Take a Screenshot on a Dell

Taking a screenshot is a valuable skill to know if you ever need help with a program or troubleshooting your computer. Screenshots capture what is currently being displayed, allowing others to see what was on your screen. Taking a screenshot on a Dell computer is straightforward, and you can even take screenshots of individual windows. See Step 1 below to learn how.

Steps

Taking Screenshots

1. Locate the ⎙ Print Screen key. This is typically found to the right of the F12 key.
   • It may be labeled “Print Screen”, “PrtScn”, “Print Scr”, or some other variation.
   • On smaller keyboards, it may be combined with another key. If this is the case, you may have to press the Function or Fn key to activate it.
2. Take your screenshot. You can either take a screenshot of the entire display, or you can take a screenshot of a single window. Taking a screenshot copies the screenshot to the clipboard. Copying anything else before pasting the screenshot will erase your screenshot from memory, and you can only take one screenshot at a time.
   • Full screen screenshot - Press the ⎙ Print Screen key. This will take a snapshot of everything that is currently displayed on your screen and copy it to the clipboard. You will not receive any indicator that the screenshot has been taken.
     • If you are using Windows 8, press ⊞ Win+⎙ Print Screen to save the screenshot directly to a file. It will be saved in the Screenshots folder in your Pictures library. You will not have to paste the image if you do this.
   • Single window screenshot - Select the window that you want to capture. Make sure that it is the active window. Hold the Alt key and press ⎙ Print Screen. This will take a snapshot of the active window and copy it to the clipboard. You will not receive any indicator that the screenshot has been taken.
3. Paste your screenshot. Once the screenshot has been taken, it will need to be pasted into a program in order to be saved. The most common method is to open Paint and paste it in a new image. You can then save the image so that you can move it around, edit it, or share it.
   • You can find Paint in the Accessories folder of your Start menu. When you open it, you will be greeted by a blank canvas.
   • Press Ctrl+V or click Edit and select Paste to paste the screenshot onto the blank canvas. The canvas will automatically resize to fit the image.
   • You can also paste your screenshot into word documents or presentations using the same method.
4. Save your screenshot. Once you've pasted it, make sure that you save it so that you can access it later. If you are using Paint to save your screenshot, choose PNG as the format to maximize quality and minimize file size.
   • Underneath the field where you enter the file name, you can use the dropdown menu to select the file type. The two most common for screenshots are PNG and JPG.

Using the Snipping Tool

1. Open the Snipping Tool. This program will allow you to select any part of your screen to be the screenshot, instead of having to select just full screen or single window. You can also make small edits and annotations.
   • The Snipping Tool comes installed with Windows Vista, 7, and 8. It is not available in the Starter or Basic editions, and is not available for Windows XP.
   • You can find the Snipping tool in your Accessories folder in the Start menu, or by typing snipping tool in your Windows 8 Start Screen.
2. Choose the shape you want. You have several options for your screenshot shape when you use the snipping tool. Click the Arrow button next to New to select the snip shape:
   • Free-form Snip – This lets you draw any shape with your mouse. The inside area of the shape will be captured for the screenshot.
   • Rectangular Snip –This is the default shape, and lets you draw a box of any proportions to use as the screenshot.
   • Window Snip – This takes a screenshot of a specific window, much like holding Alt and pressing Print Screen. You will be able to select which window you want to use.
   • Full-screen Snip – This takes a screenshot of the entire screen, but doesn’t show the Snipping Tool window.
3. Change the border. By default, all snips will have a red border around them. You can change this by clicking the Options button. This will open a new window, allowing you to disable the border or change the color.
4. Create the screenshot. Once you have selected your shape and border options, click the New button. The screen will fade, and you can draw your snip shape or select the window you want to capture. If you had “Full-screen Snip” selected, the snip will be created automatically when you click New.
5. Annotate your screenshot. After you have created your snip, you will be given the opportunity to make notes and highlight important parts. Use the Pen tool to draw directly on the screenshot.
   • The Erase tool will only erase annotations you have made, and will not erase any of the original image.
6. Save the snip. Once you are done annotating, you can save it to your hard drive so that you can share it or keep it in your records. To do so, click the floppy disk icon to open the Save dialog box. Give it a name you will remember, and choose the file type using the dropdown menu.
   • PNG is the default format for Windows 7 and 8. It is a high-quality, low size format that preserves a lot of the color and clarity of the original while keeping the size down.
   • JPG is the default format for Windows Vista. This format will result in smaller sizes but will have a noticeable reduction in quality. Also you can save it to docs or a slides if you want to change the size of the picture(some pictures are blurry when enlarged so be careful).

Sources and Citations

See also

• Take a Screenshot in Mac OS X
• Take a Screenshot in Microsoft Windows
• Screenshot on a Galaxy Note 2
• Take Screenshots in Windows Phone 8
• Use the "Print Screen" Function on a Keyboard
• Save a Screenshot
• Take a Screenshot of the Entire Screen
• Take a Picture of Your Screen
• Take a Screenshot on a 4G LG Android Phone