Every way to take a screenshot on Windows 11 (and when to use each one)

Back in the day, taking a screenshot on Windows meant hitting Print Screen and opening Paint just to save the image. Microsoft now gives you plenty of built-in features to get the job done much faster. You can take a screenshot of your entire desktop in a fraction of a second, lock onto a single open app, or select a custom region to mark up right away.

This guide walks through all the different capture methods available on Windows 11, starting with the most convenient hotkeys first and then diving into the built-in apps that give you extra precision and editing flexibility.

Note: The following methods have been verified on Windows 11 25H2 as of September 2026.

The fastest way to take a screenshot on Windows 11

On Windows 11, pressing the Print Screen key is the quickest way to take a screenshot. It opens the same overlay as the Windows key + Shift + S keyboard shortcut by default, making it much more convenient. The overlay opens with whatever mode you used last, window, rectangle, full screen, or freeform, and saves the screenshot automatically to Pictures > Screenshots while also copying it to the clipboard. To annotate right after you capture, toggle on Quick markup before taking the screenshot. Once turned on, it stays enabled for every future capture until you switch it off again.

If Print Screen doesn’t open the capture overlay on your system, navigate to Settings > Bluetooth & devices > Keyboard and click the toggle next to the “Use the Print screen key to open screen capture” option. Turn it off if you prefer the classic behaviour, which captures the whole screen when you press the Print Screen button and saves it to your clipboard, allowing you to paste it into any application. If you only want a quick full-screen screenshot and don’t need to use any markup tools, use the Windows key + Print Screen shortcut to quickly grab a screenshot and save it to Pictures > Screenshots.

In case your keyboard doesn’t have a Print Screen key, you can open the capture overlay using the Windows key + Shift + S keyboard shortcut.

How to take a screenshot with the Win + Shift + S keyboard shortcut

The Windows key + Shift + S keyboard shortcut is the fastest way to capture and mark up a screenshot without opening a separate app first. A few quick choices in the overlay shape what you capture and how it gets handled afterward.

Step 1: Press Windows key + Shift + S to open the overlay.

Step 2: Use the toggle on the left to choose Snip for a still image or Record to switch to video capture.

Step 3: Pick a Snipping area from the dropdown menu. Rectangle lets you drag a box around any part of the screen. Window captures a single open app the moment you click it. Full screen grabs everything. Freeform lets you draw an irregular shape by hand.

Note: If you want to annotate your screenshot, turn on Quick markup before making a selection. This only works with the Rectangle option.

Step 4: Drag, click, or draw to select your area. With Quick markup on, the annotation toolbar pops up as soon as you finish selecting.

This toolbar gives you quick access to a surprisingly deep set of markup tools. You can write or draw using a ballpoint pen or a highlighter, both of which let you adjust stroke thickness and color. If you make a mistake, the eraser tool lets you scrub out individual strokes or wipe away all annotations with a single click. The shape menu lets you drop in emoji, squares, ovals, straight lines, and arrows, with every geometric shape offering custom fill and outline settings.

In addition to the basic annotation tools, the overlay includes several useful utilities. The Color picker lets you sample any pixel on your screen to copy its precise HEX, RGB, or HSL color code. You can use the Text extractor to pull any text from your selection and copy it to your clipboard. The Visual Search with Bing option lets you run a search of your selection. And lastly, the Share option allows you to share the snip directly to other apps.

Regardless of whether you use Quick markup or capture a quick snip, Windows automatically saves the file in the Pictures > Screenshots folder, simultaneously copying it to your clipboard so you can paste it directly into a document or chat window.

How to take a screenshot with the Snipping Tool

Using the Snipping Tool to capture screenshots works the same way as the keyboard shortcut but offers a few extras, while stripping out the Color picker and Visual Search with Bing options.

Step 1: Open Snipping Tool from the Start menu.

Step 2: Toggle between Snip and Record, depending on whether you want to capture a still or record your screen.

Step 3: Pick a Snipping area from the dropdown menu. It has the same four options described above.

Step 4: Click New to capture a screenshot.

To add a delay, use the Delay snip dropdown to add a 3-, 5-, or 10-second countdown. This option only works with the Rectangle, Window, or Freeform selection area. It’s grayed out for Full screen and for screen recordings.

Snipping Tool saves the original screenshot automatically to Pictures > Screenshots and shows a preview of the screenshot with a different annotation toolbar, unless you use the Rectangle selection area, in which case you get the same toolbar as the Windows key + Shift + S overlay. The toolbar in the preview includes a ballpoint pen and a highlighter, both with adjustable color and size, an eraser with an Erase all markup option, and a shape tool with the same emoji, square, oval, straight line, and arrow options as before.

It also adds two tools not found in the keyboard shortcut overlay: a Crop tool to trim the image after capture and a Scan text tool that identifies text in the screenshot and offers options to Copy all text, Copy as table, and Quick redact for emails and phone numbers.

Once you’re done editing, select Save in the top right to save the file. The tool doesn’t update the original screenshot with the changes you made, so you shouldn’t skip this step before closing the window. Using the Save button also gives you the option to rename the file and change the destination folder.

If you don’t want to save the annotated screenshot, you can select Copy to send it to your clipboard, Share to send it directly to a contact or app, or Edit in Paint to open it in Microsoft Paint for further edits.

How to take a screenshot with the Print Screen key

The Print Screen key does three slightly different jobs depending on which other key you add to it.

• Press Print Screen alone to capture the whole screen. Depending on whether the “Use the Print screen key to open screen capture” option in the Keyboard settings is enabled or not, this either opens the Windows key + Shift + S overlay or copies the entire screen to your clipboard.
• Press Alt + Print Screen to capture only the current window in focus, instead of the full screen. This saves a copy to your clipboard without saving a file.
• Press Windows key + Print Screen to save a full-screen capture to Pictures > Screenshots, no clipboard step involved.

