Windows XP Hacks

Top Screenshot Tips

Capture any XP screen or portion of a screen and control the file format and output using these screen-capture tips.

Capturing good screenshots in XP takes a bit of work. If all you want to do is capture a screen for later reference, and don’t care about the file format of the capture, and don’t need to capture the cursor or only part of the screen, you can use XP’s built-in capture capabilities. But if you need to create documentation, are a professional writer, an artist, or are a student preparing a term paper and need to get great-looking screenshots, you’ll have to use a third-party program.

These screen-capture tips will help you capture just about anything you want, using built-in or third-party tools.

Built-In Screen Capture

XP comes with a built-in capability for capturing screenshots, though it’s about as basic as screenshot capture gets. To capture an entire screen, press the Print Scrn button. To capture only the active screen, press Alt-Print Scrn.

Pressing those keys captures the screen to the Clipboard [Hack #73], but you’ll have to paste the screen into a graphics program in order to save it. Use your favorite graphics program, such as Paint Shop Pro [Hack #86], or use XP’s built-in Paint program by choosing Start → All Programs → Accessories → Paint. Paste in the graphic, and then choose a format for saving it.

If you have Microsoft Office, a better bet than Paint is pasting the screen into Microsoft Photo Editor (Start → Programs → Microsoft ...