Sometimes it may happen that you need to capture a PC screen, that is, to take a screenshot of everything that appears on the screen at a given moment. To perform such an operation, however, neither a smartphone, nor a camera, nor any other external device is necessary. In fact, with the simple pressure of one or more keys on your keyboard you will be able to capture and save everything you need directly with your computer in no time at all. So here you are explained how to capture a pc screen in windows.
Index
How to capture a pc screen in windows
Windows XP, Windows Vista or Windows 7
To capture a screen on Windows XP, Windows Vista or Windows 7, all you have to do is follow this simple procedure:
- first press the key Stamp, also called Stamp R Sist, located at the top right of your keyboard (most often near the key F12). If you're using a laptop, you may need to press the key at the same time in addition to the Print Screen key Fn (usually located at the bottom left of the keyboard), i.e. you will have to press the Fn key first and then, while holding down this key, you will also have to press the Scrn key. Simply put, if you use a laptop, instead of just pressing the key Stamp you will most likely have to press the key combination Fn + Stamp;
- then open the program called Paint, then press the button Ctrl and, without releasing it, the letter too V (which will be equivalent to pressing the key combination Ctrl + V, that is, to execute the called command Paste). If you use Windows Vista or Windows 7, to open the Paint program just write paint immediately after clicking on the button Home (that is, the one with the Windows logo located at the bottom left of the application bar) and then click on Paint. If, on the other hand, you are still using Windows XP, you will first need to click on the button to open the Paint program Home, Then All programs, after up Accessories, and finally on Paint;
- at this point close the Paint program and click on Save: then select the path where you want to save the file, then give it a name, choose the format that best suits your needs, and finally click again on Save. As for the format in which to save the image, usually the most used formats are either JPEG which allows you to obtain images of a few kB, or PNG which offers higher image quality at the cost of a few more kB.
This way, the moment you press PrintScrt or Fn + PrintScrt on your keyboard, you'll be able to capture an image of whatever is displayed on the screen at that precise moment.
If you're interested capture only what appears within a given window that is open in the foreground at a given moment you will then have to press and hold down the Alt key and only then will you have to press the Print Screen key. In other words, instead of just pressing the Scrn key, in this case you will have to press the combination of keys Alt + Stamp. If you use a laptop and want to capture only what appears in a given window open in the foreground at a precise moment, most likely you will have to press the Fn key first, then the Alt key, and only at the end the Print key ( which will be equivalent to pressing the key combination Fn + Alt + Stamp). Now, to save the image captured in this other way, all you have to do is follow the second and third points of the aforementioned procedure.
Windows 8/8.1, Windows 10 or Windows 11
Even on Windows 8/8.1, Windows 10 and Windows 11 it is possible to take a screenshot of the PC by following one of the two procedures described above. In this case, however, to open Paint you will first have to press and hold down the Windows key and then, simultaneously, also the letter R (i.e. you will have to press the key combination Windows + R). Then you will have to write mspaint in the text box and finally you will have to click on OK.
On Windows 8/8.1, Windows 10 and Windows 11, in addition to the two procedures illustrated above, it is however possible to take a picture of the PC screen in another way, that is by saving an image directly in a special folder. In this case, therefore, press and hold the Windows key and then press the Print Screen key (which will be equivalent to pressing the key combination Windows + Stamp). As soon as you have pressed the aforementioned keys, the brightness of the screen will fade for a few moments while everything that is displayed on the screen at that moment will be saved as a file in the folder called Screen captures o Screenshot which will in turn be found in the folder Images.
Conclusions
So at this point you should finally understand how to capture a pc screen in windows. However, know that on Windows Vista, Windows 7, Windows 8/8.1, Windows 10 and Windows 11, in addition to the aforementioned methods, to take a screenshot of the PC it is also possible to use a particular program, called Snipping Tool, which will allow you to have more control over what you want to acquire.
Please note:
- except in special cases, you can also capture a PC screen, for example, while watching a film or while you are playing some video game;
- on some keyboards the PrintScrn key may be labeled PrtScn, PrtSc, or some other very similar abbreviation;
- On some laptops without a Print Screen key, you may need to use other key combinations, such as Fn + Ins, to capture a screen. In this regard, I therefore advise you to consult the instruction manual supplied with your laptop.
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