Windows7How

How to capture screen with free Windows 7 snipping tool

November 4, 2009

Ever since I started using a computers, I’ve been using the “Prt Sc” button to take images of my desktop, and it has never cross my mind to use other software to do the job until Microsoft introduce the new snipping tool software that come free with Windows 7. Actually, I heard the same software was also in Vista but it doesn’t seem to be that popular.

After all we’re getting used to the convenience print screen button on the keyboard, it’s very useful to take quick image of you computer screen. After you’ve taken the screenshot, you’ll need some software to work with it. Most peoples are using the paint in Windows to do simple editing, but unfortunately it’s too simple that sometime makes it harder to use. Some of you might be using other free software on the internet to do the job, I don’t know. I personally preferred to use my old Photoshop, it’s a powerful software for image editing, maybe a little overpowered for simple image catching. Of course it’s not free and it cost a lot to buy.

We need something simple and easy to do the screen capture. And this is where the new snipping tool comes in handy. The snipping tool is like a combination of screen capture and simple editing software. If you need more advanced editing such as adding text, you’ll have to use paint or other software to do the job. A little side note for your information, the free paint software in Windows 7 has been upgraded! Most importantly, it makes the whole editing experience faster with the crop tool. After you paste the captured screen into paint, just click and crop out the area of image you want and save it. It’s that simple and you don’t have to worry about getting the right height and width, everything is done automatically for you! Crop and save!

So what makes the snipping tool so attractive? Normally you’d press the print button, paste it on image editing software, cut it and save. With snipping tool, it reduced the steps needed. You open the snipping tool software (It’s in start menu – all programs – accessories), click and drag to highlight the area you want to capture, release mouse button and you’ll be prompted with an editing screen where you can do simple modification such as drawing & highlighting. Finally save the captured screen into either one of the popular picture formats. It’s just like an instant cropping tool for the desktop.

We have been using snipping tool to capture most of the screenshots for windows7how except for this particular article. Why? Because the snipping tool can’t capture the software itself as once you click on the desktop the program disappear. And it doesn’t work very well in capturing in-working environment. Thus, we still have to use the old way when we want to show you some of the Windows 7 Aero function. Now one question comes in mind, how do you capture for example start menu as it close automatically when you click on other programs? Well, at least Microsoft realized such problem and provides a solution to it. First open the snipping tool then press ESC button on your keyboard. Now open the start menu and press Ctrl + Prt Scr, the start menu will now stay at the background for you to snip! You can find the instructions in the help section.

All in all, snipping tool has proved to be an useful software for us. Once you get comfortable with it, it saves you time. But not all users would have the same opinion. If you prefer the old way, you can always go back to paint. Windows 7 has improved the old paint and makes it a pleasure to use as well as providing an additional simple screen capture tool that a small group of users like us would be appreciated.

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Tags: aero, crop, drawing, editing, paint, photoshop, screen capture, snip, snipping tool, vista, win7, windows 7