Windows 10 is popular and nearly half of the world populace that uses a computer utilizes a Windows-powered computer one way or the other. As of the October 10 2018’s update, there have been a new way of taking screenshots on the Windows 10 PC which means that you now have access to a new tool called Snip & Sketch.

While there might be some third-party applications that can get this done for you, the native way of achieving this is really important as it saves you from countless hours or researching which application you should use just for screenshots.

First, The Snip & Sketch

And speaking of the new Snip & Sketch tool, here is how it works on the Windows 10 PC. The tool basically makes it easy for you to take screenshots with ease. Even though there is an absence of some important features which makes it a complete tool for other functionalities.

But with that aside, you can start taking screenshots on Your Windows 10 PC using the Snip & Sketch tool by first clicking on New button at the upper-left of the screen which initiate a Screen Capture process.

Afterwards, the Snip & Sketch window disappears giving room for a tin menu right at the top of your computer’s screen which lets you choose which type of screenshot you’d like to take: Rectangular, Free-Form or even Full Screen.

Snipping Tool on the other way round allows you to capture a window but the Snip & Sketch tool doesn’t. Anyway, you can also click the down-arrow button next to the New button in the Snip & Sketch window to delay a snip for 3 or 10 seconds.

After you’re okay with the portion of the screen you’ve taken, then the image gets loaded inside the Snip & Sketch interface whereby you can annotate it with Pencil, Pen and other tools right at the top of the window. Your screenshot also gets copied to your clipboard, and it includes any annotations you make.

Then the Snipping Tool

This is a really old tool which had been evolving since he good ol’ days of the Windows Vista. Anyway, to take screenshot using this tool, you just have to click on the New Button which auto starts the Screenshot process.

But then the default snip type is usually in a rectangular snip but still gives you the Free-Form and Full-Screen snips along with a Window snip.

The Snipping Tool does not automatically save your screenshots — you will need to manually save them in the tool before you exit — and it does automatically copy your captures to the clipboard.

What of Print Screen

You can use Print-Screen to take Screenshots on your Windows 10 PC. This tool screenshots the entire window. It is labelled as “PrintScr” on most Windows keyboard. When you tap on this key, your screenshot will not be saved as an image file rather copied as a clipboard.

Afterwards, you can open an image editing tool like the default Microsoft Paint and then paste in your screenshot into the editor and then save the file from there.

You can also set the PrtScn button to open the Snip & Sketch tool by going to Settings > Ease of Access > Keyboard and toggling on Use the PrtScn button to open screen snipping under Print Screen Shortcut. 

Windows key + Print Screen

Another way of capturing the screen of your Windows 10 PC is by using the combination of keys. Because this functions are in-built, they basically capture the entire window. For example, if you want to capture the entire screen of a particular app or something, this can come handy.

To do this, just tap the Windows Key + Print Screen Key. You’ll notice a quick dim on your screens which indicates the screenshot has been taken and it will be saved in a folder inside Picture called ScreenShots.

Windows key + shift-S 

You can also use keyboard shortcut Windows key + shift-S (or the new Screen snip button in the Action Center) to capture a screenshot with Snip & Sketch. Your screen will dim and you’ll see Snip & Sketch’s small menu at the top of your screen that will let you choose with type of screenshot you want to capture.

Alt + Print Screen Combo key

To take a quick screenshot of the active window, use the keyboard shortcut Alt + PrtScn. This will snap your currently active window and copy the screenshot to the clipboard. You’ll need to open the shot in an image editor to save it.

You can use the Game bar

You can use the Game bar to snap a screenshot, whether you’re in the middle of playing a game or not. Hit the Windows key + G key to call up the Game bar. From here, you can click the screenshot button in the Game bar or use the default keyboard shortcut Windows key + Alt + PrtScn to snap a full-screen screenshot. To set your own Game bar screenshot keyboard shortcut, to Settings > Gaming > Game bar. Backing up a bit, you’ll also need to enable Game bar from this settings page by making sure you’ve toggled on Record game clips, screenshots, and broadcast using Game bar.

Combine the Windows Logo + Volume Down

Another thing which is quite mobile-centric is using the volume button and the Windows logo virtual button combo to take screenshots. Let’s assume you just got a spanking new Microsoft Surface device can then utilize the physical buttons to take a screenshot of the entire screen.

You can do this by holding down the Windows Logo touch button right at the bottom of your Surface screen and then hit the Physical Volume-Down button on the side of the device. There will be a brief dim to signify that a screenshot had been taken and the screenshot will be automatically saved to the Pictures > Screenshots folder.