Computer How To's
Using the "Print Screen" key
Click on an image to see a Tool Tip
Pressing the F11 key will set Full Screen view.
New Information added: 9-20-2003
On the top row of your keyboard, to the right of the F12 key, is a key labeled "Print Scrn". In the "olden days", this key actually printed (on your printer) the image that was showing on the screen.
Since the first Windows, this key's function has changed. Now it copies the screen image to the clipboard. If you want to see this in action:
1. Press the Print Scrn key.
2. Open a graphics program (like Paint, or even MS Word) and do a paste
(Right click/Paste or CTRL + V).
3. You'll see the screen image.
4. If you want to capture only a window on the screen:
press and hold the ALT key, then the Print Scrn key. The image copied will be only the active window.
5. If you would like to print the image, use the print command from the graphics program.
6. If you wish, you can "edit" the image, then save it.
use your graphics program's "Save" command in the "File" menu.
By the way, the image is copied as a .bmp (Bitmap) file, but you can convert to any format you'd like, within the limits of your graphic program.
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This picture is an example of a "Screen Shot". It shows the PicViewer program open at C:\My Documents\My Pictures folder and an image of Camillia and Madison. In this example, I used the Alt + Print Scrn key so only the active window was copied to the clipboard. |
This Print Screen feature is especially handy for saving computer error dialog boxes, and other computer images. The example below shows the steps for running the Microsoft System File Check program from the Start/Run menus.
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Click "Start", then "Run". Type in "SFC" (without quotes), then click the "OK" button. |
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Or for showing the "steps" in a setup wizard
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Since I first wrote this page, I have come across a great free program that does screen shots. If you like, you can set it to actually print the screen image directly to your printer. It is called "Gadwin PrintScreen" and you can download it here. What I like to do with this program is set the "output" directly into another great free program, IrfanView which is a grapics program. You can download IrfanView here. *See below With this option set, when I press the "Print Scrn" button, a screen shot is taken. I have the Gadwin option set which asks if I want to "Continue Output". If I click "Yes" the screen image is opened directly in "IrfanView" where I can edit the picture if I wish, or just save or print it. And, note the option shown in the Gadwin PrintScreen window to "Copy captured area to Printer". With this option set, the screen image will go directly to your printer and be printed out.
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This shows the Gadwin PrintScreen Options window open to the Destinations tab.
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The Gadwin PrintScreen program and the IrfanView graphics program make taking and using screen shots very easy. |
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Read a "IrfanView" download tutorial: click here. Back
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This page updated March 15, 2004
