Use Snipping Tool to Capture Screen Shots in Windows 7

There are many methods to capture a screen shot, or snip, of any object on your screen. The easiest way is to press the Print Screen (PrtSc) key on your keyboard. But, this method can only capture the screen of all objects that appear on the monitor in full screen and save it to the clipboard. You can't capture a portion of a windows aplication, just a full screen one.

Another method is using software designed to take a screen shot. There are many softwares, ranging from the Open Source, Free until paid ones. Just googling with keywords "Screen Capture" to find softwares you need.

But if you are using Windows 7, you do not need to search for screen capture applications because Windows 7 is doing that for you. This Feature or application is called the Snipping Tool. We can access it from Start menu> All Programs> Accessories> Snipping Tool.


HOW TO USE

1. Open an application or application window you want to take it's screen
2. Open Snipping Tool from Start menu> All Programs> Accessories> Snipping Tool.
3. Click the arrow next to the New menu. There are four options:
   
   
   
a. Free-form Snip.  Draw a free-form shape around an object. b. Rectangular Snip.  Drag the cursor around an object to form a rectangle. c. Window Snip.  Select a window, such as a browser window or dialog box, that you want to capture. d. Full-screen Snip.  Capture the entire screen.
4. If you want to take a piece of screen from an application menu, then after opening the Snipping Tool, click Cancel button or press Esc on the keyboard.Open the menu to be captured it's screen, then press Ctrl + PrintScreen (PrtSc) on your keyboard. Back to the Snipping Tool window, click the arrow next to the New menu, select Rectangular Snip and drag the cursor over the menu you want to capture.
5. After taking a screen, we can add a colored line with the Pen menu, highlight it with the Highlighter menu or erase it with the Eraser menu.
   
   
   
6. To save the results, just click the Save icon