Screenshot with Windows - That's how it works

You want to make a windows screenshot? In this post we show the right key combinations and programs to create a screenshot in Windows.

Depending on the key combination, a screenshot of the entire PC screen is possible or only of the current window. Also the automatic saving of the screenshot by key combination is possible.

We show programs that provide further screenshot functionality, such as regular background screenshots, automatic sending of screenshots or viewing the automatically generated screenshots with the browser from another PC or mobile phone.

This screenshot guide is for all Windows versions, Windows XP, and Windows 7, 8, 10.

Create screenshot with keyboard shortcut

1. Press the [Print] or [Print Screen] key on your keyboard. Now Windows has saved an image of your screen in the clipboard. (Note: on some notebooks you have to hold Fn instead and then press PrtScn.)
2. Start the drawing program Paint, which is present on every Windows. (You can also choose another program to copy the screenshot to.)
3. Press [Ctrl-V] to paste the image from the clipboard into it. You can then save the image as PNG, Jpeg or any other format of your choice.

Create a screenshot of a single window

1. Press the key combination [AltGr - Druck] (until Windows 7) or [Alt - Druck] (as of Windows 8.1). The screenshot is saved in the clipboard.
2. Paste the image with [Ctrl-V] in a graphics program like Paint.

Create a screenshot of a section

1. Press the Windows key and simultaneously the key combination Shift + S: [Win - Shift - S].
2. Drag a rectangle with the mouse to specify what to capture. Windows captures this area and copies it to the clipboard.
3. Paste the image with [Ctrl-V] in a graphics program like Paint.

Create screenshot and save as a file

With Windows 8 and 10, you can also save screenshots to disk immediately:

1. Press the Windows key and at the same time the key Print: [Win - Print]. A brief dimming of the monitor shows you that the photo was taken.
2. Call Windows Explorer, for example with the key combination [Windows - E].
3. Under the Libraries folder from the left sidebar, you will find the Pictures folder. Go to it and go to the subdirectory Screenshots. Windows (8 or 10) captures the entire screen and saves it as a file in the Pictures> Screenshots folder.

Take a screenshot with the Snipping Tool

With the "Snipping Tool" of Windows, you can photograph and save freely defined screen sections. The Snipping Tool is available in all Windows versions since Windows Vista, including 7, 8 and 10.

1. Start the application from which you want to take a screenshot. Once the program is loaded, switch to the Snipping Tool and click on New.
2. The screen then turns so, so if a frosted glass would be in front of it. While holding down the right mouse button, use the mouse to draw a rectangle that delimits the area to be photographed.
3. After releasing the mouse button, the photographed area appears in a small window. Click on the floppy disk icon to save the screenshot.

Create a screenshot regularly and send it by e-mail (also in the background)

With the software Wolfeye automatic screenshots can be created at pre-defined minute intervals and sent to your own email.

1. To do this, tick the "Capture Screen" and "Send Data to your Email" boxes in the application window. You also have to enter your own email address and SMTP server and port number.
2. The program can also automatically start recording at every Windows startup. For this one sets the tick at Start with Windows.
3. To start the screenshots, press Start. You can see the recording when the button turns red.
4. To run the software in the background, just close the window. The program simply keeps running in the background without being noticed by the user.

You can find detailed instructions on how to set up or operate here.