On laptops where Print Screen shares a key with another function, you may have to press the Fn key at the same time for these keyboard shortcuts to work. Microsoft’s own documentation on copying the window or screen contents covers this behavior in more detail.

How to take a screenshot with the Xbox Game Bar

The Xbox Game Bar can also help you capture screenshots and recordings from almost any app on your desktop, not just games.

Step 1: Press Windows key + G to open the Xbox Game Bar overlay.

Step 2: Click the camera icon in the Capture widget to take a screenshot. To record video, click the Record button in the Capture widget or use the Windows key + Alt + R shortcut to start and stop recording.

The Xbox Game Bar saves both screenshots and recordings in the This PC > Videos > Captures folder by default, not the same Pictures folder used by other methods in this guide.

A separate shortcut, Windows key + Alt + G, saves the last few minutes of activity after the fact, useful when something worth capturing already happened before you thought to record it. This only works if the “Record what happened” option is enabled under Settings > Gaming > Captures.

Choosing the right method for the job

Print Screen is the fastest option by default, since one keypress opens the same overlay as Windows key + Shift + S. If you’ve turned that setting off, Print Screen instead saves a copy of the whole screen to the clipboard, letting you quickly paste it in any application without messing with the overlay. Windows key + Print Screen skips the clipboard step entirely and saves a full-screen screenshot automatically.

Open the Snipping Tool when you want more than the basics, like a delay timer, text scanning, or a direct editing pipeline to Paint. When a still image doesn’t cut it, the Xbox Game Bar should be your go-to choice for video recording.

Where screenshots and recordings are saved

Most methods in this guide will save automatically to one of three places. Screenshots captured using the Windows key + Shift + S overlay, Windows key + Print Screen, and the Snipping Tool all land in Pictures > Screenshots. If you add markup in the Snipping Tool, selecting Save to keep that edited version opens a Save As prompt, which also defaults to the same folder unless you choose otherwise.

Recordings are split by app. If you use the Snipping Tool, recordings are automatically saved in Videos > Screen recordings. The Xbox Game Bar saves both its screenshots and its recordings in Videos > Captures.

Follow these steps to change the default screenshots folder:

Step 1: Open File Explorer, go to Pictures > Screenshots, and right-click on an empty space in the folder.

Step 2: Click Show more options, and then select Properties.

Step 3: Switch to the Location tab and select Move.

Step 4: Choose a new folder on the following screen and select Apply.

Windows will then ask if you want to relocate the folder and move all of the files to the new folder. Select Yes if you want to copy the old screenshots to the new location, and then select Yes again to confirm.

Note: This only affects the methods that save screenshots to Pictures > Screenshots by default. Xbox Game Bar will continue to save both screenshots and recordings in Videos > Captures, while the Snipping Tool will still save recordings in Videos > Screen recordings.

Accessibility options for screenshots on Windows 11

Two Windows 11 accessibility features help if pressing a keyboard shortcut or reaching the Print Screen key isn’t practical.

Turn on Sticky keys for multi-key shortcuts

Sticky keys lets you press keyboard shortcuts one key at a time instead of holding them down together, making it useful for shortcuts like Windows key + Shift + S or Windows key + Alt + Print Screen.

Step 1: Navigate to Settings > Accessibility > Keyboard.

Step 2: Click the toggle next to the Sticky keys option.

Alternatively, press the Shift key five times to open the Sticky keys dialog and turn it on or off.

Use the On-Screen Keyboard for a missing Print Screen key

If your keyboard doesn’t have a Print Screen key or it isn’t working, the On-Screen Keyboard includes a clickable version you can use with a mouse, touch, or switch device.

Step 1: Press the Windows key + Ctrl + O to open the On-Screen Keyboard, or turn it on under Settings > Accessibility > Keyboard.

Step 2: Select the PrtScn key on the on-screen keyboard to capture the screen the same way the physical key would.

Common screenshot issues on Windows 11

• Print Screen doesn’t do what you expect: If pressing Print Screen alone opens the Windows + Shift + S overlay when you wanted the old clipboard-only behavior, or the other way round, check Settings > Bluetooth & devices > Keyboard for the “Use the Print screen key to open screen capture” toggle.
• Windows key + Shift + S does nothing at all: If the shortcut doesn’t bring up an overlay or doesn’t dim the screen at all, the most common issue isn’t a broken keyboard or a corrupted app, it’s Clipboard History being turned off. Go to Settings > System > Clipboard and turn Clipboard history on. If that doesn’t fix it, resetting the Snipping Tool app itself may help. Head to Settings > Apps > Installed apps, click the three-dot menu icon to the right of Snipping Tool, and select Advanced options. On the following page, click Reset.
• Windows key + G doesn’t open Xbox Game Bar: Confirm Xbox Game Bar is turned on under Settings > Gaming > Xbox Game Bar. It’s enabled by default, but Windows updates occasionally reset it.

How to take a screenshot on other devices

If you’re trying to figure out how to take a screenshot on a Mac instead of a Windows PC, there are a number of methods to get it done. The easiest involves using keyboard shortcuts like Command + Shift + 3 to capture the entire screen or Command + Shift + 4 to draw a selection box. For more details, check out our guide on taking a screenshot on a Mac.

Chromebooks also support a few different methods to capture screenshots, with the easiest being keyboard shortcuts. Control + Show Windows will capture the whole screen, while Control + Shift + Show Windows will let you capture a selected area. Our guide on taking screenshots on Chromebooks offers additional details.