A screenshot or screen capture is the act of copying all or part of what is currently displayed on the screen and saving it in image format on your computer.

SNIPPING TOOL is a useful program which is part of the Vista, Windows 7 and Windows 8 standard installation.

To open SNIPPING TOOL

• Vista / Windows 7 : Go to Start menu > All programs > Accessories > Snipping Tool
• Windows 8 : Open Snipping Tool by swiping in from the right edge of the screen, tapping Search (or if you're using a mouse, pointing to the lower-right corner of the screen, moving the mouse pointer up, and then clicking Search), entering Snipping Tool in the search box, and then tapping or clicking Snipping Tool.

Tap or click the arrow next to the New button, choose the kind of snip you want, and then pick the area of your screen that you want to capture.

Different shaped “snips” can be captured, for example

• a free-form snip whereby you can draw any shape around an object using your mouse, finger or tablet pen
• a rectangular snip where you drag the cursor around an object to form a rectangle
• a window snip – you can select a window, e.g. a browser window or a dialog box
• a full-screen snip which allows you to capture the entire screen

When you have captured the area of screen you need the image will automatically appear in the Snipping Tool editing window. Using the drop down text menus or the icons, various options are available at this point.

• you can create a new capture (the old one will be lost if you do this)
• you can save the capture to file
• you can copy the capture
• you can send the capture by email
• you can annotate the capture
• you can highlight the capture
• you can erase any annotation or highlight

A copy of the file can be saved to your computer using the FILE/SAVE AS option.

---

Creating shortcut icon on Taskbar

You may find it useful to pin the Snipping Tool program to the Taskbar so that it is readily available when needed.

• Vista/Windows 7 : In the Start Menu listing, right click on Snipping Tool and select "Pin to Taskbar"
• Windows 8 : To "Pin it to the Taskbar": when it's open, right click and select Pin to Taskbar.)
  

---

Others methods of doing a screenshot:

You can do a basic Print Screen from the keyboard and paste it into Word or an image program like Paint. There may be a dedicated key on the keyboard or you may need to press Fn and Prt SC together on some laptops.

• Using Print Screen - works with Windows 7 & Window 8
• Take a screenshot

---

Links to other screen capture programs:

• Awesome Screenshot: Capture & Annotate - works with Firefox, Safari and Chrome
• FastStone Capture
• Best Free Screen Capture Tool

---

Back to Reference Information and 'How to' Guides

---