How-To: Taking a Screen Shot

Have you ever wanted to show someone what you see on your computer screen? Just like taking a photograph, you can take a snapshot of what displays on your monitor. Screen shots (also called screen captures) are useful when you want to describe what you see on your computer, such as in communications with technical support staff.

Step 1: Capture the screen shot

To capture a picture of:

1. The entire screen: Press the Print Screen key (often abbreviated Prt Scr or PrtScrn).
2. The currently selected window only: Press Alt + Print Screen (in other words, press and hold the Alt key and then press the Print Screen key).

After capturing the screen shot, you won't see it yet - the image is still in the computer's clipboard, which is a holding area for content that has been copied. Proceed to Step 2.

Step 2: Save the screen shot in an appropriate document

After capturing the screen shot, the image is stored temporarily in the computer's clipboard. The image now must be "pasted" into a document that can save images: commonly used programs are Paint*, Microsoft Word, and Microsoft Outlook, but any software that supports images will work.

1. Open the application.
2. Choose the paste function as you normally would.

TIP: Microsoft applications (and most software programs) allow pasting to paste from the clipboard.

3. Save the file as you normally would.

* Using Paint

Paint is a free graphics application included with Windows PCs.

1. Open the Paint program. (Paint is stored in the Accessories folder. For most users: from the Windows Start menu, select All Programs, then Accessories, then Paint.)
2. From the Edit menu, click Paste (or use the keyboard shortcuts shown above). If you see a message "The image in the clipboard is larger than the bitmap. Would you like the bitmap enlarged?" click Yes.
3. In the Save in field, we suggest that you select either Desktop or My Documents, so that the file may be easily located later.
4. In the File name field, enter a name for the screen shot.
5. In the Save as type field, select any type.
6. Click Save.