How to screenshot on Windows 11

Windows 11 screenshot shortcuts

Win is the Windows logo key. PrtScn is Print Screen, which may be labelled PrtSc or Prt Sc on your keyboard.

• Win + Shift + S: opens the Snipping Tool bar for a rectangle, window, full screen or freeform snip.
• PrtScn: opens the same bar on current Windows 11 builds. You can switch it back to copying the full screen.
• Win + PrtScn: saves the whole screen straight to Pictures\Screenshots.
• Alt + PrtScn: copies the active window to the clipboard.
• Win + Alt + PrtScn: Game Bar screenshot of the active app, saved to Videos\Captures.
• Win + V: clipboard history, if turned on, to paste an earlier screenshot.

How to take a screenshot in Windows 11 with Snipping Tool

For a delayed screenshot, open Snipping Tool from the Start menu, choose 3, 5 or 10 seconds from the clock menu and click New. That gives you time to open a menu or hover over something before the capture.

1. Press Win + Shift + S, or PrtScn. The screen dims and the capture bar appears at the top.
2. Pick Rectangle, Window, Full screen or Freeform.
3. Drag over the area, or click the window or screen.
4. Paste it straight away with Ctrl + V, or click the preview notification to open it in Snipping Tool.
5. In Snipping Tool, mark it up, then press Ctrl + S to save a copy where you like or Ctrl + C to copy the edited version.

Print Screen in Windows 11

Windows 10 used PrtScn to copy the whole screen silently. On Windows 11, recent updates switched PrtScn to open the Snipping Tool bar instead, so you choose what to capture. People who expect the old behaviour often think the key is broken.

To change it, open Settings, then Accessibility, then Keyboard, and find the switch called Use the Print screen key to open screen capture. On some builds it says screen snipping. Turn it off and PrtScn copies the full screen to the clipboard again. Turn it on to get the snipping bar.

On laptops where PrtScn shares a key, press Fn + PrtScn. If the key is missing, Win + Shift + S does everything PrtScn does.

Where screenshots are saved in Windows 11

To stop Snipping Tool saving every snip, open the app, click the three dots, choose Settings and turn off automatic saving. To move the Screenshots folder, right-click it in File Explorer, choose Properties, open the Location tab and click Move.

• Win + PrtScn and Snipping Tool snips: Pictures\Screenshots, named Screenshot followed by a number or the date and time.
• Snipping Tool screen recordings: Videos\Screen Recordings, when automatic saving is on.
• Game Bar captures: Videos\Captures.
• OneDrive: if OneDrive backs up your Pictures folder, the Screenshots folder is inside OneDrive and syncs to the cloud.

Edit, copy text and hide details

Snipping Tool in Windows 11 has a pen, highlighter, eraser, ruler and crop. Text actions reads the words in a screenshot so you can select and copy them, and Quick redact covers email addresses and phone numbers in one click. Newer versions add more tools over time through Microsoft Store updates, so your menu may show extra options.

To pull text from a screenshot on another computer or phone, our free Screenshot to Text tool works in any browser. The text is recognised on your device, and you can copy it or download a .txt file.

How to record your screen in Windows 11

1. Open Snipping Tool from the Start menu.
2. Click the video camera icon to switch to recording.
3. Click New and drag over the area you want to record. Choose whether to include your microphone and system sound if the options appear.
4. Click Start, do what you want to record, then click Stop.
5. Save the MP4 from the preview window, or find it in Videos\Screen Recordings.

Full page and scrolling screenshots in Windows 11

Snipping Tool captures only what is on screen, so it cannot take a scrolling screenshot of a long web page. Use the browser. In Edge, press Ctrl + Shift + S and pick the full page option. In Firefox, press Ctrl + Shift + S and choose Save full page. In Chrome, open developer tools with Ctrl + Shift + I, press Ctrl + Shift + P, type screenshot and choose Capture full size screenshot.

The free NeoReader Full Page Screenshot extension for Chrome, Edge and Firefox does it in one click. It captures the entire page, the visible part or a dragged area, handles fixed headers so they do not repeat, and opens an editor to crop, annotate and blur private details. Save as PNG, JPG or PDF, or copy it. There is no account.

When screenshots do not work in Windows 11

• No preview after a snip: turn on notifications for Snipping Tool in Settings, System, Notifications. The snip is still on the clipboard and in Pictures\Screenshots.
• PrtScn does nothing: check the Print screen setting above, press Fn with it on a laptop, and close apps that may have taken over the key, such as Dropbox or other screenshot tools.
• Snipping Tool will not open: go to Settings, Apps, Installed apps, find Snipping Tool, open Advanced options and choose Repair, then Reset if needed.
• Black rectangle instead of a video: streaming services and some apps block capture of protected content.