Screenshot on Windows 10: The Fastest Shortcut for Every Capture

The fastest way to take a screenshot on Windows 10 is a keyboard shortcut. Press Windows logo key + PrtScn to save the full screen as a PNG file in Pictures > Screenshots, with no app to open. Press Windows logo key + Shift + S to select a rectangle, freeform area, window or the full screen, which is copied to the clipboard. Alt + PrtScn copies only the active window.

This guide sorts every built-in Windows 10 screenshot method by what you get at the end: a saved file, a clipboard image, a single window or a custom area. Use the table to pick one shortcut, then read its section for the details and the common reasons it fails.

Which Windows 10 screenshot shortcut should you use?

The right Windows 10 screenshot shortcut depends on two questions: do you want the whole screen or part of it, and do you want a file or a clipboard image to paste? Shortcuts that save a file are the fastest when you need to keep the image. Shortcuts that copy to the clipboard are faster when you paste straight into a chat, email or document.

A simple rule of thumb: Windows + PrtScn for "keep the whole screen", Windows + Shift + S for "paste a piece of the screen", and Alt + PrtScn for "paste one window".

Windows + PrtScn: save a full-screen screenshot as a file

Windows logo key + PrtScn is the fastest way to save a screenshot on Windows 10, because it writes the image to disk without opening any program. Each capture is saved as a PNG file named Screenshot (1).png, Screenshot (2).png and so on, in the Screenshots subfolder of your Pictures folder.

To find the files, open File Explorer, select Pictures in the navigation pane and open Screenshots. The full path is usually C:\Users\yourname\Pictures\Screenshots.

Two things commonly get in the way:

• Laptop keyboards: if PrtScn shares a key with another function, add the Fn key (Fn + Windows + PrtScn). Microsoft also lists Fn + Windows logo key + Space Bar for devices without a PrtScn key.
• OneDrive folder backup: if OneDrive backs up your Pictures folder, the Screenshots folder lives inside the OneDrive Pictures folder instead of the local one. Check there first if a capture seems to be missing.

On tablets such as Surface Pro and Surface Go, press and hold the Power button, then press Volume Up. Those screenshots land in the same Pictures > Screenshots folder.

Alt + PrtScn: capture only the active window

Alt + PrtScn copies a screenshot of the active window, and nothing else, to the Windows 10 clipboard. Click the window first so it has focus, then press the shortcut. The taskbar, desktop and other windows are left out, so there is nothing to crop.

The image is not saved as a file. Paste it with Ctrl + V into the place you need it: Paint, an image editor, Word, an email or a chat window. If you need it as a file, paste it into Paint and save it from there.

The plain PrtScn key works the same way for the whole screen: it copies all monitors to the clipboard. On Windows 10 version 1809 and newer you can make PrtScn open the snipping overlay instead: go to Settings > Ease of Access > Keyboard and turn on "Use the PrtScn button to open screen snipping" under Print Screen shortcut. That gives you a one-key way to capture a selected area.

Windows + Shift + S: capture part of the screen

Windows logo key + Shift + S is the fastest way to capture a custom area on Windows 10. The screen dims and a small toolbar appears at the top with four modes: rectangular snip, freeform snip, window snip and full-screen snip. Pick a mode, drag or click, and the capture is copied to the clipboard.

Windows 10 then shows a notification. Click it to open the image in Snip & Sketch, where you can draw on it, highlight parts, crop it and save it as a file. Ignore the notification if you only want to paste the image somewhere.

This is the shortcut to use when a full-screen capture would need cropping afterwards, for example to share one dialog box, an error message or a part of a web page.

Snipping Tool: delayed and freeform screenshots

Snipping Tool is the Windows 10 option for screenshots that a shortcut cannot take, mainly delayed captures of menus, tooltips and hover states. It is slower than the shortcuts because you have to start it first: open Start, type snipping tool and press Enter. Right-click its taskbar icon and select Pin to taskbar if you use it often.

Choose a mode (rectangle, window, full screen or freeform), set a delay of a few seconds if you need to open a menu first, and select New. The capture opens in the Snipping Tool window for basic marking, and it is copied to the clipboard. Use the save option to keep it as a file.

Xbox Game Bar: screenshots of games and apps

Windows logo key + Alt + PrtScn takes a screenshot through the Xbox Game Bar, which is built into Windows 10. It captures the active app or game and saves a PNG file to the Captures folder inside Videos. Windows logo key + G opens the Game Bar overlay, where you can also find the capture widget and your saved captures.

Use this method for full-screen games, where the other shortcuts may produce a black image or only capture the desktop. For regular desktop work, Windows + PrtScn or Windows + Shift + S is simpler.

Where Windows 10 screenshots are saved

Windows 10 screenshots go to one of three places, depending on the method:

• Pictures\Screenshots: Windows + PrtScn and the Surface Power + Volume Up combination.
• Videos\Captures: Xbox Game Bar screenshots (Windows + Alt + PrtScn).
• Clipboard only: PrtScn, Alt + PrtScn, Windows + Shift + S and Snipping Tool, until you paste or save the image.

Clipboard captures are easy to lose, because the next copy overwrites them. Turn on clipboard history to keep them: press Windows logo key + V and select Turn on. Windows then keeps up to 25 recent items, including images, and Windows + V lets you paste an older screenshot. If you copy sensitive screenshots, it is worth knowing how to clear the Windows clipboard afterwards.

The old OneDrive setting that saved every screenshot to OneDrive automatically is no longer available. Microsoft now recommends backing up the Pictures folder with OneDrive instead, which syncs the Screenshots folder along with it.

FAQ

Related: the best screenshot programs for Windows, ShareX screenshot tool with pinning and editing, Snipping Tool and Paint on the Microsoft Store.