You can take a screenshot to save your computer screen or software window as image when you need to save or share it. If you have upgraded to the latest Windows 11, you have several ways to capture Windows screens without using third-party screenshot apps.
Use the PrtSc Key
Find this PrtSc on your keyboard. Some keyboards spell it out to the full Print Screen. You can press this key to quickly capture the entire screen, including all visible windows, plus the taskbar and Start button, etc., to the clipboard. You can then paste the image or screenshot into any app that accepts pasted images, such as Paint, Paint 3D, Word, etc.
Use Win+PrtSc Keys Combination
Press and hold the Windows logo key and then press the PrtSc key on your keyboard, this will capture fullscreen screenshot and save it to your Pictures > Screenshots folder as image file. So you don’t have to open an image editor to paste the screenshot.
Use Alt+PrtSc Keys Combination
Instead of whole-screen capture, the Alt+PrtSc keys combo captures just the currently active application window. It capture screen of the current window to the clipboard, and from there you can paste it into an imaging editor.
Use the Snipping Tool
The Snipping tool is more useful and flexible than the PrtSC. It still lets you screenshot the whole screen, but you have several other options. For example, it gives you a choice to take a screenshot using a rectangular selection, freehand selection, full window, or full-screen capture; you can mark up the screenshot with a pen or highlighter, or crop it; use a timer for delayed screenshots; use a ruler to draw straight lines, and the finger button lets you draw on a touch screen. Press the Windows+Shift+S key combination to quickly start a snip.
The keyboard shortcut gives you a choice to take a screenshot using a rectangular selection, freehand selection, full window, or full-screen capture. After choosing one of those options, the image will be saved to the clipboard or click on the thumbnail image of the screenshot in the lower-right-hand corner to open the screenshot in Snipping Tool where you can markup, highlight, edit and share the screenshot.