How to take a screenshot on Windows 11

Almost every Windows user has a need to use the screen capture feature. In this article, TipsMake.com will show you how to take screenshots on the simplest Windows 11 operating system.

Capture Windows 11 screen with Prt Scr . key

The Prt Scr key stands for Print Screen. It is designed specifically for the purpose of taking screenshots. With this key, you have three basic ways of taking screenshots as follows:

Method 1 : Press the Prt Scr . key

With this way, you will capture the entire screen and can paste (paste) the screenshot into other software such as Paint, Word or the messaging windows of Facebook, Zalo, Viber.

After bringing the screenshot results into Paint, you can also edit the image such as cropping, annotating, painting more.

How to take a screenshot on Windows 11 Picture 1

Method 2 : Press the key combination Win + Prt Scr

If you use the combination of the Win key plus the Prt Scr key, the screenshot will be automatically saved to your computer as a .png file in the Picture/Screenshots folder. Previously, using only the Prt Scr key, the screenshot was only saved in the clipboard and could be overwritten by other data.

Method 3 : Press the key combination Alt + Prt Scr

Finally, when you combine the Alt key with the Prt Scr key, you will take a screenshot of the current (currently selected) window instead of the entire screen. After capturing, you can paste the screenshot into Paint, Word or chat windows.

Screen capture with Snipping Tool (Snip & Sketch)

Previously, Windows 10 and the early versions of Windows 11 existed in parallel with two screen capture tools, Snipping Tool and Snip & Sketch. However, later in recent updates Windows 11 combined these two tools and took the common name Snipping Tool. Therefore, Snipping Tool will now have the photo editing features of Snip & Sketch.

To take a screenshot with the Snipping Tool, follow these steps:

Step 1 : Open the Snipping Tool application by pressing the Start button then typing Snip and then clicking on the search result.

Step 2 : The Snipping Tool tool interface will appear with 3 buttons. New button with + icon to take a screenshot. You can also use the keyboard shortcut Windows + Shift + S to start capturing. The Windows mode button with the icon of overlapping windows is used to select the shooting mode. There are 4 modes for you to choose from including Rectangle mode (you drag the mouse to select a rectangular capture frame), Windows mode (window capture, you choose the application window you want to capture), Full screen mode (capture the entire screen). ) and Free-form mode (you choose a free-range shooting area, any shape type). The third button with the clock icon with the self-timer function has 4 modes for you to choose including No delay(captures immediately when you press the New button), Snip in 3 secs (takes after 3 seconds), Snip in 5 secs (takes after 5 seconds) and Snip in 10 secs (takes after 10 seconds).

How to take a screenshot on Windows 11 Picture 2

Step 3: While shooting you also have buttons to select shooting mode and X button to exit .

Step 4 : After the capture is complete, the resulting window will appear. Here, in addition to the 3 control buttons mentioned above, you will have other buttons.

1. The first is the Ballpoint pen button with the function of creating notes. You can right-click this button to choose the color and size of the stroke.
2. Highlighter (marker) with the function of marking the things you need. You can also right-click this button to choose a color and size.
3. Eraser (eraser).
4. Ruler/Protractor (ruler/protractor). Click to choose between a ruler and a protractor.
5. Touch writing (a tool that supports writing with finger strokes).
6. Image crop (crop image).
7. Undo/Redo (undo/redo).
8. Zoom (zoom the image).
9. Save as (Ctrl + S).
10. Copy (Ctrl + C).
11. Share (share).

Another useful feature of the Snipping Tool is the ability to automatically name the image based on when the photo was taken. This makes it easy to find the photo you need to use.

Take a screenshot of Windows 11 with Xbox Game Bar

Inside the Snipping Tool, Windows 11 also has a built-in tool that can help you take screenshots, which is the Xbox Game Bar. The steps are as follows:

Step 1 : Open the Xbox Game Bar by pressing the Win + G keyboard shortcut or find and open it through the Start Menu.

Step 2 : Click the Capture button if the Capture window does not appear by itself.

Step 3 : Click the Camera icon in the Capture window to take a screenshot. Instead of pressing the button, you can also use the Win + Alt + Prt Scr key combination . Screenshots with Xbox Game Bar will be saved in the folder C:/Users/User Account/Videos/Captures. In which, User Account is the account name that you use on your computer.

How to take a screenshot on Windows 11 Picture 3

In general, TipsMake.com does not appreciate the method of taking screenshots with Xbox Game Bar because it is too complicated compared to other methods.

Capture Windows 11 screen with supporting software

There are many software that support Windows 11 screen capture for you to choose from. Of these, TipsMake.com recommends using ShareX because it has the ability to fix the defect of Windows 11's rounded corner windows.

Some other Windows 11 screen capture software you can try:

1. PicPick
2. Zalo
3. Greenshot

Good luck!

Marvin Fry

Update 02 June 2022