How to Take and Create a Screenshot with Paint in Windows 8

   Information

This will show you how to take a full screen screenshot or a single window screenshot, then create and save the screenshot with Paint (mspaint.exe) in Windows 8.

   Tip

If you wanted to take a screenshot of a opened menu item, then you would want to use step 1 and crop the screenshot in Paint since the menu item would close when trying to take the screenshot with step 2.

Here's How:

1. To Take a Screenshot of the Entire Display Screen
NOTE: If you have multiple monitors, then they will also be included in the full screen screenshot. This option will also include context menus in the screenshot. You could use this option to take a screenshot of a Metro screen.

A) Press the PrtScn key for a desktop computer.
NOTE: On laptops or notebooks, you may need to press either the Ctrl+PrtScn or Fn+PrtScn key instead of only the PrtScn key.

B) Go to step 3.

2. To Take a Screenshot of only the "Active" Window
NOTE: This will just be a screenshot of the window that you have the focus set on. The window that has focus will have a darker border than the other opened windows.

A) Click on the title bar of the window that you want to take a screenshot of to place focus on it.

B) Press the Alt+PrtScn key for a desktop computer.
NOTE: On laptops or notebooks, you may need to press the Alt+Fn+PrtScn key instead of only the Alt+PrtScn key.

3. Open the "Charms" bar, and click on the Search charm.


4. Click on Apps in the right pane, type in Paint in the search box, then scroll to and click on Paint in the left pane. (see screenshot below)

5. In Paint, press Ctrl+V to paste the screenshot into Paint.

A) Go to step 7.

OR


6. In Paint, click on the rectangle above Select on the toolbar, then right click on the white space in the lower main pane of Paint and click on Paste. (see screenshot below)

7. Make any crops or adjustments you would like to the screenshot. (see screenshots below)
NOTE: For detailed information on how to use Paint, click on the icon at the upper right corner in Paint. The left screenshot is of a single window, and the right screenshot is of the full screen.

8. When ready to save the screenshot, click on the file drop down arrow to the left of the Home and View tab. Next, hover the mouse pointer on Save as to open it, then click on the file extension (ex: JPEG) that you want to save the screenshot as. (see screenshot below)

9. Navigate to where you want to save the screenshot. Type in a name for the screenshot to be saved as, and click on the Save button. (see screenshot below)

10. When done taking screenshots, close Paint.

That's it,
Shawn

Related Tutorials

• How to Upload and Post a Screenshot and File in Eight Forums
• How to Capture a Screenshot Directly in Windows 8