Windows 11 Has Too Many Screenshot Shortcuts, I Use These 4 the Most

Similar to smartphones, Windows also comes with built-in screenshot-taking capability that lets you capture what’s on your computer screen. Interestingly, there are multiple shortcuts that you can use to capture a screenshot on Windows. However, these four are the ones I use the most.

Take a Screenshot of the Entire Window

As a writer for How-To Geek, I often come across the need to take screenshots of my computer screen to better illustrate how to perform certain tasks on Windows. I always prefer capturing the entire screen so that it’s clearer for you to see exactly what I’m referring to in my guide. To capture my entire screen, I use the Win+PrtScrn shortcut.

When you use this screenshot shortcut, your screen will dim for a millisecond, indicating that the screenshot has been taken. The screenshot is then saved in PNG format in this location: “C:\Users\Username\Pictures\Screenshots”.

It’s also possible to change the location where the screenshots are saved by default. To do this, navigate to the “C:\Users\Username\Pictures” directory, right-click the “Screenshots” folder, and choose “Properties.”

In the Properties window, switch to the “Location” tab, and click the “Move” button. Navigate to the location where you want to move the Screenshots folder and click “Select Folder.”

Interestingly, when you use the Win+PrtScrn shortcut, the screenshot also gets copied in the clipboard, which you can check out by pressing the Win+V shortcut. This gives you the added advantage that you can directly paste the captured screenshot into an app, like Dropbox, and edit the image as per your requirement.

In case you only want the screenshot to be copied to the clipboard without being saved in the Screenshots folder, then you should only press the Print Screen key on your keyboard. However, this method will only work if the Snipping Tool is not configured to open on pressing the Print Screen key.

To check this, open the Settings app and navigate to Accessibility > Keyboard. Then, make sure the “Use the Print Screen Key to Open Screen Capture” option is disabled.

Copy the Active Window to the Clipboard

The above-mentioned Print Screen key method and the Win+PrtScn key combination copy the entire screen to the clipboard. But what if you only want to copy the active window? In that case, you need to use the Alt+PrtScrn shortcut.

Pressing this key combination will capture the active window and save it to the clipboard. Now, you can paste the screenshot in any image editing application and apply the necessary edits.

Unlike the Win+PrtScn key combination, the screen will not briefly dim to indicate that the screenshot has been taken. Instead, you need to open the clipboard to confirm if the screenshot has been captured or not.

Manually Select the Screenshot Area

If you want to take a screenshot of a particular area on your computer screen, then I’d recommend you use the Snipping Tool. It’s a built-in tool on Windows that lets you capture screenshots by pressing the Win+Shift+S shortcut key.

After pressing the key combination, the Snipping tool overlay will appear, asking you to select the area you want to capture. By default, the tool captures the screen in a rectangular shape, but you can also choose the freeform selection option from the drop-down menu in the Snipping Tool overlay.

Once you’ve taken the screenshot, you can apply different edits to it, like adding different shapes, using the highlighter to mark important areas, or using the text action feature to extract text from the screenshot.

The screenshot captured by the snipping tool also gets stored in the “C:\Users\Username\Pictures\Screenshots” directory. But if you want to change it, click the three dots in the top-right corner of the Snipping Tool and choose “Settings.” Then, click the drop-down icon next to the “Automatically Save Original Screenshots” option, and select “Change.” Navigate to the folder where you want to save the screenshots and click “Select Folder.”

Game Bar Screenshot Key

If you want to take a screenshot of something interesting in a game you’re playing on your Windows PC, you can take the help of the Game Bar screenshot feature. You can access it by pressing Win+Alt+PrntScrn. You also have the option to configure this feature to launch by pressing any other key combination.

To do that, press Win+G to open the Game Bar, and click the gear icon. In the Settings window, choose “Shortcuts” from the left sidebar and click the box under the Take a Screenshot option on the right. Press the key combination that you want to use to take a screenshot using the Game Bar. Then, click “Save.”

The screenshots will be saved in the “C:\Users\Username\Videos\Captures” directory. To change its location, you need to move the Captures folder to the location where you want to save the screenshots.

How to Take Screenshots If Your Keyboard Doesn’t Have the Print Screen Key?

Many laptops, like the Acer Aspire Lite models, don’t have a Print Screen button on the keyboard. This is mainly done to make the laptop more portable. On these devices, the Fn+Win+Space key combination is used take a full-screen screenshot.

However, this method will only work if your device manufacturer has not included the Print Screen key on the keyboard, not when the key is present, but it’s not working for some reason. In such a case, you should use the Snipping Tool to capture the screenshots. Alternatively, you can use the PowerToys tool to remap the Print screen key to another key.

With these shortcuts, you’ll be able to quickly capture screenshots on your Windows 11 PC. Once you’ve captured the screenshots and applied the necessary edits to them, you can transfer them to another device like your Android smartphone or iPhone if you want.