There are many ways you can take screenshots on your laptop. Major computing platforms including Windows, macOS, and Chrome OS natively offer the option to take a screenshot and save the content on the screen for future use. There are many shortcuts you can use to take screenshots on your laptop. You can quickly edit captured screenshots, crop out useless parts and hide personal details. There are also many ways to share screenshots directly with others, such as via email.
Apple, Google, and Microsoft offer different methods through which you can take screenshots on your laptop. There are also third-party apps that can help you take screenshots and edit them. But you can also do this using just your computer’s built-in mechanisms.
In this article, we will provide you with a step-by-step guide on how to take screenshots on your laptop. These instructions include different steps for Windows, macOS, and Chrome OS platforms, making it easy to capture screenshots regardless of the make and model of your device.
How to take screenshots on a Windows laptop
First, we cover the steps you need to take to capture a screenshot on your Windows laptop. Microsoft has supported the PrtScn button for capturing screenshots on Windows for some time. However, with the advent of modern computing using graphical interfaces, Windows computers have received pre-installed Snip & Sketch applications. This brings a “Rectangle Snip” option that lets you drag your cursor around an object to form a rectangle, a Free-form Snip that captures a screenshot in any shape you like, and a “Window Snip” that takes a screenshot of a specific window out of the multiple windows available on your system. The app also has a “Full Screen Screenshot” option to capture the entire screen as a screenshot. Given below are the steps to take a screenshot on a Windows computer. You can also skip to the next section to learn the steps required to capture a screenshot on your MacBook or any other Mac computer.
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according to Windows logo key + transfer + S Together. You will see a clipping bar on the screen.
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select among Rectangular scissors, Free tailoring, window scissorsand full screen screenshot.
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for Rectangular scissors and Free tailoringuse the mouse cursor to select the area to capture.
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Once captured, the screenshot is automatically saved to the clipboard. Click on the notification you receive after capturing a screenshot to open it in the Snip & Sketch app.
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You can customize and use tools to adjust the screenshot, such as cropping or scaling.
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Now, click on the save icon on the app to save the screenshot.
If you’re an old-school Windows user, you can of course use the PrtScn button to save a screenshot of your entire screen to your clipboard. You can then paste it into the MS Paint application or any other photo editor application, customize it, and save it as an image on your computer. You can also press Scanner button and Windows logo key Capture screenshots and save them directly to the photo library on your computer.
How to take a screenshot on a MacBook or other Mac computer
Unlike Windows computers, Mac computers do not have preloaded applications and do not support capturing screenshots using a dedicated button. However, Apple’s macOS also has a native way to take screenshots on MacBooks and other Mac computers. Here are the steps detailing how to do this.
- according to transfer + Order + 3 Take a screenshot of the entire screen together.
- A thumbnail will now appear in the corner of the screen to confirm that the screenshot has been captured.
- Click on the preview of the screenshot to edit it. If you don’t want to edit it, you can wait for the screenshot to save to your desktop.
If you don’t want to capture the entire screen, you can press and hold transfer + Order + 4 key together. This will bring up a crosshair pointer that you can drag to select the portion of the screen you want to capture. You can also press space bar While dragging. You can also press Esc key.
Apple also lets you press transfer + Order + 4 + space bar Together.
By default, macOS saves screenshots to the desktop. However, Apple allows users to change the default location where screenshots are saved in macOS Mojave and later. This can be done through the options menu in the screenshot application.
How to take a screenshot on a Chromebook
Google’s Chrome OS also offers shortcuts for taking screenshots on Chromebooks. You can press Ctrl + Show Windows to take a full-screen screenshot. You can also take a partial screenshot by pressing transfer + control keys + display window together, then click and drag the area you want to capture.
Chrome OS on tablets lets you capture screenshots by pressing the power button and the volume down button simultaneously.
Once captured, screenshots on Chrome OS are also copied to the clipboard – just like Windows. You can paste them into the app to save them for future use.
