The Best Way to Take Screenshots on a Computer (PC and Mac)

Do you often need to save or share what you see on your computer screen? Do you find that the built-in tools on your devices don’t offer as many functions as you’d like?

While mobile and desktop operating systems offer basic screen capture tools built-in, most have limited functionality.

There is, however, a wide range of third-party apps, programs, and browser extensions that have been specifically designed for taking a screenshot, editing them, adding notes, as well as sharing and saving them.

Apps like Snagit, are perfect for people that take lots of screenshots and need more flexible and robust tools than the ones built into their devices. If that sounds like you, then Snagit might be your new best friend!

One of the best parts of using Snagit to take screenshots is that it enables you to show people exactly what you want them to see on your desktop, and how you want them to see it.

Snagit offers a wide range of smart and intuitive screen capture tools that make it easy to take, edit, annotate, and share screenshots and video screen recordings, both of which are a really effective form of visual communication.

As well as using Snagit to capture your desktop, you can also use it to edit the photos saved on your computer. That means you can use Snagit to crop any image on your device, as well as edit, annotate and add effects to them. 

In this blog post, we’ll be showing you how to take a screenshot on both Mac and Windows using built-in tools like the Windows Snipping Tool and third-party programs like Snagit. So if you need to know how to capture your screen on a MacBook Pro or MacBook Air, or how to take, edit and annotate screenshots on a Lenovo or HP laptop, we’ve got you covered. 

How to take a screenshot on PC

If you want to take a screenshot on your Windows 7, Windows 8, Windows 10, or Windows 11 computer, there are several methods you can use.

Well, whether you want to capture the entire screen on your PC or just a piece of it, we’ve rounded up the most effective ways of capturing your screen on Windows using built-in tools like the Snipping Tool and third-party apps like Snagit, which offer advanced features and greater flexibility. 

Capture the whole screen on Windows

The simplest way to take a screenshot in Windows is to use the Print Screen button (often labeled as “PrtScn” or “PrtSc”). You’ll find it on the upper-right side of most keyboards or next to the Space Bar on some. 

To capture an image of your entire screen, simply press the PrtScn button once, this will copy the screenshot to your clipboard. You can then open any program that allows you to insert images, such as Paint, Microsoft Word, or Powerpoint, and paste the screenshot by pressing Ctrl-V. Doing this can really improve your Word Docs and PowerPoint slides as it helps break up the text and make the information you’re sharing easier to digest.

The downside to this method is that it captures everything that’s visible on your monitor. And, if you have a multiple monitor setup, the screenshot will merge all your screens together to make it look as though they’re all part of one giant desktop. 

Not only does this make it harder to show something specific, but the words and/or images you’re looking to save or share can easily become lost in too big a picture and may be rendered unclearly. 

If you only want to capture the window you currently have open, you can hold down the Alt button while pushing the Print Screen button. This method works on any version of Windows, including Windows XP and 95. 

Just as it would with the regular method, this will copy your screenshot to your clipboard, which allows you to paste it into your desired program in order to save the file.

Capture parts of the screen on Windows 

Depending on what it is you need to do, there are different types of screenshots you can take, and different ways of taking them. As we’ve discussed, one way is to use the tool that’s built-in on your device, such as the Print Screen button or the Snipping Tool. 

The Print Screen button allows you to quickly capture an image of your entire screen or just the active window, depending on whether you use the button alone or in combination with the Alt key. On the other hand, the Snipping Tool (available on Windows 7 and later versions) allows you to capture a specific area of the screen, as well as add notes and save the image in different formats, which can be useful for conveying specific information and ideas.

Then there’s Snagit, the third-party software from TechSmith that offers a range of advanced features for capturing, editing, and sharing screenshots. Not only can you use Snagit to take static screenshots but you can record videos, capture whole web pages, and create GIFs. You can even use Snagit to turn multiple images into a video – the possibilities are endless. 

It’s easy to use too! With Snagit, you can create custom shortcuts for quick access to the features you use the most, and use the built-in editor to add text, shapes, effects, and watermarks to your captures. 

With the latest features, sharing videos and screen captures taken with Snagit has never been easier. Once your screenshot or recording has been taken, you can click on the “Share Link” button to generate a link to your content. The link will be automatically copied to your clipboard so that it’s ready to paste into an email, message, or document. 

