How to Take a Screenshot of Your Entire Screen (Mac and Windows)

A screenshot is essentially taking a photograph of what is currently on your screen. Being able to take a screenshot will benefit any computer user since it is the easiest way to communicate what is being displayed on your screen. This guide demonstrates how to take a full screenshot on both Mac and Windows operating systems.

Note: Before you begin, ensure you are following the instructions that correspond to your operating system (ie. Mac or Windows). If using Windows, proceed to step 1, if using a Mac proceed to step 6.

Step 1: Determine What You Wish to Take a Screenshot Of

This can be anything actively displayed on your screen. To ensure you are pleased with the way the screenshot will look, be certain to maximize or minimize any window based on what you wish to capture. Once satisfied with the setup of your screen, proceed to Step 2.

Step 2: Locate and Press the Button Labeled “prt Sc”

Often located on the upper right part of the keyboard, the “prt sc” button is short for “print screen.” Pressing this button will copy whatever is currently on your screen to your computer’s “Clipboard” (a temporary storage area for data that the user wants to copy from one place to another).

Step 3: Locate and Open the Application “Paint”

The Paint application can be easily opened by opening the start menu and searching “Paint” in the search bar. This will show you the applications that have this name and the Paint application will be the first result.

Step 4: Paste the Contents of Your Clipboard Into Paint

Once the application has opened, you can easily make the screenshot that you just captured appear on the screen. The first way of doing this is by right clicking on the mouse and clicking “paste” on the options menu. Otherwise, you can hold down control (ctrl on the keyboard) and pressing the letter V. Once done correctly, your new screenshot will appear.

Step 5: Save As Proper File Type

Once your screenshot has been pasted in the paint application and your final edits are completed, you can now save your image in whatever format suits your needs, the most common image format being .png.

Congratulations on your new useful skill! Make sure you check back with us for more helpful tips and tricks that make using your computer a lot easier and less stressful process.

This completes the section on how to take a screenshot on a Windows computer, the following steps are only applicable to Mac users.

Step 6: Determine What You Wish to Take a Screenshot Of

The following steps only pertain to people using a computer with the Mac operating system. For people using a machine with Windows, refer to step 1.

Step 7: Locate the “Command,” “Shift,” and the Number “3” Buttons

After locating all three buttons, you must press them in a sequential order. First press “Command” then “Shift” and then the number “3” button.

Note: If sound is on, you will hear the iconic shutter sound a real camera makes

Step 8: Open Finder

Located on the taskbar at the bottom of the screen, identify and click on the application titled “Finder” (denoted by a half white and half blue smiling face).

Step 9: Locate the Photo in Finder

Once Finder has opened, the screenshot you just took will appear at the top of the list of files titled “Screen Shot {Year-Month-Day} at {Time of Screenshot}.” For example, if today is October 30th, 2017 and you took a screenshot at 9 pm, the file would be titled “Screen Shot 2017-10-30 at 9:00 PM.”

Congratulations on your new useful skill! Make sure you check back with us for more helpful tips and tricks that make using your computer a lot easier and less stressful process.