How to Use the "Print Screen" Function on a Keyboard

Quickly start using the "prt sc" key on Windows

Last Updated: August 26, 2022 Tested

This wikiHow teaches you how to use the Print Screen key on your Windows PC's keyboard to quickly take a screenshot. You will learn some quick keyboard shortcuts that let you capture the entire screen or just a single window on the desktop.

Method 1

Method 1 of 2:

Capturing the Entire Screen

1
Find the ⎙ Print Screen key. The location varies by keyboard, but you'll usually find it in the upper-right area to the right of the function (F1-F12) keys. The text on the key may be abbreviated to prt sc, prnt scrn, or something similar.
- If the "Print Screen" key has "Print Screen" listed below another line of text, you will need to hold down your computer's Fn key while pressing the key for it to work properly.
- If your keyboard does not have any keys like this, you can emulate the Print Screen button by pressing the Fn and Insert keys at the same time.^{[1]
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2
Arrange the screen how you'd like it to appear in the screenshot. When you take a screenshot using this method, everything on your screen (except your mouse cursor) will be included in the shot.
- If there is any personal information on the screen, make sure you don't capture the screenshot and share it with others.
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3
Press ⊞ Win+⎙ Print Screen at the same time. Pressing your Windows key at the same time as the Print Screen key automatically captures everything on the screen and saves it as an image. The image is saved to a folder called Screenshots, which you will find in your Pictures folder.
- To find your Screenshots folder, just type screenshots into the Windows Search bar and click the Screenshots folder when it appears. The name of the image contains the date it was taken.
- If your Print Screen key requires you to also press the Fn key to use it, press that as well. This is used only when the Print Screen key is shared with another key function.

Method 2

Method 2 of 2:

Capturing One Window

1
Find the ⎙ Print Screen key. The location varies by keyboard. It'll often be on the keyboard's upper-right side, and the key may be abbreviated to prt sc, prnt scrn, or similar.
- If the "Print Screen" key has "Print Screen" listed below another line of text, you will need to hold down your computer's Fn key while pressing the key for it to work properly.
- If your keyboard does not have any keys like this, you can emulate the Print Screen button by pressing the Fn and Insert keys at the same time.
2
Open the window you want to capture. When you use this method, your screenshot will only contain the contents of one window.
- Don't navigate away from the window after opening it. To make sure the window remains in focus, click its title bar at the top.
3
Press Alt+⎙ Print Screen. This saves a snapshot of the open window to your clipboard. Now that you've captured this image, you can paste it into an image editor and save it.
- If your Print Screen key requires you to also press the Fn key to use it, press that as well. This is only necessary if your Print Screen key is shared with another key function.
4
Open the Paint app. You will find it in the Windows Start menu in your program list inside a folder called Windows Accessories. You can also open it by typing paint into the Windows search bar and clicking Paint in the search results.
- If you'd prefer not to save your screenshot as an image to your computer, you can just paste it into a file, email message, or into virtually any other app by clicking the desired location and pressing Ctrl + V.
5
Click the Paste button. It's the clipboard icon in the upper-left corner of Paint. This pastes your screenshot into the window.
6
Click the disk icon to save your screenshot. It's in the upper-left corner of the window.
7
Browse to the Screenshots folder and click Save. The Screenshots folder is inside your Pictures folder, which you'll find in the left panel. This saves your screenshot to this folder.

Community Q&A

Question

How do I use print screen with Windows 10?

Community Answer

Hold down the Windows button and press PrtSc. The screenshot will automatically be saved to a Screenshots folder in your Pictures. The 'pasting into a program' step is not actually necessary, though if you want to edit it within some program, you can open the saved screenshot in the program the same way you would any other picture.
Question

I have a PC with Windows 10, I pressed Print Screen plus crtl, start, shift and alt, each individually and in combination. Nothing works. What else can I do?

Community Answer

Try Crtl+Fn+PrtSc if you haven't already. If that doesn't work, try a different keyboard.
Question

What should you do if you don't have Paint on your computer?

Community Answer

Go to your browser and download a free paint programme such as NETPaint or similar. You can then use that to edit your screenshots.