Today I'm going to show you how you can take a
screenshot in Windows 11. Things have changed; it's gotten better, especially when it
comes to grabbing what you need from that screenshot. For example, you might
just want to grab text from an image, or you might want to get the link of a QR
code that you just took a screenshot of. You can also add emojis, arrows, and shapes.
No need to install any other third-party app or pay for anything else—it's free
for as long as you have Windows 11. But first, let's start with the fastest way to
take a screenshot of everything on your screen, and that's to hold down the
Windows key and press the Print Screen button. When you
do this, three things happen: Number 1, you're going to notice that your screen
flickers a bit, which gives a sign that something is happening—a screenshot is taken.
Number 2, that screenshot is going to be saved to your clipboard, so all you have to do
is open whatever app you want to paste it in and just press Ctrl + V.
And number 3, your screenshot file is going to be saved in your File Explorer, in Pictures,
Screenshot folder. That's pretty cool, right? So that was Windows + Print Screen. Now, the
next way of taking a screenshot is just to use the Print Screen button. When you do that
and you have the latest updates in Windows 11, you're going to notice the new snipping tool
pop up on top of your screen. By default, you're going to be in rectangular mode, so you
just have to click and hold the left mouse button, drag to capture the area that you want, and
release that mouse button when you're done. Now, just like before, that screenshot is
going to be saved to your clipboard, and the screenshot file is going to be saved in
your File Explorer, in the Screenshots folder. If, though, you don't want that snipping tool
to pop up when you click on Print Screen, you can turn this behavior off. You see,
whenever Microsoft changes an existing behavior, the most searched term about that behavior
is "How do I turn it off?" Not everyone likes change—I'm not judging. At the end of this video,
I'm going to show you how you can turn this off. If you can't find the Print Screen button
on your keyboard, there is another shortcut: Windows + Shift + S. This is going to bring
up the Snipping Tool as well. Now, if you're not a fan of shortcuts, click on the Windows
Start button, type in "snip," and enter. This is going to take you to the Snipping Tool app.
To capture the screen, click on "New." You can, of course, pin this app directly to your Start
section—just right-mouse click and "Pin to Start." So now that we covered different ways of
taking a screenshot, let's talk about the part where you have more control over what
you want to have in that screenshot. So, I'm going to use Windows + Shift + S to activate the
Snipping Tool. The first option that's underlined is our screenshot option, so I'm just going to
leave it as is. If you click on this drop-down, you can select Rectangular. This allows you
to grab a part of your screen as a rectangle, just like we saw before. "Window" lets you
grab a dialog box. Now, this is especially great if you're creating training documentation.
So, let's say I wanted to grab this dialog box only—I don't have to draw a rectangle around
it. I just need to click on this window, and that's it; the screenshot is saved. "Full
Screen" grabs everything you see on the screen, similar to what we did with Windows + Print Screen.
With "Freeform," you pick what you want. Now, remember, all of your screenshots are saved,
so if you're watching an online training, you can quickly just take all the screenshots
you need and then organize them later. Sometimes you might want to take a screenshot of
something that keeps disappearing every time you want to take your screenshot. To catch it, you
can use the delay timer in the Snipping Tool app. First, open the app by going to Start,
Snipping Tool or just search for it. Under "Delay Snip," you'll have options to delay.
Pick how long you might need to get prepared, and then select "New" or just Ctrl + N. Get in
position and wait. Once you see the gray overlay, grab the part that you want using your mouse. This
puts it in the Snipping Tool app, so you can add annotations if you want. If not, just go to where
you want it and paste it in—just press Ctrl + V. So now let's move on to annotating your
screenshot. Let's say you're browsing the web, you come across this image, and you want to
share it with your team. You do Print Screen or Windows + Shift + S, left-mouse click, drag,
let go. The Snipping Tool pops up on the side, and because you want to add something
to this picture, you click on it, and then you're taken directly to the app.
First, let's say there are parts of the image that you don't need. You can crop it.
