. The link is automatically copied to the clipboard:
You can click on the program icon in the system tray near the clock and work from there:
The same options for screenshots, you can also choose where to save the images:
We see the standard autorun options and you can also turn off the editor window after taking a screenshot. In this case, we immediately receive a ready-made link. On the Hotkeys tab, you can override the default buttons:
I think that these combinations were initially chosen for those cases when there is NO PrtScrn button on the keyboard.
Screenshot using Windows without programs
In the simplest case, we have enough operating room funds. Windows systems 7/10. To take a screenshot of the screen, press the "Print Screen" key. It is located in the upper right part of the keyboard.
Please note that on some notebooks the "Prt Scr" key is combined with some other button. In this case, you must press the combination "Fn + Prt Scr". But by itself, pressing this button does not save the screenshot, but simply copies the picture from the screen to the clipboard, just like you copy any text using the "Ctrl + C" buttons and then paste it with the "Ctrl + V" buttons.
To save a picture from the clipboard to a file, we need a standard editor Image Paint... It can be run from "Start -> All Programs -> Accessories -> Paint" or just write the word "paint" in the search bar of the "Start" button and select a program from the drop-down list.
This is exactly what I do, because it turns out faster than looking for a program in the rubble of the Start menu 🙂
Now in the Paint program just press "Paste" or the "Ctrl + V" buttons to.
As you can see, I took a screenshot of my desktop. All that remains is to save the picture to a file. To do this, click on the "floppy disk" and select where to save the file. I recommend choosing the file format "JPEG", because it takes up the least amount of space, but you can leave nothing and leave "PNG" as the default.
You can only take a screenshot of the active program. To do this, press the "Alt + Print Screen" key combination. And you can insert a picture from the clipboard not only in Paint, but, for example, directly into Word document or in email Outlook.
So, the simplest algorithm of actions is as follows:
- Press "Print Screen" or "Alt + Print Screen"
- Run the Paint program
- Paste the contents of the clipboard
- Save the file
You can also easily screen the screen using the standard Windows utilities 7/8/10 "Scissors". With its help, you can copy an arbitrary part of the screen. It is located in the "Start -> All Programs -> Accessories -> Scissors" menu.
Click on the arrow on the "Create" button and select what we want to copy: free form, rectangle, window or whole screen. If you just need to copy a rectangular area, then select the "rectangle", and if you want to circle the shape with the mouse, then select the "free form". When you have chosen what you want, click the "Create" button itself. When the screen changes color, you can select an area. By the way, when you start the program, it is immediately in the area selection mode.
There are simple drawing tools "Pen" and "Marker". You can erase your creativity with the eraser. You can save the result using a "floppy disk". The Scissors utility cannot create transparent PNG files, so it's better to save it in JPEG. I will show you what transparent images are just below. By the way, you can always later.
Screenshot - just press the button 🙂
So, go to the site https: // screenshot. don't miss 😉 Program from domestic developer, therefore it is completely in Russian and, of course, is free 🙂 In addition, I checked it for viruses - everything is clean.
During installation, you can disable the loading of Yandex items:
Immediately after installation, a window opens with the program settings, click "Save", I will talk about them a little later.
Now, to send a link to a screen screen to a friend, simply press the Ctrl + PrtScr buttons (if anyone does not know, then on the standard keyboard, the PrtScr button is located to the right of F12. A characteristic click and a second screen darkening will mean that there is already a link to the image in your clipboard ! Check it by pasting it into the address bar of your browser:
It's that simple! And if you need to take a snapshot of a certain part of the screen, then press only the PrtScr button and select the area. When you release the mouse, the link to the image will be in your clipboard!
The screenshot shooter has a couple more trump cards in his pocket that other competitors do not have. If you are "far" or lazy to reach the keyboard, you can simply click on the program icon in the system tray, which is equivalent to pressing the PrtScr button:
And it will be more convenient for someone to right-click on any empty space on the desktop and select the appropriate action in the context menu:
And everything is so simple, because programmers began to make a program purely for themselves, in order to get the functionality that is available on "macs" - quick creation screenshots. And, I want to say, it worked out perfectly.
