A Keyboard Shortcut for Screenshots

I take a lot of screen shots during the day – some to send to my lawyers, for this blog, even to send important images friends.

For a while, I pinned the Snipping Tool app to my desktop

But then it takes SEVERAL CLICKS to get the thing done. So sad.

But, if you looked closely at the Snipping Tool window, you may notice it gives you a keyboard shortcut:

It only took me several months to register the message. It’s a great shortcut to screenshot anything you want.

Now practice: Windows Key + Shift + S. Windows Key + Shift + S. Windows Key + Shift + S.

If you don’t normally use keyboard shortcuts, put the combo on a sticky note on your monitor to remember – it’ll stick eventually.

Once you hit the keyboard combo, you’ll get a top dropdown menu of sorts (of course, I can’t screenshot the screenshot). The default option is a rectangle you can click and drag over the area you want to capture. There’s also a “Full Screen” option on the far right (but your keyboard probably has this function as one of its shortkeys).

Once you’ve highlight the area you want to screenshot, release the mouse. You’ll notice a popup notification in Windows that you’ll want to click on: THEY DO NOT AUTOMATICALLY SAVE ANYWHERE. So if you want to save it, save it. If you don’t, you can paste the image in a document or email to use.

If you’ve used any of the markup tools (pen, highlighter, etc.), those markings will be saved with the image!

Word of caution: you CAN paste these images into your WordPress site, but they may not be visible down the road. (Take it from me, I effed it up a few times).