Basic Windows 10 Screenshot tips
There are many — many even hundreds — of programs for Windows that make it easy to take screenshots… some free and some not… some simple and some not… some really fantastic with a lot of features, others not so hot. If you have one you like, great. Keep using it!
But for Windows 10 users who need to take a quick screenshot and don’t have any 3rd-party screenshot software, it’s easy. Windows 10 makes it dead simple to take screenshots.
First, we are going to refer to the print screen key as the PrtScr key. Your computer may have it labeled differently, but it will be similar to PrtScr. You should find it on most English keyboards on the top row of the keyboard between the Pause/Break key and the “Delete” key — almost always on the top row of the keyboard on the far right.
OK. To take a screenshot on Windows 10 without using any 3rd-party software, all you have to do is press Windows Key + PrtScr key. Voila! You’ll instantly get a picture of whatever was on your screen and it’s saved automatically in your Pictures folder in a folder called “Screenshots”. The image will have a funky name like Screenshot or Screenshot(3). You can rename it, resize it, or leave it as it is.
But what if you want to take a screenshot of your lock screen in Windows 10? Easy as pie, I tells ya. Why would you want to do that? I don’t know… maybe share your lock screen with a friend? Complain about Windows advertising? Who knows? Whatever the reason, it’s easy to do.
With the lock screen showing, press the PrtScr key. That places the image on your Windows clipboard. You’ll then need to “Paste” the image into your favorite image viewer or image editing program.
If you don’t have one installed, you can use MS Paint. All Windows users have MS Paint [at least through Windows 10 version 1903]. To open MS Paint type MS PAINT in the taskbar search and press Enter.
Once you have MS Paint open, click the Paste icon in the ribbon.
What’s my lock screen look like? Well, today it looks like this:
If you want to try taking a screenshot of your lock screen and you don’t want to restart your computer, do this:
Press and hold down the Windows Key and tap the L key. This locks your PC and shows the lock screen. Take your screenshot and log back in. Open your favorite screenshot app or MS Paint and paste the lock screen image and save it.
I don’t know what I’m doing wrong, but this didn’t work on my Windows 10. I pressed the Windows key and the key on my keyboard that says Print Scr. Absolutely nothing happened.
Cynthia, Check your picture folder it should be saved there.
It didn’t work on mine, either–but then I realized, I’m using an external keyboard with my laptop. I went to my actual laptop…& it worked just fine!
When you hold down the Windows key and tap the PrtSrn key – there is no confirmation message or notification that a screenshot has been taken. The only way you’ll know is by looking in your Pictures folder and looking in the folder called Screenshots.
When you hold down the Windows key and tap the PrtSrn key – there is no confirmation message or notification that a screenshot has been taken. The only way you’ll know is by looking in your Pictures folder and looking in the folder called Screenshots.
Worked fine with me
Thank you! Works great!
My Acer laptops do not need the windows key pressed to activate PrtSC.