A Screenshot is Worth a Thousand Words

Next time you need to remember how a window looked, take a screenshot.  This can be a big help when you want to keep a record of a confirmation message without wasting paper on a printout (such as after completing a registration or transaction) or when you encounter a mystifying error message that you want to look up later.  Here's how:

1. Make sure the window you want to capture is selected as the "top" one on your screen.
2. Hold down the Ctrl key and hit the Print Screen key at the same time.  (On most keyboards, Print Screen is located on the right side along the top row of keys, above the Insert key).  Ctrl + Print Screen will select and copy an image of the window.
3. Open MS Word or MS Paint (or your favorite image-editing software) and make sure there is a blank document open.  (Note:  Word will shrink the image to fit the standard letter-size page.)
4. Hit Edit > Paste (or right-click and select paste -- or use Ctrl + V) to paste the screenshot image into the blank document.
5. Save the document.

Added -- Hitting Print Screen all by itself captures everything that's visible onscreen at once, making it possible to get multiple windows at once (and any part of your desktop that is showing).  Ctrl + Print Screen only gets the topmost "active" window.  Thanks to Sarah Hartman for the extra tip!

Comments

[Sarah Hartman]

Unless you're using a really old version of Windows, you shouldn't need to hold down Ctrl while you press the Print Screen button. (Not that it hurts anything; it will work either way.)

If you hold down Alt and press the Print Screen button, though, you'll get just the active window instead of the whole screen.

[Rose Ziech]

Good tip, thanks! :)