How to screenshot on Windows?

Windows + Shift + S opens the Snipping Tool — your cursor becomes a crosshair and you drag to select any area. The screenshot goes to your clipboard. Paste it into an email, Teams message, or image editor with Ctrl+V.

PrtScn (Print Screen) alone captures the full screen to clipboard. Windows + PrtScn captures the full screen AND saves it automatically to C:\Users\[YourName]\Pictures\Screenshots — no paste needed.

For scrolling screenshots or annotating before saving, open the Snipping Tool app directly (search for it in Start). It lets you delay captures, draw on screenshots, and save in multiple formats. Xbox Game Bar (Windows + G) can also capture screenshots in full-screen games.

Some apps block screenshots entirely — Netflix, banking apps, and DRM-protected content will return a black image when you try to capture them. This is a deliberate security measure. For power users, ShareX (free, open source) is far more capable than the built-in Snipping Tool, supporting scrolling capture, auto-upload, and annotation.

Alt + PrtScn captures only the active window (not the full screen) to clipboard — useful when you have multiple windows open and only want to share one. This shortcut is underused and saves a lot of cropping.