How to take a screenshot on Windows

The short answer

• One area, one window or the full screen: Windows + Shift + S opens the snip bar. Drag over an area, or pick Window or Full screen in the bar. The picture goes to the clipboard.
• Whole screen as a file: Windows + PrtSc. The file lands in Pictures\Screenshots.
• The active window only: Alt + PrtSc. Clipboard only, so paste it with Ctrl + V.

These work the same on Windows 11 desktops and laptops of every brand. If PrtSc sits on a shared key, see the laptop section.

Windows screenshot shortcuts, in one table

From Microsoft's pages on Windows keyboard shortcuts, Snipping Tool and Xbox Game Bar, listed under Sources.

Windows 10 differs: PrtSc copies the whole screen to the clipboard, and Windows + Shift + S takes a picture of part of the screen.

Where screenshots go on Windows

• The clipboard only: Alt + PrtSc, and PrtSc when it is set to copy the screen. Nothing is saved to disk until you paste the picture into Paint, Word, an email or a chat. This is why Print Screen often seems to do nothing: the picture is waiting on the clipboard.
• Pictures\Screenshots: Windows + PrtSc saves there. Snipping Tool saves each snip to the Screenshots folder too while auto-save is on; the folder can be changed in Snipping Tool's settings.
• The Captures folder: Game Bar screenshots, as PNG files. On Windows 10 Microsoft places it in the Videos folder.
• Clipboard history: Windows + V lists recent copies, screenshots included. It is off until you turn it on.

Screenshot one window, without the taskbar

• With Alt + PrtSc: click into the window first so it is the active one, then press. The picture shows that window and nothing around it. Paste with Ctrl + V.
• With Windows + Shift + S: choose Window in the snip bar, then click the window.

For documentation this is usually the right frame. A full-screen capture shows the taskbar, the clock, notifications and other windows; a window capture shows only the app the step is about, so the reader looks where they need to.

For a step in a browser, crop further, down to the part of the page where the work happens; how tight is covered in Screenshots in documentation. A web page taller than the screen is a different job: see full page screenshot in Chrome.

When Print Screen does not work

Print Screen opens Snipping Tool

That is the Windows 11 behaviour since a 2023 update: PrtSc opens the snip bar instead of copying the screen, as BleepingComputer reported in April 2023 for update KB5025310. It also explains why Microsoft's own pages disagree. The keyboard shortcuts page says PrtSc selects a region; the Snipping Tool page says it captures the entire screen. Each describes one state of the same setting.

The setting is called "Use the Print screen key to open screen capture" (older wording: "open screen snipping"). Where it lives has moved:

• Microsoft's keyboard shortcuts page names Settings > Accessibility > Keyboard.
• Windows Latest reported on 2 March 2026 that on Windows 11 24H2 and 25H2 that page shows no Print Screen option when Snipping Tool is installed.
• A Microsoft moderator on Microsoft Q&A wrote on 9 September 2026: Settings > Bluetooth & devices > Keyboard.

Look in both places. Turn the setting off and PrtSc copies the whole screen to the clipboard again. If neither page has it, Windows + PrtSc and Windows + Shift + S are separate shortcuts and still work.

Nothing seems to happen

The picture is on the clipboard. Paste it with Ctrl + V where you want it, or use Windows + PrtSc to get a file in Pictures\Screenshots.

PrtSc shares a key on a laptop

When PrtSc is printed small or in a second colour on another key, it needs Fn, or the reverse when Fn lock is on. The section below has the key for each laptop brand.

Print Screen on Dell, HP and Lenovo laptops

Windows + Shift + S works on any Windows laptop, whatever the keys look like. The sections below only answer where PrtSc sits and why it does nothing. Every row comes from the maker's manual for that model; other models can differ.

Dell

On the Latitude 5430, 5530 and 7430, Print Screen is F10. On the XPS 13 it is F10 or fn + F10, depending on fn lock. The XPS 14 9440 has no Print Screen key: use Windows + Shift + S.

Two traps on the Latitudes. Fn + PrtScr is the wireless switch, so a "screenshot" with Fn held can cut the Wi-Fi. And Dell's general Print Screen article suggests Fn + Insert where there is no PrtScr key, naming the KM3322W desktop keyboard; on the Latitude 5430, 5530 and 7430, Fn + Insert puts the laptop to sleep. The same article says PrtScr copies the whole desktop, which is the Windows 10 behaviour; on Windows 11 it may open the snip bar instead.

For another model, open Dell's manual for it and look for the page "Keyboard shortcuts of" followed by the model name.

HP

HP puts the key, labelled PrtSc, PrtScn or similar, usually in the upper-right corner of the keyboard, and some models need fn + PrtSc. If it changes the volume or does nothing, the cause is usually HP's action keys mode.

• Shared key: if prt sc is printed small or in another colour on a key with another label, hold fn.
• Action keys mode: in the BIOS (press f10 at power-on, then System Configuration, then Action Keys Mode). Enabled means the printed actions work without fn; Disabled means they need fn.
• fn lock without the BIOS: fn + left shift on some HP ProBook and EliteBook laptops; on those, the shift key has the option printed on it and a light on the fn key shows the current mode.

HP's own screenshot guide still calls Windows + Shift + S "Snip & Sketch". On Windows 11 the shortcut opens Snipping Tool.

Lenovo

On the ThinkPad T14 Gen 4 and its sibling models, Fn + PrtSc opens Snipping Tool and Fn + Esc switches FnLock. Lenovo's guides read for this page do not say where the key sits, and it moves between generations, so look it up for your model.

For any other model, find the model name, open its User Guide on Lenovo's support site (pcsupport.lenovo.com) and read the keyboard shortcuts or hotkeys page. Some screenshot guides for Lenovo still say PrtSc copies the whole screen; on Windows 11 that depends on the Print Screen setting described above.

Fn and Fn lock

A label printed small or in a second colour is the key's second function: hold Fn for it. Fn lock swaps that, so after Fn lock the second function works alone and the first one needs Fn.

Laptops without a Print Screen key

Use Windows + Shift + S, or open Snipping Tool from Start and choose a mode. The Dell XPS 14 9440 is one such laptop: its top row is a touch strip and its shortcut table lists no Print Screen. Fn + Insert, which some articles suggest, is Sleep on a Dell Latitude 5430, 5530 or 7430.

Snipping Tool shortcuts

The shortcuts Microsoft documents for Snipping Tool on Windows 11:

The delay is for menus that close when you press a key: start the snip, open the menu, and wait.

Mark and crop a screenshot for a guide

Snipping Tool's markup tools, as Microsoft lists them, are pen, highlighter, shapes, eraser, image crop and text actions. For a screenshot that goes into a guide:

1. Crop to the area of the step, so the control the reader needs is easy to find.
2. Draw one shape around the control the reader clicks. One mark per picture.
3. Save as PNG, which keeps text in the interface sharp.

Microsoft lists no blur or redact tool. Names, email addresses and order details need to be cropped out or covered with a solid box in an image editor; the highlighter leaves them readable. The rules for marking and redacting are in Mark one thing per step and Redact before you share, and the sentence that goes beside each picture in How to write step-by-step instructions.

Screenshot shortcuts on one page

The shortcuts for Windows 11, the Mac and a Chromebook, and the steps for a full page in Chrome, fit on one printable sheet: PDF, A4, PDF, US Letter or Markdown for a wiki. Each shortcut on it is the one stated, with its source, in the guide for that system.

Sources