Taking Screenshots

My favorite screenshot utility that comes with Windows Vista and Windows 7 is called the Snipping Tool.  Many people do not realize this little gem is buried in their accessories.

The snipping tool is located here:

Start menu -> All Programs -> Accessories – >Snipping Tool

The snipping tools allows you to draw a box around any portion of your screen to capture it.

Once captured you can paste it into an email, word, anywhere.  You can also highlight portions of it or draw on it using the pen tool.  If you mess up, don’t worry there’s even an eraser for us perfectionist =)

Here is a screenshot of the toolbar.  It’s very easy to use.

Now when you’re ready to do a screenshot, sometimes it’s a pain finding the snipping tool.  Windows allows you to give any application a “shortcut key”  That is a key you will press on your keyboard to launch an application.  it’s very useful for application you use most often.

To add a shortcut key to the snipping tool navigate to the snipping tool in your start menu.

Start menu -> All Programs -> Accessories – >Snipping Tool

Right click on it and select properties

On the properties screen type a key sequence in the “Shortcut key” box

Normally you want a sequence of keys that you will not accidentally press during your normal activity. I used “Ctrl” and “F12” When I press down on these keys together it will automatically launch my snipping tool.