This dedicated link will take your audience to Screencast, where they can view and engage with your content by way of adding comments and graphic annotations, in real-time. Viewers don’t need an account to interact with your content, which means you can share your Snagit media with anyone.

As the owner of the content, you can also log on to Screencast to access, organize, and manage your media. However, if all you need to do is directly share a file, Snagit does allow you to save your screenshots in different formats (such as JPG or PNG) and simply share them via email, social media, cloud storage, or team messaging platforms like Slack.

There’s no right or wrong way to take a screenshot on your PC, but some ways might be more suited to you, your objectives, and your workflow. On the one hand, you can use built-in Windows tools for simple and quick screen grabs, or use Snagit for more advanced and professional captures.

Screen capture on Windows using the built-in tool

Let’s talk a bit more about the Windows Snipping Tool. This is is a built-in screenshot utility available in all recent versions of Windows, including 7, 8, 10, and 11. It allows you to capture specific areas of your screen and save the image in different formats. When compared to older versions of the Windows Print Screen function, the Snipping Tool is much more versatile when it comes to taking screenshots, but is just as easy to use.

You can open the Snipping Tool by searching for it in the toolbar search. To do that, press the Windows key to open the toolbar and jump to Windows search – alternatively, you can also use the Windows-S shortcut to open Windows search. Once it’s open, type in “Snipping Tool” and press Enter (and note that in Windows 7, you must manually select the search field before typing). 

The Snipping Tool application will then appear in the search results. To open it, just push Enter, or click on the icon – it’s that simple! To make it easier to find and open the Snipping Tool in the future, you can easily pin it to your taskbar or start menu.

Unfortunately, there isn’t a keyboard shortcut to open the Snipping Tool and it can only be opened manually. In Windows 10, however, there’s an updated version of the Snipping Tool, called “Snip & Sketch”, which can be opened by pressing the Windows-Shift-S. 

Snip & Sketch is similar to the Snipping Tool and offers the same screen capture capabilities with some additional functionality for editing, annotating, and sharing screen grabs. However, when Microsoft released the Windows 11 operating system in 2021, they decided to merge Snip & Sketch with the Snipping Tool to create the new and improved Snipping Tool (so Windows 11 users won’t find Snip & Sketch on their PC). 

The Snipping Tool has various modes that allow you to capture free-form screen grabs and basic rectangular screenshots. However, this already offers much more flexibility than just pressing the Print Screen key. Once you start “Snipping” by clicking the “New” button, your entire screen will turn gray and all you have to do is select the area you want to capture.

Once you’ve taken your screenshot, not only will it be copied to your clipboard (so you can share it right away), but it will also be automatically saved to the Screenshots folder (which can be found in your Pictures folder). If you click the preview that pops up in the bottom-right corner of your screen, you’ll also be able to edit your capture and add markups. 

Screen capture on Windows using Snagit

If you don’t already have Snagit, you can download it for free and try the software for 15 days. Snagit works on both Windows and Mac. So no matter what platform you use, it will work on your system.

You can capture your entire screen or only a selected portion of it. The screenshot automatically opens in the Snagit Editor where you can preview, edit, and share the capture.

Step 1: Open the Capture window.

In the Notifications area, click the red TechSmith Snagit icon to open the Capture window on the screen. If you’re in the Snagit editor, click the Capture button in the toolbar to bring up the Capture window.

Step 2: Choose your screen capture settings.

The Capture window gives you a lot of flexibility depending on what type of screen capture you want to take. Grab your entire desktop, a region, or a window with Snagit’s All-in-One Capture®. Take a quick image screenshot, or even record a video.

Step 3: Click the Capture button.

Click the Capture button on any tab in the Capture window to start your screen capture. You can also start a capture with the current settings by pressing the PrtScn button (Print Screen), which is the default global capture hotkey. You can also customize and change the global capture hotkey.

Step 4: Click and drag the crosshairs to take a screenshot of the active window.

How to take a screenshot on Mac

These methods work with different versions of macOS–10.10 (Yosemite), or higher.

Capture the whole screen on Mac

Let’s take a look now at how to take a screen capture on an Apple Mac. The macOS has slick built-in features for taking screenshots quickly and easily. However, when it comes to trying to capture an entire web page, things can get a little tricky. 

