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The terms 'Print Screen' / 'Screen Grab' / 'Screen Shot' are all terms for tacking a picture of the image you are looking at on the computer screen. This article describes the basics. You might want to use this:
- if you have a suspect email and you don't want to forward it
- if you have an error message and you want to ask what it means
- you want to make a note of how to do something
Print Screen on a Windows computer
Typically on a Windows PC you can take a picture of the desktop by pressing the 'Print Screen' Button. Different makers abbreviate this differently but commonly you will have a button with something like 'PrtScn' or 'Prt Sn' on it. Pressing this button takes a 'Picture' of your entire desktop and then saves it to the 'Clipboard', you then have to go paste it somewhere. Its quite common to open up a blank Microsoft Word Document and paste the image in that document and saving it.
Pro Tips
- Print Screen captures your whole desktop, if you have 2 or more screens attached to your computer it will be a very wide image of all screens
(pictures a laptop with dock and 2 additional screens)
- Hold down the 'Alt' key as you press 'Print Screen' And it only captures the 'Active' window open on your desktop
- For more options use the 'Windows Snipping Tool'