Screenshot is a quick and handy way to share or save whatever showing on your computer screen. Screenshots are very helpful for bloggers like me who write on ‘How to’ topics. On this website, you can find many screenshots that I’ve added to help you understand better. Today, we’ll learn how to take screenshot on laptop. Whether you have a Windows laptop or Mac, you can read this post.
An individual can also take a screenshot to capture something important on his/her computer screen and later on it can be shared with someone. You don’t need to install any third party software to take screenshot on laptop, Windows computer or Mac.
Your Windows or Mac laptop/PC lets you take screenshots by different methods for example using Snipping Tool, by pressing Prt Sc button, and Shift-Command-4 keys (for Mac) and the like.
In this tutorial, I’ll guide you through how to take screenshot on laptop. As mentioned above, no matter what machine you own be it HP laptop, Dell laptop, Mac or personal computer, you can read this post to save screenshots.
I have observed some people use third party screenshot applications to take screenshots. This could put your PC into risk; if screenshot application is not from trustworthy developer. Also, if your computer comes with inbuilt options then why would you use third party tools.
Next, I going to show you 4 easy ways that you can use to take screenshot on your laptop.
How to screenshot on Laptop (click on link to directly jump-to)
1. How to take screenshot on Windows (HP, Dell, Acer, or another)
Here are different ways to save screenshot on laptop HP, Dell or any other Windows laptop without using a third party software:
- Press PrtScn button to take screenshot on Windows
- Press Windows + PrtScn buttons
- Use Snipping Tool
- Press Alt + PrtScn
2. How to screenshot on Mac
Mac users can pick any of the following mentioned ways to save screenshots:
- Press Shift-Command-3 to capture entire screen
- Press Shift-Command-4 to save portion of your screen
- Press Control-Shift-Command-4
- Press Shift-Command-4 and then Spacebar
Let’s discuss all of them one-by-one.
How to take screenshot on Windows laptop or PC
1. Press PrtScn button to take screenshot on Windows
Whether you want take screenshot in HP laptop, Dell laptop or PC, you can use this simple method. Almost all Windows computers come with print screen button labelled with PrtScn, Prt SC, or Print Screen.
On every keyboard, you can find PrtScn or Prt Sc button. This button lets you take a screenshot of entire screen.
To take a screenshot, first press PrtScn or Prt Sc button then open an image editor like MS Paint and press Ctrl+V to paste the screenshot in the software. Thereafter, you can use Crop tool to crop your screenshot or you can simply save entire screenshot as an image.
To save this file as an image, from the top left corner, click on File > Save as > select preferred image format say JPEG or PNG. Then select a location where you want to save your image and give a name to your file and hit save button.
That’s it. You’ve successfully saved a screenshot.
Was this method difficult? Then try next one.
2. Press Windows + PrtScn buttons
If you want to know how to take screenshot on laptop HP, Dell, or another then this is the easiest and quickest method to take screenshot on Windows 10/8/7 PC or Laptop. You can use this trick if you’ve to take multiple screenshots.
To take a screenshot, all you’ve to do is press Windows + PrtScn buttons together. After pressing the buttons, your computer screen will dim for a moment which means the screenshot has been saved to your computer.
To find your saved screenshot, open My Computer and from the sidebar, click on Pictures then Screenshots.
3. Use Snipping Tool to take screenshots on Windows
Above methods save screenshot of entire screen. But, what if you want to save a part of your computer screen as an image?
Here Windows built-in screenshot tool, Snipping Tool, comes into play that lets you save full or a part of screen as an image.
Snipping tool has following four different modes to take screenshots:
- Free-form Snip, to take screenshot of your choice
- Rectangular Snip – to take rectangular screenshots
- Window Snip, to take screenshot of a particular window or dialog box if you’ve opened multiple windows
- Full-screen Snip, to take screenshot of entire screen.
How to use Windows Snipping tool or Snip & Sketch?
It’s very easy. Just open your Snipping tool and then select a screen capture mode then save your screenshot. Let me demonstrate.
To open Snipping Tool, click on Windows start button then go to Windows Accessories and select Snipping Tool. You can also type Snipping Tool in the Windows search box to find it easily. As of now there is no shortcut to open Snipping Tool.
Once the tool app opens up, to capture a screenshot using Snipping Tool, first select a Mode like I’ve selected Rectangular Snip and then click on New or Press Alt+N keys together.
Now entire screen will be highlighted, just left click and drag the cursor around an area to save screenshot of that area.
Next press Ctrl+S or Press File then choose Save as to save your snip as an image.
Snip & Sketch is going to replace Snipping Tool
In future Snipping Tool will be replaced by Snip & Sketch application. You can do everything with this new app along with some more modern features. You can also use this latest app to capture your computer screen.
For that purpose, in Windows search box type Snip & Sketch and then press Enter.
Once app opens up, press Alt+N or click New. Once screen gets highlighted, press left click button of your mouse and make a rectangle around the area you want to save.
Thereafter, press Ctrl+B keys from your keyboard to save it as an image.
4. Press Alt + PrtScn to take a screenshot
Alt + PrtScn keys can also be used to save screenshot of current or active window or dialog box.
Let’s suppose you’ve multiple windows open and want to save screenshot of one of them. In that case, you can select a window whose screenshot you want to save and then can press Alt + PrtScn keys together.
After doing that, open an image editor software like MS Paint and press Ctrl + V buttons or click on Paste button showing at the top left corner.
After pasting the screenshot in an image editor, you will be able to save it as JPEG or PNG.
Read: 14 Online Shopping Tips to Save Money – I saved $34
How to screenshot on Laptop Mac
Mac also comes with inbuilt features that let you capture your screen and save it as .PNG. Let’s see what screenshot options you have for your Mac. Those who are searching for ‘How to screenshot on laptop Mac?’ can read following ways to capture their screen.
1. Press Shift-Command-3 to capture entire screen
This is a very handy shortcut to capture your entire screen as a screenshot. Just press Command-Shift-3 from your keyboard and done. Your entire screen will be saved as an image on your Mac desktop screen. This is a very handy way to take screenshot on Mac laptop.
2. Press Shift-Command-4 to save portion of your screen
Mac users who want to capture specific area of their screen can use this screen capture method. You will need to press Shift-Command-4 from keyboard, once crosshair appears on your computer screen, click and drag around the area you want to save as image.
Your selected portion will be saved to your desktop as an image.
3. Press Control-Shift-Command-4 to copy screenshot to clipboard
To copy your screenshot to clipboard, simply press Control-Shift-Command-4. This will copy your screen. Now go to where you want to copy it and press Command+V. You can use this method to add screenshots to documents, presentations or the like.
4. Press Shift-Command-4 and then Spacebar to capture active window
If you have multiple windows active and you want to save screenshot of specific window then select window whose screenshot you want to save and then press Shift-Command-4 then hit Spacebar. Next camera icon will appear on your active window.
Now click your mouse to save active window as an image.
Above were some easy ways to save a screenshot on laptop or PC. You can also use some third party software to do that. Third party screenshot software come with some handy features, however, above methods of taking screenshots are also fine for an individual.
I assume now you know how to take screenshot on laptop. Above methods will help you save your computers screens as an image on Windows as well as Mac laptops.
I advise you to take screenshots at maximum possible resolution to save high quality images.
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