Making Screen Shots

You may want to make screen shots from time to time.

 

If, for instance, you need to make a web page or PowerPoint that instructs others on how to do something on a computer, it helps to have pictures of exactly how the screen looks at different points in the process.

Go to:

 

How to "take a picture" of your screen

The most important thing to know is:

  • The Key you want doesn't say "screen shot" it says "Print Scrn" (i.e., Print Screen, but abbreviated)

  • On the standard keyboard, it's located just right of the main part of your keyboard, above the group of six keys with the all-important "Delete" key:

  • "Back in the day," this key actually printed what was on your screen.  Like the "Enter" key, which is still labeled "Return" on some older keyboards, it's a throwback that no longer does what it used to do.

Take a picture of this screen right now

  1. Click the "Print Scrn" key.

  2. Now open a new Word document, or a new PowerPoint slide, or a photo-editing program like Microsoft PhotoEditor, and click Paste.

  3. Edit like you would any image, if you need to change size or crop for instance.

There's your screen!

Take a picture of only an active window

Say you want to show your audience the contents of a dialog box they need to open following your instructions.

  1. In your program, open the dialog box or file box, like "Print," that you want to show your audience.
     

  2. Hold down the "Alt" key at the same time that you press the "Print Scrn" key.
    The "Alt" key is in 2 locations: either side of the "Space" key:

     

  3. Now paste into a program like Word, like before.  All that will be there is the box that was active, not the entire window, like this screenshot of the Print file box:

The keyboard pictures were taken of my personal Gatewayâ keyboard using a Sonyâ FDMavica camera with Memory Stick and a USB connection to upload to my computer.

They were edited in Microsoft PhotoEditor, by cropping and using the Brightness control to make them presentable on a web page.

Go to: The Bijou Computer Applications Home Page  /  Downloading and Saving Images from the Web  / 

Make a Web Page with Microsoft WORD  /  WORD Tutorials Contents Page