Frequently Asked Question

How do I take a screenshot?
Last Updated 2 years ago

If you are asked to take a screenshot (a picture of your screen), the easiest way to do so is to use the tools built in to your computer. We will cover the two most popular operating systems here: Microsoft Windows and Apple macOS.

Microsoft Windows

On Windows 10/11 (1809 and above):

  1. Press the Windows + Shift + S keys all at once to start a region capture using Snip & Sketch.
  2. Hold down the left mouse button and drag the mouse over the area you want to take a screenshot of.
  3. Let go of the mouse when the area is selected. This will copy the screenshot to the clipboard for you to paste into a document.
    You can also click on the notification that pops up in the bottom right of the screen to edit the screenshot or save it to a file.

If you don't want to use the keyboard shortcut or if it isn't working for you, look for Snip & Sketch in the Start menu. If you can't find Snip & Sketch, you can use its predecessor, Snipping Tool. the following will work on Windows Vista (SP2 and above):

  1. Open the Start Menu.
  2. Type "Snipping Tool" into the search box.
  3. Choose Mode > Rectangular Snip.
  4. Hold down the left mouse button and drag the mouse over the area you want to take a screenshot of.
  5. Let go of the mouse when the area is selected. This will open a window showing you what was captured.
  6. Click the grey floppy disk or click File > Save Snip to choose a location to save the image.
You can of course use other features of the Snip & Sketch and Snipping Tool applications, like taking full-screen screenshots or editing your captures.

There are some alternative methods:

  • If you quickly want to take a full-screen screenshot, try pressing Windows + Print Screen/PrntScrn. This will darken the screen for a moment and save an image of the whole screen to the Pictures\Screenshots folder.
  • Windows + Alt + Print Screen/PrntScrn will use the Xbox Game Bar to capture an image of the currently selected window. However, this method is not recommended.
  • If neither of the above work, you can also just press Print Screen/PrntScrn to copy the image to the clipboard. You can then paste that image in the editor of your choice; Paint is built in to Windows.

Apple macOS

Apple already has a great article on how to take screenshots on your Mac.

Now what?

From here, you can attach the image to an email reply, or upload it to a website. Just make sure that if you take a screenshot that may contain potentially sensitive information or PII, that you use a tool like Microsoft Paint in Windows or Preview in Mac to draw over the information before you share the image. Snip & Sketch and Snipping Tool on Windows also offer image editing tools after you take a screenshot.

If you have been asked to upload your screenshot to a ticket, open the ticket on the website and paste the image into the response text box with Ctrl + V or by right clicking and selecting Paste. If you saved the screenshot to a file, you can select it with the choose them button under the text box.

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