Windows 8.1: The Missing Manual

Snipping Tool

Snipping Tool (Figure 11-8) takes pictures of your PC’s screen, for use when you’re writing up instructions, illustrating a computer book, or collecting proof of some secret screen you found buried in a game. You can take pictures of the entire screen or capture only the contents of a rectangular selection. When you’re finished, Snipping Tool displays your snapshot in a new window, which you can print, close without saving, edit, or save (as a JPEG, GIF, PNG, or embedded HTML file), ready for emailing or inserting into a manuscript or page-layout program.

Now, as experienced PC enthusiasts already know, Windows has always had shortcuts for capturing screenshots: Press the Print Screen (or PrtScn) key to copy a picture of the whole screen to your Clipboard; add the Alt key to copy only the frontmost window; or press +Print Screen to save the screenshot as a file into a Screenshots folder in your Pictures library.

So why use Snipping Tool instead? Because it’s infinitely more powerful and flexible. Here’s how it works:

1. Open Snipping Tool.

   The screen goes foggy and light, and the Snipping Tool palette appears.

2. From the New shortcut menu, specify what area of the screen you want to capture.

   These are your choices:

   Free-form Snip means you can drag your cursor in any crazy, jagged, freehand, nonrectangular shape. Snipping Tool outlines it with a red border.

   Tip

   You can change the ...