How to Take a Screenshot on a Laptop

How to Take a Screenshot on a Laptop?

The easiest way to take a screenshot on a laptop is to press the ‘Print Screen Key’ found usually on the top row of the laptop’s keyboard.

Different laptop manufacturers may have different keyboard designs and the position of this key may vary. The key will be marked ‘PrtScr’ or ‘PrtScn’. An image of the full screen will be saved in the Screenshots folder on the laptop.

The ways to take a screenshot on your laptop are:

• Press Alt + ’PrtScr’ keys to make a copy of the active window. This will be on the clipboard for using or pasting on any other document.
• Windows + Shift + S keys can be pressed if you wish to select a portion of the screen to copy.
• Windows + ‘PrtScr’ keys can also be used to take a screenshot on the laptop.
• Snipping Tool is another facility in a Windows laptop for taking screenshots.
• You can take screenshots with the Game Bar while playing games.

 

’PrtScr’ Key

The ‘PrtScr’ key is the easiest way to take a screenshot on a Windows laptop.

As mentioned above, some keyboards may show ’PrtScr’ while others have ’PrtScn’. You may find that on some laptops, it will be required to press the ’Fn’ key and the ’PrtScr’ key together.

The drawback of this method is that the image saved will be just what you can see on the display. If the content you want to be copied does not get covered in full, you may have to scroll down and take another screenshot.

 

Alt + ’PrtScr’ Keys

By pressing the Alt + ‘PrtScr’ keys together, the image on the screen is copied to the clipboard. This is useful if you are in the middle of creating a document in MS Word or any other program and want to add the screenshot there.

The Paste button in Word or the Ctrl + V keys on the keyboard will paste the clipboard content on the document as you would normally do.

 

Windows + Shift + S Keys

When you press the Windows key along with the Shift key and the letter S, you will find that the screen dims. The mouse will change into a different shape. This allows you to select any part of the screen you wish to copy. The chosen content will be on the clipboard for use in any other program.

However, it should be noted that this method of taking screenshots is available only with the latest version of the Windows 10 OS (Creators Update).

 

Snipping Tool in Windows

Steps to use the Snipping tool in Windows 10 are as given below.

• Type ‘Snipping Tool’ on the Search window.
• The Snipping Tool dialogue box will appear.
• It has a Mode tab on top which you can click on.
• There will be a dropdown menu having four options.
• These are ‘free-form strip’, ‘Rectangular strip’, ‘Window strip’, and ‘full-screen strip’.
• You can click on any one of these based on your requirement.
• Now click on the New tab.
• The screen will dim and permit you to select the portion of the screen you wish to copy.
• Whatever you have selected will appear on the snipping tool dialogue box.
• There are tools within this dialogue box to make any edits to the image.
• After you are done with making the edits, click on the File tab and choose ‘Save As’.
• You have now saved the image on your laptop.

 

Taking Screenshots in Games

If you are playing one of the games from the Microsoft Xbox Console Companion, you can click images from your game if you want to share it with someone.

While playing, press the Windows and the letter G together. A large menu overlay will appear on the screen on the side with a camera icon on it. You can click on this camera icon to take a screenshot.

You also have the option to use the regular Windows key + Alt + ’PrtScn‘ to take a screenshot while playing a game.

 

How Do I Take a Screenshot on a Lenovo Laptop?

There are a couple of methods to take screenshots in Lenovo laptops. One of them is to press the Windows key and then press the ’PrtSc‘ key. You will find the screen dimming a bit and then the screenshot is automatically saved. By default, the screenshot will be saved in the Screenshot folder on your laptop.

This is if your Lenovo laptop is running on Windows 10. The other option is to hold the Windows key pressed and press the letter W. You will see a menu bar appear on the right. ScreenSketch is the menu option for taking a screenshot.

In this method, you can also edit the image and once you have the image you want, you can save the file.

If your Lenovo laptop is running on an earlier version of Windows, then the steps are as follows:

• Press the ‘PrtSc’ on the keyboard.
• This will take the image on the screen and save it to the click board.
• You can then use a program like Paint to open the image.
• If you desire to make any changes to the image, you can do so by using Paint.
• You can then save the image using the File>>Save option.

 

How Do I Take a Screenshot on a Dell Laptop?

On your Dell laptop also, the ‘PrtScr’ key on the keyboard is used to take a screenshot. It will automatically save the image in PNG format in the Screenshots sub-folder within the Pictures folder. If you wish to make changes in the image you can open it from this location on Paint or Paint 3D and make the edits.

You can choose to save the image in other formats if required for mailing purposes.

The Snipping Tool option available in Windows 10 is available on the Dell laptops too.

 

How Do I Take a Screenshot on an Acer Laptop?

If your Acer laptop is running on Windows 8 or Windows 10, the easiest way to get a screenshot is to press the Windows key and the ’PrtSc’ key together. The image as you see on the screen will be saved in the Pictures folder.

If you find this is not working you can try pressing the Fn key + the ’PrtSc’ key to save the screenshot. The reason the first method may not work may be that in some cases the ‘PrtSc’ key would have been assigned other functions.

Being a Windows computer, the Snip & Sketch tool option is available too. You enter the word ‘Snip’ on the Windows search box and then select the Snip & Sketch menu.

• Click on the New button on top.
• It will let you select the content on the screen you wish to save as a screenshot.
• Once you have made the selection and take your finger off the mouse (or the touchpad), you will find that the selected portion alone is displayed.
• You can edit the image now.
• Save the final image in the folder of your choice for easy access.

