Quick and Easy Guide to Screenshots

Oftentimes we are working on our computers and want to capture a particular view or screen on our monitor. Here’s how to do this on Windows and Macs.

Why a screenshot?

Windows Dialog boxes.

Often times we are working on our computers and want to capture a particular view or screen on our monitor. There are many reasons for wanting to do this. Here are a few:

Capture an error message to show a technician.
Capture a screen for training purposes so that users can see the configuration of your screen.
Capture a screen for inserting into a written document.

Of course, there are many other reasons why. The problem is many users don’t know how to take a simple screenshot. I hope I can provide you a simple guide to taking screenshots.

Taking screenshots in Windows

Before we start I want to make sure you understand what the term screenshot means. It simply is a picture of a given screen on your computer. This could include a single window or the whole desktop or some portion thereof.

If you are using a Windows machine you can take two types of screenshots.

Full Desktop

To take a screenshot of your full desktop you need only to press the “Print Screen” (or an abbreviation) key on the keyboard. On a standard Windows keyboard this key is typically located in the very top row of keys on the right hand side. It usually is located next to the “pause/break” button. If, for some reason you are using a Mac keyboard on your PC (yes, this is possible) you need to press the F13 key.

Print Screen Keys on Mac and Windows Keyboards

Pressing this key won’t do anything on your screen in particular. In fact, you won’t receive any feedback that something has happened. However, Windows just put a copy of your entire screen in bitmap format on your clipboard. You can now paste that image into basically any program that can display an image. You can paste it into a word document, an email, or an image editing software for manipulation.

A finished full desktop screenshot might look as follows:

A Windows full-screen image

Just a window please

Sometimes you will want to capture a screenshot of just a single window or dialog box. This is a fairly simple process as well. There are a few more steps to this though.

Select the window or dialog box you want to capture
Press the “Alt” and while holding it down “Print Screen” key at the same time
Paste the info into your Word document, email or other program that can read the image file.

If you would like to capture a drop-down menu on that screen you can press the hot key for that menu. For example, if you want to show the “File” menu options for that screen just press “alt+F” then with the “alt” key still held down press the “Print Screen” key. This will capture the screen including the menu options under the file menu. This is really useful to limit the size of the area you want to capture.

Screenshot of specific window including a menu

Taking Screenshots with a Mac

You can take similar screenshots with a Mac. There are even some more advanced options that come standard with the Mac when it comes to taking screenshots that are very useful. You can send screenshots to the clipboard using a Mac just like you do in Windows. However, you can skip a step by sending your screenshot directly to a file. You can even designate what type of file you would like to be saved by default.

Taking a screenshot of the full desktop

To take a screenshot for the entire screen on a mac it is just a matter of pressing a few keys. The Apple (Command) Key + Shift + 3 will take a screenshot of the active desktop. You will hear an audio cue that sounds like a camera shutter. The images will then be saved to your desktop. Yep! It is just that easy. If you happen to have dual monitors running both will save as separate files.

My Main Screen

My Second Monitor

Taking a screenshot of a single window

To take a shot of a single window on a Mac is very similar to a full screen. Apple (Command) Key + Shift + 4, then the spacebar, will give you an icon of a camera and highlight the window you are about to take a snapshot of. Once you are over the window you would like to snap, click the mouse and an image of that screenshot will be saved to your desktop.

Screenshot of Activity Monitor window

A step further

You can capture just a portion of the screen using keyboard shortcuts on a Mac. If you just want to capture a small part of a window press Apple (Command) Key + Shift + 4. You will see your cursor turned into crosshairs. You can now click and drag over the area you want to capture as a screen shot. Just release the mouse when you reach the desired area (it will be highlighted). You will hear the audio cue of a camera shutter. You will find the screenshot was saved to your desktop.

Third-party screen capture apps

All of these functions can also be done using third-party screen capture software. Here are some options.

Mac

Grab – free with Mac OS
Snapz Pro – offers screen video capture as well
SnapNDrag

Windows

ScreenDash – free to use
ScreenJot – commercial
Screenshoter – freeware

Why would you want to use additional software if your OS does all of this for free? Sometimes you want more control. You may want to have the file saved as a different file type. These third party software solutions have more features then the built-in OS functionality.

So, as you can see it isn’t very difficult to take a screenshot. Next time you need to save a certain screen or want to show your technician a certain error, take a screenshot!

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