A little about the settings
Each time you start the program, a window with settings appears:
By default, the buttons for taking a screenshot of the entire screen are: Ctrl + PrtScr, for an arbitrary area: PrtScr. In the settings, you can specify your own buttons if, for example, these are already used for other software.
Next, we can determine where to save screenshots. By default, images are saved to your hard drive and uploaded to the screenshoter's own server (so you can receive and send a link). Can only be limited hard disk(locally) or server only. Note that there are no restrictions on the number of files sent to the server.
The folder where the files will be saved on the computer can be specified just below. By the way, there is already a shortcut to it on your desktop.
And the last few tweaks:
- Show cursor on screenshot - leaves the mouse arrow in the picture, otherwise the arrow will not remain
- Show notifications - to display messages about successful actions over the screenshot icon
- Play sound - I think it's clear why 😉
In general, that's all, in fact, even a kettle can figure it out, everything is absurdly simplified. After installation, the program goes into autorun and starts every time the computer or laptop is turned on (fortunately, the settings window does not appear in this case). If you do not need this, then check out the article. By the way, we could have included this option in the settings, as most developers do.
How to take a transparent screenshot
Another interesting program "PrtScr", which can take transparent screenshots, although it is on English language, but I'll show you everything now.
Program page (eng): https://www.fiastarta.com/PrtScr/
Platform: Windows XP / Vista / 7/8
Language: English
Spreading: is free
What are transparent pictures? Let me show you with an example. I took two screenshots in different formats and overlaid them on another image in any graphics editor:
Right opaque JPEG format... As you can see, I selected an arbitrary area, but it is surrounded by a rectangle (which is usually just white, but this program adds a slightly visible background there).
And on the left is a fragment that was saved into a transparent PNG file. It is superimposed in the form in which I outlined it, without a rectangular frame. Such files are very convenient and beautiful to superimpose on other images, and so that it will be invisible.
The PrtScr program "hangs" at the bottom in the form of an icon, by clicking on which with the right button you need to select "Capture screen now".
after which the screen will change color, and the following prompt will appear on the right:
This means that: left button mouse selects an arbitrary area of the screen (hot keys "Alt + Print Screen"), when Ctrl is pressed, a rectangle will be selected, and with the right button you can simply draw on the screen and then select the desired area. If you just click anywhere, you get a screenshot of the entire screen.
Hot keys "Ctrl + Print Screen" turn on a magnifier with a very large magnification, where you can use Ctrl to select an area of the screen with pixel precision.
So, after we have done what we wanted, our screenshot appears in the form of a beautiful flying object and a window for saving the results.
Here's what's interesting here:
- Save as… - save to file. If you used arbitrary selection, then in order for the picture to be transparent, you need to save it in PNG format, not JPEG. In this case, on the “Settings” tab, there should be a “Transparent PNG” checkbox (by default, it is there). Otherwise use “JPEG”.
- Email… - send by mail using the default mail program
- Edit ... - edit in the "Paint" program
- Print ... - print on a printer
- To clipboard - copy to clipboard
- Discard - remove screenshot
Conclusion
As you can see, everything is very simple. There are both standard Windows features and various applications with their own merits. Which method to use is up to you. I also think it will be very interesting for you to read. If you liked the article, then share it with your friends on social networks!
And now a video with a visual "debriefing" 🙂
We take screenshots on a computer using standard methods
And with the help of programs
If you are looking for how to take a screenshot of the screen on a computer, then you've come to the right place.
A screenshot is an image that captures exactly what the monitor is displaying at a particular moment in time.
These snapshots are often used to create instructions for use. various programs or for remote troubleshooting.
Screenshot creation by means of OS
A special key "PrintScreen" (PrtScr) is used to fix the screen image. At the moment when it is necessary to save, you need to press this key.
The image will be saved to the clipboard.
Note! It is important not to copy anything else after that, otherwise the information about the copied element will overwhelm the previously taken screenshot. Then, to take a screenshot of the screen on a computer on windows 7, you need to open a graphics editor. Anyone will do, in the example we use the standard Paint.
V open window the editor will need to press the combination "Ctrl + V", or the "paste" button in the top menu.
You can also select the "selection" tool, right-click anywhere on the canvas, and select "paste" from the drop-down menu.
