How to Take a Screen Capture

If you are wondering how to capture screen shots, you need not worry, as it is just a matter of pressing buttons. What can you do if you want to help a person in opening a program or performing a specific function on a computer? There is no better solution than 'screen shots'. A screen capture or a screen shot is a copied picture of whatever is displayed on the PC screen.

Uses of Screen Captures

Screen shots are extremely useful for guiding a person in performing detailed troubleshooting. You are able to guide and assist a layman in step-by-step troubleshooting by visually showing him the exact procedure. For instructing a person on how to perform a Do It Yourself (DIY) repair, you need to take screen shots of the procedure, and paste them in a text document. You would also be required to add text related to the repairing steps below the screen captures for better understanding. A layperson may then refer to the step-by-step guide for carrying out the DIY repair.

Screen shots are also used to pass on information related to the use and operation of a new software or an application. They are generally utilized by technical writing professionals to let computer users know how to use a newly introduced software. This process is normally employed in IT companies where there are thousands of employees present who need to be informed about the use of a freshly introduced software application. If a computer user has a problem in his desktop or laptop computer, and is getting an unexpected pop-up error on his computer monitor, he may take a screen shot of the error message, paste it in a text document, and email it to the IT system administrator. In this way, he can give the IT engineer a clear visual of the problem he is facing.

How to Take a Screen Capture?

If you want to capture a screen shot, simply press the print screen button, often shortened to 'PrtScn', which is normally present at the upper right portion of the computer keyboard. If you have an extended keyboard, the button would be present along with the 'Insert', 'Delete', 'Scroll Lock', etc. buttons. When you press the 'PrtScn' button, the screen capture is taken, but you do not get a pop-up message that it has been done. After doing so, you just have to execute the paste command in a 'windows clipboard' or 'word processor'. The screen shot will be pasted in the document for further use. If you have certain programs open that you do not want to copy in the screen shot, you have an option of pressing the 'Alt' button along with using the 'PrtScn' button. This will capture the active screen without the taskbar. The above mentioned procedure will only work if you have a Windows system. If you have a Macintosh computer, you would need to press Apple+Shift+3 in order to get a screen capture.

There are many purposes for which screen shots are used; like troubleshooting guides, emails, document presentations, etc. I hope the above article would have provided useful information about how to take a screen capture.