As you probably already know, the tool has been included in the Windows operating system for quite some time. press clippings (Snipping Tool), and so much so that Microsoft intends to make it so that, by default, pressing Print Screen opens the Snipping Tool directly…in fact, if you don’t want to wait for that to happen , you can configure it yourself if you have Windows 11, so let’s see how.
How to Snipping When Pressing Print Screen
Let’s start at the beginning: if you press Print Screen on your keyboard, it will simply save a snapshot of what your screen(s) are showing in memory at that moment, and then you’ll need to go to an editor like Paint or Photoshop to be able to editing and saving it, which isn’t very optimal since usually you won’t want to take what all your screens are showing, but just a fraction of them…or a crop. As we mentioned, in Windows 11 you can make pressing Print Screen open the Snipping Tool by default, and it’s very simple.
Right-click on the Start button and then on Settings. When the Settings window opens, tap Accessibility on the left side, then scroll down a bit to access the keyboard. At the bottom, you have the option that you need to activate: “Use the Print Screen button to open the screen cutout”.
This way, when you want to take screenshots, if you press Print the screenshots will open directly, with the advantage that you don’t have to select “New” or if you want to capture a rectangle, a window or the whole screen.. . it will be ready for you to take the capture as you prefer.
Where are screenshots saved?
When you take a screenshot using the Snipping Tool, it still allows you to edit it to some degree within the tool itself. You can click the Save button to give it whatever format and name you want, as well as select where you want to save it. However, be aware that the original screenshot is also ALWAYS saved in a certain Windows folder…
That location is C:UsersUsuarioPicturesScreenshots (replacing User with your Windows username), and if you’re one of those who use the Snipping Tool a lot, you might be surprised at the number of screenshots saved there. . Also, even if you have previously configured Cutouts to save screenshots in a certain format, by default it will always save them there in PNG format.
How to add arrows to your screenshots
Often when you take a screenshot it’s to show something to your friends, to attach an email, to create a tutorial, etc., so being able to add arrows to point to is very important. the part you want to highlight. Unfortunately, the Snipping tool does not include this possibility, but as we told you at the beginning, the idea of this article is to become a master of screenshots without having to install any original software, we will so tell you how to do it.
Now that you know where all the screenshots you take with Snipping are saved, you can always access and edit the saved files. In this case, the idea is to open the file with Pictures from Microsoftwhich is actually the app it will open with by default in Windows 11. With the screenshot open, just tap the Edit icon above.
While doing so, click on the Review button at the top and you will see new menus appear at the bottom. You just have to click on one of the two “markers” below, to select the color, the thickness, and logically the arrow symbol: with this, you can put as many arrows of shapes and colors as you want. want on the picture.
Once done, at the top you have the button “Save as a copy” which will allow you, again, to choose the name, the format and the location in which you want to save the screenshot.