 

How Do I Take a Screenshot on an Asus Laptop?

There are several ways you can take screenshots on an Asus laptop. These methods may not differ widely from the other Windows-driven laptops. However, there are additional tools available in the latest models of Asus laptops. The user’s choice will determine which route is the best.

The key for taking screenshots on Asus laptops is named ’Print’. There are two options here. If you want to just use the screenshot to be shared once in a document or mail that you are typing, you can press the ’Print’ key alone. The image will be on the clipboard for pasting elsewhere.

If you wish to save the image in a different format you can drag it from the clipboard and open in a program like Paint and make changes before saving. The other option is to press the Windows and the ’Print‘ keys together. This will result in the full screen (without any edits) being stored in the Screenshots sub-folder within the Image folder of your Asus laptop.

Many users of Asus laptops may have more than one monitor connected to their PC or laptop. The same action of pressing the Windows + ’Print‘ keys together will result in the saving of screenshot images of all the screens in one single file in a PNG format. The location will be ‘C:\User\\Pictures‘or ‘C:\User\\Pictures\Screenshots‘.

While this will happen automatically, you also have the option to open the screenshot in one of the editing programs like Paint and then save it.

You can use the Snipping Tool, an accessory that is built into the Windows 10 operating system to take screenshots, edit, and save them.

 

How Do I Take a Screenshot on a Toshiba Laptop?

You have three methods to take screenshots on a Toshiba laptop. These are described as Screenshot combination, Active window screenshot, and Robust screen recorder.

In the first, almost the same way you may do in most other brands of laptops, a combination of the Windows key + the ’PrtSc’ key does the job. An image of the full screen will be stored in the Pictures>>Screenshots folder.

If you don’t find the screenshot in the folder, then you can try a combination of Fn + Windows key + End/PrtSc. This will work on a Toshiba laptop.

The other two options on the Toshiba laptop are editing using Paint and using the Snipping Tool that is already explained for other brands.

 

How Do I Take a Screenshot on a MacBook Pro?

You can take a screenshot on a MacBook Pro by pressing three keys together; ‘Shift’ + ’Command’ + ‘3’. You will notice a thumbnail of the shot at the bottom of the screen. This image will be saved on the desktop.

If you wish to edit the image or remove a portion of it, tap on the thumbnail image and it will open the full image within the built-in image editor.

MacBook Pro allows you to directly select a portion of the screen for a screenshot. To get this, you press the No. 4 key instead of the No. 3 key. That is ‘Shift’ + ’Command’ + ‘4’. With the MacBook Pro, you also have a third option to click a screenshot.

This allows you a timed gap of a few seconds and you can make all the required selections. Here, the combination of keys is ‘Shift’ + ’Command’ + ‘5’. You will get a dropdown menu with the options to choose from.

 

How Do I Take a Screenshot on a MacBook Air?

Taking screenshots on a MacBook Air is not different from MacBook Pro. The same ‘Shift’ + ’Command’ + ‘3’ or ‘4’ keys together will do the job. You can use the spacebar on the keyboard to highlight and select the area to be copied.

 

Screenshot Not Working on HP Laptop

If the Print Screen key in your HP laptop is not working, you should first try the Fn key + PrtSc keys together. If even this does not work, try the onscreen keyboard.

If none of these yields any result you will have to do a keyboard test or go for replacement of the keyboard.

 

Screenshot Not Working on Lenovo Laptop

If you find the screenshot function not working on your Lenovo laptop, check if the response “problem encountered while saving screenshot” comes up on the screen.

If so, the solution is to go to Settings>>System>>Reset and click on ’Reset App preferences’. This should resolve the problem.

The other suggestion is to use a program called Screen Capture Pro, which can be downloaded.

Some Lenovo laptops may have the ‘PrtSc’ key in an alternate location on the keyboard.

 

Screenshot Not Working on Dell Laptop

One way of solving the problem of screenshot not working on your Dell laptop is to use the Snipping Tool that is available with the Windows 10 OS.

An alternate solution suggested is to use the tool Free Screenshot Capture. This tool allows you to use the Attach button in your email to capture a screenshot and send it by email as an attachment.

 

Screenshot Not Working on Acer Laptop

If you are facing a problem with taking screenshots on your Acer laptop, the usual methods are to try the keyboard combination of the ’Fn’ key and ’PrtSc‘ key or the Windows key + ‘PrtSc’ key. If that doesn’t work, then try the Snipping tool.

The second option of Windows + ’PrtSc‘ keys may not save the image in the Screenshots folder. You will have to do the editing on Paint and then save the file. Some have tried all three keys, Windows + ’Fn‘+’PrtSc‘ and found that it works to take screenshots. You can try that too.

 

Screenshot Not Working on Asus Laptop

One of the reasons for the screenshot not working on your Asus laptop could be that the Print Screen key may have been assigned some other program running on your laptop.

The solution is to close all running programs and then try taking the screenshot using the ‘PrtSc’ key.

You can try the Alt key + ‘PrtSc’ also to see if it works.

 

Screenshot Not Working on MacBook

The most common solution offered for this problem on a MacBook is to do a proper restart of the system. You may be familiar with the different ways to restart the MacBook. Use any of these ways to restart. You will find that the screenshot facility is back with the pressing of the ‘Shift’ + ’Command’ + ‘3’ or ‘4’ keys together.