To take a screenshot on Windows, press Win+Shift+S to open Snipping Tool’s capture bar, then drag a rectangle, click a window, or choose full screen; the shot goes to your clipboard, and on Windows 11 it’s also saved in Pictures\Screenshots. On recent versions of Windows 11, PrtScn opens the same capture bar. Win+PrtScn saves the whole screen straight to a file in Pictures\Screenshots, and Alt+PrtScn copies the active window to the clipboard. For the jobs Windows doesn’t cover (scrolling pages, freezing the screen while you aim, scanning QR codes) a screenshot app like hypershot adds its own shortcuts, listed below.
The built-in way
Win+Shift+S: Snipping Tool’s capture bar. The screen dims and a small bar appears at the top with four modes:
- Rectangle — drag over any area.
- Window — click a window.
- Full screen — captures immediately.
- Freeform — draw any shape around what you want.
The snip is copied to the clipboard, and a notification lets you open it in Snipping Tool to crop, draw on it, or save a copy. On Windows 10 the same shortcut opens Snip & Sketch, which copies to the clipboard without saving a file.
PrtScn. On recent versions of Windows 11 it opens the Snipping Tool capture bar, exactly like Win+Shift+S. To get the old behaviour back (whole screen to the clipboard, no overlay), turn off the Print screen option under Settings → Accessibility → Keyboard. On Windows 10, PrtScn copies the whole screen to the clipboard.
Win+PrtScn: whole screen to a file. The screen dims for a moment and a PNG lands in Pictures\Screenshots. With several monitors, it’s all of them in one wide image.
Alt+PrtScn: the active window to the clipboard. Nothing is saved; paste it where you need it.
The Snipping Tool app. Open it from Start for the extras: a delay of a few seconds before the snip, Text actions to copy text out of a screenshot (recognised on your device) and Quick redact to hide email addresses and phone numbers. It also records video with Win+Shift+R.
Win+Alt+PrtScn: Game Bar. Saves a screenshot of the game or app you’re in to Videos\Captures. Made for games, handy now and then elsewhere.
That’s a capable set, and Snipping Tool keeps getting better. The gaps are specific: no scrolling capture, no way to freeze the screen while you aim, and the delay is a short preset list.
With hypershot
Each capture lands in a preview folder in the corner of the screen, where you can edit, copy, drag it into another app or save it. Every shortcut below is a default you can change in Settings → Shortcuts.
- Region: Ctrl+Shift+3. Drag and release. Hold the mouse button and it keeps recording a short burst of frames, so you can scrub back to the exact moment.
- Window: Ctrl+Shift+W. Hover and click, even a window that’s partly behind another. See How to capture a single window.
- Screen: Ctrl+Shift+1. The monitor your pointer is on, not all of them.
- Frozen: Ctrl+Shift+X opens the selection with the screen already frozen, or press Space mid-selection. Menus and tooltips hold still while you aim.
- Scrolling: Ctrl+Shift+J. Select the part that scrolls, scroll, click Done. See How to take a scrolling screenshot on Windows.
- Delayed: Ctrl+Shift+7 for a region, Ctrl+Shift+8 for the screen, Ctrl+Shift+9 for a window, anywhere from 1 to 30 seconds.
- Text (OCR): Ctrl+Shift+O. Drag over text and it’s on your clipboard, recognised on your PC by Windows’ own OCR.
- QR codes and barcodes: Ctrl+Shift+B. Every screen freezes and every code on them is decoded, each with a Copy button.
Every capture is saved as an editable .hypercapture in Pictures\hypershot, so your arrows and redactions stay editable. If you only ever paste, set Settings → Captures → After capture to Only Copy.
Side by side
| Job | Windows | hypershot |
|---|---|---|
| Part of the screen | Win+Shift+S, Rectangle | Ctrl+Shift+3 |
| One window | Alt+PrtScn, or Win+Shift+S, Window | Ctrl+Shift+W |
| Whole screen to a file | Win+PrtScn (all monitors) | Ctrl+Shift+1 (monitor under the pointer) |
| Freeze the screen first | Not built in | Ctrl+Shift+X |
| Scrolling page | Not built in | Ctrl+Shift+J |
| Timer | Snipping Tool app, a few preset lengths | 1–30 s |
| Copy text off the screen | Snipping Tool’s Text actions | Ctrl+Shift+O |
| Scan a QR code | Not in the screenshot tools | Ctrl+Shift+B |
| Screen recording | Win+Shift+R | Coming soon |
Where do Windows screenshots go?
Win+PrtScn and Snipping Tool save to Pictures\Screenshots; Game Bar saves to Videos\Captures; Alt+PrtScn (and PrtScn with the Snipping Tool option off) only copy to the clipboard. hypershot’s captures go to Pictures\hypershot.
Why does PrtScn open Snipping Tool now?
A 2023 Windows 11 update made it the default. If you’d rather have the old whole-screen-to-clipboard behaviour, turn it off under Settings → Accessibility → Keyboard.