Windows Capture Screen Area

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If you’re a Windows user and you’ve got something important on your screen that you want to capture, in this guide, we’ll show you a few different ways you can take a screenshot of it.

While there are many different ways that you can take a screenshot on Windows 10, in this post, we’ll focus on three of the easiest ways to capture your screen.

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Learn how to capture and save a screenshot image of a custom sized area of the screen, a window, or the entire desktop in Windows 7, 8, and 10. How to take a screenshot of a screen region in Windows 10 Make sure that your machine has Build 15002 or greater installed. Hold & Press Windows Key + Shift + S and that’s it. A + crop logo will appear on the centre of the screen and you just need to crop the screen holding left key on mouse.

Apr 21, 2020 Screen recording is helpful for a number of things, from creating a tutorial to grabbing a clip to post on Twitter to share with friends. On Windows 10, you can capture a video of your screen. Dec 25, 2020 How to Record Part of Screen on Windows Using Icecream Screen Recorder: Step 1. Download and install this app and then launch it. On the main screen, you will see the 'Capture video,' ' Game capture,' 'Screenshot,' and 'Capture audio' button. Click the 'Capture video' button and select the 'Custom area' button. Windows 10 provides several ways to take screenshots of your entire computer screen, or just select parts of it. The fastest way to take a screenshot on Windows 10 is by pressing the 'PrtScn.

1. Using the Snipping Tool

2. Using Print Screen

3. Using Game Bar

How to Use the Snipping Tool to Take A Screenshot

Microsoft has included the Snipping Tool since Windows Vista and it is one of the easiest ways to take a screenshot in Windows.

There are a couple of different ways that you can capture a screenshot using the Snipping Tool. We’ll outline those methods below.

*In an upcoming update, the Snipping Tool will be taken over by a new feature called “Snip & Sketch” which will provide the same functionality.

Windows Capture Screen Area

Opening the Snipping Tool and Using It

  1. Type ‘snipping tool’ into the search bar and hit enter
  2. From the Snipping Tool menu, hit ‘New’
  3. This will give you a cursor that you can click and drag to select the area you want a screenshot of
  4. After you’ve selected your area, the tool will give you a preview of your screenshot
  5. If the screenshot looks good, you can save the screenshot as an image file, using ‘File > Save As…’

Using Snip & Sketch Hotkeys to Take A Screenshot

  1. Press ‘Windows logo key + Shift + S’
  2. Click and drag the cursor to select the area you want a screenshot of
  3. Open the prompt in the bottom right-hand corner of the screen to preview the screenshot
  4. In the top right corner, click the save icon to save your screenshot

Screen Video Capture Windows 10

*Using this method, before you save your screenshot, you can markup the image using the available writing tools.

Using Print Screen to Take A Screenshot

The Print Screen button is another easy way to take a screenshot in Windows 10.

There are a few different ways that you can use the Print Screen button to take a screenshot.

Use the Print Screen Button to Capture Your Entire Screen

  1. Hit the ‘Print Screen’ or ‘PRT SC’ button
  2. This will send a screenshot of your entire screen to your clipboard
  3. You can paste this image into any image editing program and edit it to your liking

*Just note that, if you have multiple monitors, this method will take a screenshot of all of your monitors in one extra wide image.

Using Print Screen to Capture and Immediately Save A Screenshot

  1. Press ‘Windows logo key + Print Screen’ to capture your entire screen
  2. This will not only capture your entire screen, but it will also automatically save it
  3. You can find the saved screenshot in your Pictures > Screenshots folder

*As with above, if you have multiple monitors, this method will take a screenshot of all of your monitors in one extra wide image.

Using Print Screen to Take A Screenshot of the Active Window

  1. Press ‘Alt + Print Screen’ to screenshot the active window
  2. This will send a screenshot of your active window to your clipboard
  3. You can paste this image into any image editing program and edit it to your liking

*With this method, the active window can be a single monitor in a multi-monitor setup, or the active window can be a program you are currently using.

Using Game Bar to Take A Screenshot

Windows Game Bar app will also allow you to take screenshots. It will also allow you to record your screen if you want to create a video.

Windows Capture Screen Area Comparison

To take a screenshot using Game Bar, do the following:

  1. Press ‘Windows logo key + G’ to open the Game Bar
  2. Find the Capture menu and hit the camera icon
  3. You screenshot will save to your ‘Videos > Captures’ folder

Conclusion

Windows 10 Capture Screen Area

Taking a screenshot on Windows 10 is incredibly easy. In this post, we’ve provided you with three easy ways that you can take a screenshot of your screen. Whether you want to take a screenshot that you can edit in an image editing program, or you want to take a screenshot that will instantly be saved as an image file, one of the methods outlined above will help you achieve your goal.

Starting with build 15002, it is possible to create a shortcut to capture a screen region in Windows 10. Thanks to the improvements made in Windows 10 Creators Update, this can be done without using third party tools.


This is possible thanks to the updated Snipping Tool app. Snipping Tool in Windows 10 Creators Update supports a new command line switch '/clip', which makes it go directly to the region capture mode.

To create a shortcut to capture a screen region in Windows 10, right-click the empty space on your Desktop and select New - Shortcut in the context menu. In the shortcut's Target, type or copy-paste the command snippingtool.exe /clip and finish the shortcut wizard. You are done.

You can specify a custom icon or set any desired name for your shortcut.

Once you click it, you will be able to select a region which will be immediately copied to the clipboard. You can open any app which supports image editing (like Paint) and paste your screenshot there.

This ability has been officially announced by Microsoft in the change log of Windows 10 build 15002. The ability to capture part of the screen with Win + Shift + S shortcut keys is a new feature of Windows 10 Creators Update.

If you open the Process Monitor app, you can easily see that when you press the mentioned hotkeys, Windows 10 starts Snipping Tool with the /clip switch. Start Process Monitor and add the column 'Command Line' to the set of columns:
Do not specify filters and you will see it for yourself.

Once you take a screenshot of a screen region, press CTRL + E in Process Monitor to stop event tracking. Now you can inspect the output and find the SnippingTool.exe file in the log.

The Details tab of Windows Task Manager will also show the /clip switch for SnippingTool.exe under the Command Line column, but it will disappear quickly. Task Manager has no log option for processes.

So, that's how you can create a Desktop shortcut to do a capture of a screen region with one click.

I wish it would get the ability to save the captured screen region directly to a file or open it in an image editor like Paint to save the user's time. Anyway, it is a great improvement in Windows 10 Creators Update which makes it more attractive for the end user.

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