Screen Shots in Windows 8 -Rapid Screen Shots

Rapid screen shots in Windows 8

There a more an more situations where you want to capture a screen shot of a web page, a video, or a specific area, for example to send the screen shot via email to a friend.

In Windows 8, this task is easier than ever. Using a simple keyboard shortcut you can create and save screen shots or take a picture of a selected area of the desktop using the Snipping Tool.

Note: This article assumes that you are using the mouse and keyboard in Windows 8.



To capture rapid screen shots of the whole screen follow these steps:
Start Windows 8, go to the window which you want to capture, and press the keys [Windows] and [PrtnScr].

Immediately, the full Desktop content is captured and saved as JPG file to the folder Screenshots of the Pictures library. When you create several screen shots using this method the files are automatically numbered consecutively. Old image files are not overwritten or deleted. 







Setting up the Snipping Tool

If you want to capture only a section instead of the full desktop and if you also want to determine the location of the image files you should use the Snipping Tool. This smart program is included in Windows 8. For quick and easy access, you can create a tile or a task bar shortcut (or both).



Snipping Tool as tile or shortcut in the task bar (desktop)

1. Start Windows 8. Press the keys [Windows] + [Q] to display all Apps.





2. Right-click the Snipping Tool icon.





3. Click Pin to Start in the lower left corner to pin the program icon as tile.





4. Click Pin to Taskbar to pin a shortcut to the taskbar of the Windows 8 desktop. The changes are immediately in effect.







Set up Snipping Tool as desktop shortcut

Instead of a taskbar shortcut you can also create a desktop shortcut for the Snipping Tool.



1. Start Windows 8. Press the keys [Windows] + [Q] to display all Apps.





2. Right-click the Snipping Tool icon.





3. Click Open File Location in the lower section.





4. The desktop is immediately displayed with the folder Accessories opened. Click the Snipping Tool icon. Press and hold down the mouse button. Press also the key [CTRL] on the keyboard, and while holding the keys down, drag the icon out of the window frame to an empty area of the desktop. Just drop the icon.





5. Done. The icon is immediately available for use.