As most web pages don’t fit cleanly into the window of a web browser, if you want to take a screenshot of a whole page, you need to adjust the magnification levels by zooming out until the whole page fits. 

Here are the steps to follow when taking a screenshot of a webpage on a Mac:

1. Open the webpage you want to screenshot;
2. Click the green button in the top-left corner of your browser window to make it full-screen;
3. Hold the Command (Cmd) key and press the minus key to zoom out until the whole page is visible without scrolling;
4. Next, press Cmd-Shift-4 to open the screen capture tool. You’ll notice that your cursor arrow will turn into crosshairs;
5. Click the mouse button (don’t let go yet!) to drag the crosshairs and highlight the parts of the webpage that you want to capture;
6. When you’ve selected everything you want to screenshot, release the mouse button.
7. A screenshot of the highlighted area will be taken and saved to your desktop. 

Once the screenshot has been taken, you can either click on the preview that appears in the bottom-right corner of your screen or open it from your desktop to edit and/or share it.

The downside to taking a screenshot on a Mac like this is that even if the entire webpage fits on your screen once you’ve zoomed all the way out (which it might not), there’s always a chance that the text won’t be legible and the images will render unclear.

However, Snagit’s panoramic capture feature allows you to take scrolling captures, which are a more advanced and fluid way of taking large screenshots, without compromising the quality of the content you want to share. With the panoramic capture tool, you can scroll both vertically and horizontally, making it particularly useful when it comes to capturing large web pages or spreadsheets.

Capture parts of the screen on Mac

Depending on what you need to do, there are several ways to take screen captures on a Mac. Firstly, you can use the various built-in tools, which we’ll talk more about in a moment.

Alternatively, you can use Snagit, which offers a variety of advanced features for capturing, editing, and sharing. With Snagit, you have the ability to easily capture entire web pages, as well as images, videos, and GIFs. Each screenshot can be saved in a range of formats and shared quickly and easily with your colleagues and contacts.

As well as capturing entire web pages, Snagit can be used to quickly create mock up websites. You don’t need a degree in design, you just need some screenshots – it couldn’t be easier! 

Screen capture on Mac using the built-in tool

To capture a screenshot on a Mac, press the Cmd-Shift-5 simultaneously to open the screenshot tool.

With the screenshot tool open, you’ll have several options for taking different types of screen captures, including:

• The entire screen (which can be done by pressing Cmd-Shift-3 at the same time);
• A portion of the screen (which can be done by pressing Cmd-Shift-4 simultaneously before clicking and dragging to highlight the portion you want to screenshot);
• A single window (which can be done by pressing the keys Cmd-Shift-4 together. You’ll then need to press the Space Bar and click on the window you want to capture);
• Record the entire screen (possibly in order to complete a “lecture capture”);
• Record a portion of the screen.

Expert Tip: If your MacBook has a Touch Bar, you can capture that in your screenshot too by pressing Cmd-Shift-6. 

The screenshots you take will automatically save to your desktop, but unlike Windows devices, they won’t be copied to your clipboard. 

If you only want the screenshot to be copied to your clipboard (rather than saved to your desktop), you will need to press the Control (Ctrl) button when using one of the keyboard shortcuts described in the list above. For example, to copy a screenshot of your entire screen to your clipboard you need to press Cmd-Shift-Ctrl-3 at the same time. 

This is a quick way to take a screenshot and have it on your clipboard, ready to be pasted into another application. It’s worth noting, however, that a screenshot taken with the Control button held down will only go to your clipboard and won’t be saved to your desktop.

Screen capture on Mac using Snagit

Step 1: Open the Capture window.

In the menu bar, click the TechSmith Snagit icon to open the Capture window on the screen. If you’re in the Snagit editor, click the Capture button in the toolbar to bring up the Capture window.

Step 2: Choose your screen capture settings.

The Capture window gives you a lot of flexibility depending on what type of screen capture you want to take. Grab your entire desktop, a region, or a window with Snagit’s All-in-One Capture®. Take quick image screenshots. Or even record videos.

Step 3: Click the capture button.

Click the Capture button on any tab in the Capture window to start your screen capture. You can also start a capture with the current settings by pressing using the keyboard shortcut Ctrl-Shift-C, which is the default global capture hotkey. You can also customize and change the global capture hotkey.

Step 4: Click and drag the crosshairs to select part or all of your screen.

How to take screenshots, FAQs