How to make a Windows screenshot (incl. Win 10 + 11!)

Did you ever wonder how you could make a screenshot or photo of your windows screen? It’s the easiest thing, just follow our short guide and take a look at our video! It doesn’t matter if you are using Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows 7 or a classic version of Windows – making a screenshot stays the same, even in Windows 10. Windows 11 comes with a new shortcut and some extra features!

To make a screenshot with Windows XP, Windows Vista or older Windows systems like Win 95, Windows 98 or Windows ME / NT / 2000, just press the “PRINT” key on the upper rightside of your pc’s keyboard. Depending on your keyboard model, it could also be called „PRT SCR“: When pressed, Windows takes a screenshot of the actual desktop with it’s windows and icons and stores it in the „clipboard“.

To save the captured screenshot as image file, you need to start a drawing program like “Windows Paint”. Insert the screenshot image by pressing the CTRL and the V key at the same time, Paint should now show the screenshot image. You can now save the screenshot from the file menu as an image file.

Pressing only the „PRINT“ or „PRT SCR“ key on your keyboard will save the whole desktop. To just capture the actual window, press ALT and PRINT together!

Windows screenshot: Windows 7, 8 and 10

Since Windows 7, Microsoft added the program “Snipping Tool” that lets you choose just the part of the screen which shall be captured as a screenshot. You can still use Windows Paint and the PRINT key to do a screenshot like with classic Windows versions though, but the snipping tool lets you easily select the areas you want to save as image: See our Windows 11 Video covering the Snipping Tool!

Start the “Snipping Tool” from the Windows Menu by clicking on “Programs” and “Accessories”. You can now start the “Snipping Tool” by clicking on its name – or just use the Cortana search to find the snipping tool! When started, you can draw a box with the mouse (keep the mousebutton pressed!) that will be captured as your Windows screenshot. When you release the mouse’s left button, Windows captures the screen and shows it inside the “Snipping Tool” program.

If the captured screenshot shows all the needed details on your pc’s screen, you can now easily save the screenshot as an image file.

 
Windows 8 allows you to save the Screenshot as file!

Besides the Snipping Tool, Windows 8 and Windows 8.1 still rely on the PRT SCR key. Together with the SHIFT key, you can save the screenshot directly as a file:

Windows 11 screenshot

With Windows 11, the Microsoft Snipping Tool has got some extra features: You can start it with a new keyboard shortcut (WIN + SHIFT + S) and you can start a screenshot of the whole Windows 11 screen or just a selection directly out of the tool.

Another big update lets you also record videos directly out of the Snipping Tool: Select the whole screen or just an area to be captured and make an easy screen recording with Windows 11 without the need of installing extra software!