In order to get a better understanding of what you may be seeing, a Product Support Specialist may ask you to take a screenshot and send it to them. There are many ways to accomplish this, but to provide the most useful screenshot, you can follow the guide below.
Table of Contents
Taking Screenshots in Windows
Using the Snipping Tool
Recent versions of Windows come preloaded with a free tool dedicated to taking screenshots called the Snipping Tool.
Go to the Start menu in the lower-left corner. Start typing in "Snipping Tool" in the search bar and it will appear in the app list.
Once the tool opens, you will see the following toolbar.
To use Snipping Tool:
- Click New.
- You will see the screen fade; click and drag the mouse over the area you want to capture
- Once the screenshot is captured and appears in the Snipping Tool window, go to File and click Save As...
- Give it a name, choose a save location, then click Save.
Using the Snip & Sketch Tool
In recent versions of Windows 10, a new tool, Snip & Sketch, to assist with screenshots.
Go to the Start menu in the lower-left corner. Start typing in "Snip" in the search bar and "Snip & Sketch" will appear in the app list.
To use Snip & Sketch:
- Click New in the upper left corner to begin capturing a screenshot after Snip & Sketch is open.
- Snip & Sketch offers different ways to capture screenshots.
- Rectangle Marque Selection - Click and drag mode that selects in the shape of rectangles.
- Free Form Selection - Click and drag to freely trace an area.
- Window Snip - Click an open program window to capture.
- Fullscreen Snip - Capture fullscreen, will capture all displays if using more than one.
- After capturing screenshots with Snip & Sketch, the screenshot will appear in the Snip & Sketch window so you can edit and save the screenshot.
- The screenshot will also be saved to your clipboard; simply paste it into the email reply to attach by right-clicking and selecting Paste or pressing CTRL+V with your keyboard.
Taking Screenshots on a Mac
Macs also come equipped with their own screenshot apps and commands,
- Press Shift+Command+5 on your keyboard to see the onscreen capture controls. (Shift+Command+4 on older machines)
- Select the type of screenshot you want:
- Full Screen
- Select Windows
- Select portion of screen
- Click Capture to save the screenshot to your desktop.
Taking Screenshots on Mobile Devices
Using Android Devices
Android mobile devices have built-in screen capture shortcuts mapped to certain button combos.
Some common shortcuts/button combinations are, but are not limited to:
- Press and release the Power and Volume Down buttons at the same time.
- Hold down the Power button to show a menu and use the 'Screenshot' option, if available.
After taking your screenshot, you can then save, send, and edit it like any other photo gallery image.
*Please note that as there are numerous Android manufacturers, the steps may differ slightly or may have additional options. If the following steps are not viable, you may need to search for resources relevant to your device through a search engine such as Google.
Using Apple Devices
Apple devices feature built-in screen capture functionality with a particular button combination.
- If using an iOS device with Face ID, press and release the side button and volume up button at the same time.
- If using an iOS device with a Touch ID/Home button, press and release the side/top button and the home button at the same time.
The screenshot will be saved to your photo gallery. After taking the screenshot, a screenshot thumbnail will appear towards the bottom left to immediately share it, edit it, or delete it.