If you have something interesting open on your computer and you need to take screenshot, then there are more than one ways to take screenshot of your screen. Windows OS provides several ways to take screenshots and you can also use some third party screenshot software to take screenshot. But in this post, we shall see different ways to take screenshot on Windows 10 computer with the print screen key, which does not require any additional software.
Take screenshot on Windows 10 with the Print Screen key
The simplest way and the good old way to take screenshot on Windows computer is by pressing the Print Screen key on the keyboard. Print Screen key is available on most standard keyboards, whether desktop keyboard or laptops. The key is usually labeled “PrtScn” (or something similar) and is located in the top row, near the Function keys. The PrtScn key allows the user to save a snapshot of whatever is on the screen. The snapshot is saved to the computer memory (a.k.a. Clipboard), which you need to transfer (paste) to some application to see it.
Here are different ways to take screenshot on Windows 10 with the Print Screen key :
1) Press PrtScn
By pressing the PrtScn key on the keyboard, the entire screen is saved to the clipboard, which you can paste into any program that displays images, like Paint or Microsoft Word.
2) Press Alt + PrtScn
This copies the active window to the clipboard. Active Window means the window which is current focus or in use. For example: You have Windows Explorer open which is covering the whole screen. And on top of that, you have Google Chrome window open which is not full screen, but which you are currently using or is in focus. Press Alt + PrtScn will save screenshot only of the Google Chrome window and not of the entire screen. You can paste into another program such as paint, Microsoft Word etc.
3) Press the Windows key + Shift + S
Want to take screenshot of only a portion of the screen by dragging on it?
This option is exactly for that. By pressing Windows key + Shift + S, the screen will dim and the mouse pointer will change. You can drag to select a portion of the screen to capture. The screenshot will be copied to the clipboard, which you can paste into another program.
This shortcut requires the latest version of Windows 10 installed that is, Windows 10 Creators Update.
4) Press the Windows key + PrtScn
Want to save screenshot directly as image automatically? Press the Windows key + PrtScn and it will save the entire screen as an image file. The screenshot will be saved to “Screenshots” folder under the “Pictures” folder.
# Windows Print Screen Key
# How to take screenshot on a Windows Computer
# How to save screenshots on Windows PC