Select "Image Crop," then adjust the crop by left-clicking and dragging the sides. Select
the check mark here on top when you're done. To add annotations, you can use the pen to do
some free-form writing. You can change the color and the stroke size, and then just start drawing
or writing. If you don't like what you did there, you can use the eraser. Once you selected it, just
click on your annotations, and they're going to be erased. You use the highlighter to emphasize
important points. You can also change the color and the stroke size of the highlighter. Now, in
the newest update of the Snipping Tool, you have the ability to add shapes. For example, you can
easily add an arrow. You can adjust the size, the opacity, and the color from the outline
options. You can also add a straight line. If you want it to be perfectly straight, just
hold down the Shift key as you draw. You also have the option to add a square or an oval shape
and then adjust the fill color, the transparency, and the outline as you need. Another cool feature
is the ability to add emojis to your screenshot. Now here's the thing—whatever annotations
you do, everything will be automatically copied to your clipboard. So right now, I can
just open up any document, let's say Word, and press Ctrl + V. Everything together with the
annotations is going to be pasted. But if for some reason you lose whatever was copied to your
clipboard, you can select the copy icon up here. If you want to save this version together with the
annotations, select "Save." If you're unhappy with all the annotations and stuff you added, click
on the eraser and select "Erase All Markup." Now, if you've used the Snipping Tool before, you
might be wondering what happened to that ruler. It's still there—just use Ctrl + R to activate
it. Use Ctrl + R again to deactivate it. You can also get to it by going to More Options > Show
Ruler. Use your mouse to drag and place it where you want, and then use the mouse wheel to rotate
it. Then you can use the pen tool to draw a line, but you might not need the ruler as much anymore
because you have these new shape options. Now let's say you wanted to grab the text from
this image. Click on "Text Actions" and then select the text that you want to copy or "Copy All
Text." Then just paste it in wherever you like—in an email, for example. Another cool thing is that
the Snipping Tool can open links of QR codes that you've taken a screenshot of. So let's say
you don't have your phone with you—someone shares this QR code. You can snip it, and then
in the Snipping Tool app, click "Text Actions." You're going to see the link. Click that link,
and you'll be taken directly to the web page. Another cool option under "Text Actions" is Quick
Redact. So if your screenshot includes sensitive information, this quickly redacts email addresses
and phone numbers. If you want to show them again, click on this drop-down and "Remove All
Redactions." If you wanted to show phone numbers but hide all email addresses, click on
this drop-down and take away the check mark from "Phone Number," then click on "Redact." This
is going to hide all email addresses but keep the phone numbers visible. To get out of "Text
Actions," select the icon again to deactivate it. Another cool feature is the ability to do
a visual search with Bing so that you can quickly find similar images. Once you have your
screenshot, just right-mouse click on it and select "Visual Search with Bing." This will
bring up related images on the net. If you're looking for more editing options, you can edit in
Paint. This will open your image in the Paint app. Here you get more advanced options, like remove
the background, add layers, and so on. So we covered taking a screenshot and annotating
it, but sometimes your screenshot might need some movement. That's when you can use the
Snipping Tool to record a video. Check this out: every time I enter something in Excel,
it disappears. My IT department doesn't believe me. A screenshot is not going
to help me out much—a video would be perfect. To activate Snipping in video mode, use
the shortcut key Windows + Shift + R. You can see recording mode is activated. Select the area
that you want to record, use a mic if you need to, and then hit start. Do the actions you've got
to do. Once done, stop the recording. You can view the recording directly in the Snipping
Tool. It's also automatically saved in your Videos, Screen Recordings folder. If you
need to edit it, select "Edit in Clipchamp." You might need to add this app from the
Microsoft Store if you don't have it yet. By the way, you're going to get bonus points if
you know how to solve my Excel problem. Anyhow, remember how I told you I'm going to show you how
you can adjust your settings because you might not want Print Screen to open up the Snipping
Tool, or you might not want to save everything automatically to your Screenshot folder? To make
adjustments to these, bring up the Snipping Tool app, select "More Options," go to "Settings." So
mine is on for automatically adjusting changes, so any annotations I add to the screenshot are
automatically saved to the clipboard. Next is the option to automatically save screenshots. Now,
if you don't want these saved in your Screenshots folder, toggle this off. I just like to keep
mine on. "Automatically Save Screen Recording" is also on for me. There are other options that
you might find useful that you can turn on, for example, "Ask to Save Edited Screenshots"
or record the Microphone by default. If you don't want the Print Screen key to
open the Snipping Tool, select "Change in Windows Settings" and then turn off "Use the
Print Screen Key to Turn On Screen Capture." So, as you've noticed, the Snipping Tool
adds multiple steps, but it also gives you a lot more flexibility. Now, if you've used the
Snipping Tool before, you've probably noticed it's gotten a lot of new improvements. Some of
these improvements are improvements that you might not see yet in your version because they're
currently being rolled out. If you've never used the Snipping Tool before, it's a free tool that
comes with your Windows, so why not give it a try? Okay, so that's it—that's our video. I
hope you found it useful. Thank you for sticking around all the way to the
end. Do consider subscribing to the channel if you aren't subscribed yet,
and I'll catch you in the next video.
