Screen Shot

"Screen shot" is the phrase used to describe the action of capturing your computer desktop or anything shown on your computer screen to a static image file. In other words, it is a way of taking a snapshot, or picture, of your computer screen. Some people also call it a screen grab.

Screen shots can be very helpful when you need to demonstrate something that would be difficult to explain in words. Here are just a few examples of situations where a screen shot can be useful and why:

• In software reviews, to show what the software looks like.
• In software tutorials, to demonstrate how to perform a function.
• In technical support troubleshooting, to show error message or software issues.

Screen shots are also useful to save snippets of anything you have on your screen, particularly when it can not be easily printed. You do not need special software to take a picture of your screen because screen shot functionality is built into all current operating systems.

Capturing screen shot of the desktop in Windows

1. Press the Print Screen key on your keyboard. It may be labeled [PrtScn].
2. Open an image editing program, such as Microsoft Paint.
3. Go to the Edit menu and choose Paste.
4. If prompted to enlarge the image, choose Yes.
5. Optional: Use your image editor's crop tool to crop out unnecessary portions of the screen shot.
6. Go to the File Menu and choose Save As.
7. Navigate to the folder where you want to save the image.
8. Type a file name for the image.
9. Select a file type.
10. Click the Save button.

Tips:

1. Hold the Alt key down while pressing Print Screen to capture only the active window.
2. Generally the GIF format works best when saving screen shots of application windows. The JPEG format usually makes screen shots (especially those with text) blurry, blotchy and discolored.
3. See related resources below for more screen shot tips and listings of screen capture software that offers many more options for capturing screens and portions of screens on Windows and Macintosh computers.
4. The Windows " clipboard" is a term used to describe the temporary storage space in memory where an item is placed when you copy or cut. When you paste, the item is transferred to the program you're working in. If you copy something else, the old item is replaced with the new. You can't navigate to or manipulate the clipboard directly; it's only used for copy and paste operations.
5. If you have windows Vista, you can capture screen shots much more easily using the Snipping Tool included with Vista.