Once inserted, the screenshot can be edited like any other image, marking the items to look out for or showing the order.
After saving, the screenshot will be located in the save directory and available for use.
There is also an option to take a screenshot of the active window only. To do this, together with PrtScr, you need to press Alt.
In this case, a snapshot of the exclusively active window will be inserted into the editor. So, the image shows that a snapshot of the active window is inserted into the Paint editor.
Screenshot software
In some circumstances, it is not possible to take a screenshot using the OS tools. In addition, not everyone is comfortable with saving every screenshot in the editor.
Let's consider how to take a screenshot of the screen on a computer, photos are attached.
Floomby
During the first launch, you will need to go through the registration process. Then the option of saving screenshots to the program servers will become available.
And, in fact, the ability to work with the program.
To call the frame for capturing the area of the screen, you must click the "Fragment" button. Then select the area of the screen that you want to fix.
A small toolbar will appear on the side with tools for marking up and adding explanations.
Below are the options for saving.
The selected area can be saved to the hard disk of the computer, to the program server, copied to the clipboard or sent to the required FTP.
Note! You cannot save the complete screenshot to disk. Full screen shots are saved only to the program server. There it can be placed in the profile gallery or copy the link in order to share it.
Hot Key Screenshot
An extremely easy-to-use small program.
After downloading and installing, all that remains is to assign hotkey to create a screenshot and select a quality indicator (on which the size of one image will depend).
After that, screenshots will be automatically saved to the directory with the program.
Important! Unfortunately, it is not possible to change the location in which they will be saved.
The program is extremely simple and does not require installation. You can exit it using the tray icon menu or the "Exit" button in the main window.
Pictures are created exclusively in jpeg format.
Screenshot Maker
Another small program, the functionality of which is somewhat less than that of the first one under consideration. The program has two versions: Professional and Free.
The first version is paid, only in it you can save images in PNG format.
In the main window of the program, you can select a hotkey to create a screenshot, define the format of the saved image.
And also choose to capture the cursor, configure the format of automatic file names, or set copying to the clipboard, instead of saving to a file.
The directory for saving snapshots is also set here.
In the "Comment" tab, you can configure adding a comment to the saved screenshot. Changing the text format is only available in the paid version.
In the free one, you can set the background of the comment, its position on the screenshot and, in fact, turn off or turn on the option.
Screenshot Maker has an automatic screenshot creation feature. Its launch together with the beginning of work is available only in the Pro version.
It is possible to set the capture parameter and the interval until the next or between screenshots.
Screenshot extensions
Along with the OS and special programs, screenshots allow you to create and add-ons to browsers. They help both to take a screenshot of a page on the Internet and to save it.
Lightshot (screenshot tool)
A handy and useful browser add-on. Allows you to take pictures open page v . After installation, a purple pen icon will appear to the right of the address bar.
Clicking on it activates (before taking a screenshot of the page) the capture area on the page.
The size of the screenshot in pixels will be shown above the frame (top right corner).
After defining the capture area to the right and below the frame, a small panel will appear with editing tools and save options.
On the bottom panel, you can select one of the saving methods:
- uploading the program to the cloud server;
- sending to social networks;
- sending by Google mail;
- printing on a connected printer;
- saving to the clipboard;
- saving on.
Editing tools allow you to add labels to the saved area, highlight portions of it, and mark places that need attention in other ways.
Saving to your hard drive is the same as any download of a file from the browser using Explorer operating system.
FireShot
After installing the extension, a corresponding icon will appear to the right of the address bar.
By clicking on it, a menu opens with the key combinations used for certain actions. Also in this menu, you can go to the settings page.
In the extension settings, the number format is corrected and keyboard shortcuts are assigned if the default ones do not satisfy.
To many, the combination of four buttons to take a screenshot may seem cumbersome.
When capturing an area of the screen, only a frame appears to define that area itself. No additional tools are provided.
After defining the scope to capture, the extension redirects the user to a page with save options.
There are four possible ways saving the screenshot: as an image, as, to the clipboard and sending to print.
Additional functions are implemented as a separately installed program. In such a case, the value of the extension itself is questionable.
The previous one is more independent, although it also has an installed program.
How to take a screenshot of a computer screen
3 ways to take a screenshot of your computer screen
