How to Take Screenshots on Windows 10 and Windows 11 using Snip & Sketch. Whether you’re downloading Windows 11 (find out how to download Windows 11 for free) or sticking with Windows 10 for a while longer, it’s easy to take a screenshot to capture part of or the entirety of your display. Maybe you want to save an online receipt, or maybe you want to capture a particularly noteworthy gaming feat to show off to your friends. Windows 10 and 11 offer the same built-in tools (Snip & Sketch and Snipping Tool), and several keyboard shortcuts will let you take a screenshot in an instant.
To activate Snip & Sketch, use the keyboard shortcut Windows Key + Shift + S. Your screen will dim and a mini menu will appear at the top of your screen, giving you the option to take a rectangular, free-form, window, or full-screen capture. Size a rectangle for your screenshot. Draw free-hand with your cursor.
The Snip & Sketch
The Snip & Sketch tool is easier to access, share and annotate screenshots than the old Snipping Tool. And it can now capture a screenshot of a window on your desktop, a surprising omission when the app was first introduced that kept us on Team Snipping Tool until recently.
The easiest way to call up Snip & Sketch is with the keyboard shortcut Windows key + Shift + S. You can also find the Snip & Sketch tool listed in in the alphabetical list of apps accessed from the Start button as well as in the notification panel where it listed as Screen snip. Or you can just search for it if you don’t commit the keyboard shortcut to memory. (If you’re a frequent screenshot taker, we recommend pinning the app to the taskbar.)
Either the keyboard shortcut or the notification button will dim your screen and open a tiny menu at the top of your screen that lets you choose which type of screenshot you want to take — rectangular, free-form, window or full-screen. Once you take your screenshot, it will be saved to your clipboard and show up momentarily as a notification in the lower-right corner of your screen. Click the notification to open the screenshot in the Snip & Sketch app to annotate, save or share it. (If you miss the notification, open the notification panel and you’ll see it sitting there.
If you open Snip & Sketch from the Start menu or by searching for it, it will open the Snip & Sketch window instead of the small panel at the top of the screen. From here, you need to click the New button in the upper-left to initiate a screen capture and open the small panel. It’s an extra step to proceed this way, but it also lets you delay a screenshot. Click the down-arrow button next to the New button to delay a snip for 3 or 10 seconds.
