# Saving results of the "print screen" key as a picture **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 5, 2007, 4:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saving-results-of-the-print-screen-key-as-a-picture/402851 "2007-05-05T04:02:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![KarlGauss](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/karlgauss/32/3713_2.png) [@KarlGauss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KarlGauss)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2007, 4:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saving-results-of-the-print-screen-key-as-a-picture/402851/1 "2007-05-05T04:02:00Z")
Given that you’ve opened this thread, you probably know that pressing the “print screen” key (on Windows machines, at least), causes the current screen view to be placed onto your clipboard. So, for example, after you’ve pressed that key, you can ‘paste’ that image of your computer screen into a Word document (among other things, this is helpful for creating written documentation for various “how to’s”). My question, then, is how one goes about saving the “print screen” image as a picture, pure and simple. In other words, it should not be embedded in a Word document nor part of a Power Point presentation. It should be a “free standing” picture, independent of any other program. Thanks in advance! ---
**Author:** ![LilShieste](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/9f8e36/32.png) [@LilShieste](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LilShieste)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2007, 4:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saving-results-of-the-print-screen-key-as-a-picture/402851/2 "2007-05-05T04:04:23Z")
Open up MS Paint, and paste it into there. From there, you can save it as a bitmap, or several other types of image files. LilShieste ---
**Author:** ![Man\_With\_a\_Cat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/cab0a1/32.png) [@Man\_With\_a\_Cat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Man_With_a_Cat)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2007, 4:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saving-results-of-the-print-screen-key-as-a-picture/402851/3 "2007-05-05T04:06:09Z")
Open Paint, or one of the Microsoft picture/drawing tools. You’ll get the blank document screen, go to the “edit” drop down, and PASTE. Voila. There’s your screen grab. Save it somewhere. Or edit it first, then save it. HOLYCRAP, the first ever semi-technical question I ever answered here!!! :: awaits shower of rose petals:: ---
**Author:** ![LilShieste](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/9f8e36/32.png) [@LilShieste](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LilShieste)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2007, 4:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saving-results-of-the-print-screen-key-as-a-picture/402851/4 "2007-05-05T04:10:45Z")
These rose petals… should I start tossing them on you, or let **KarlGauss** do the honors? 😉 LilShieste ---
**Author:** ![Man\_With\_a\_Cat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/cab0a1/32.png) [@Man\_With\_a\_Cat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Man_With_a_Cat)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2007, 4:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saving-results-of-the-print-screen-key-as-a-picture/402851/5 "2007-05-05T04:14:20Z")
Ahh, whichever. I opened a beer to celebrate. And I think I threw my shoulder out patting my back. ---
**Author:** ![Zyada](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zyada/32/3028_2.png) [@Zyada](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zyada)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2007, 4:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saving-results-of-the-print-screen-key-as-a-picture/402851/6 "2007-05-05T04:47:31Z")
If you do this a lot, you might want to look at freeware Printkey2000. I use it at work all the time, and at home occasionally. It grabs the screenshot, then gives you a variety of options by way of buttons, such as saving, editing, sending straight to the printer, etc. [See?](http://pics.livejournal.com/zyada/pic/0001zfwc) ---
**Author:** ![KarlGauss](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/karlgauss/32/3713_2.png) [@KarlGauss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KarlGauss)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2007, 4:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saving-results-of-the-print-screen-key-as-a-picture/402851/7 "2007-05-05T04:57:28Z")
Thanks! I appreciate everyone’s advice (but will only shower rose petals on **Mr Bus Guy** ). ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2007, 5:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saving-results-of-the-print-screen-key-as-a-picture/402851/8 "2007-05-05T05:22:29Z")
Also, doing Alt-PrintScreen will save just the active window, not the whole screen, to the cut-n-paste buffer. ---
**Author:** ![panamajack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/47e85d/32.png) [@panamajack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panamajack)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2007, 7:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saving-results-of-the-print-screen-key-as-a-picture/402851/9 "2007-05-05T07:27:19Z")
Also consider the excellent freeware image program Irfanview (for pasting into instead of MS Paint). Under Mac OS X, just in case someone was wondering, Opt-Cmd-3 is the sequence for taking a screenshot (it will automatically create a pdf called ‘Picture1’ (or whatever #) on the Desktop), with one page per display. The more-features version is an included utility called ‘Grab’ (by default in Applications-\>Utilities). ---
**Author:** ![gardentraveler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gardentraveler/32/3576_2.png) [@gardentraveler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gardentraveler)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2007, 11:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saving-results-of-the-print-screen-key-as-a-picture/402851/10 "2007-05-05T11:17:40Z")
I second the Irfanview recommendation. For the Mac one, did you mean Shift-Cmd-3 for the screenshot, **panamajack**? (Opt-Cmd-3 didn’t do anything on mine). I use Shift-Cmd-4 constantly; it selects the part of the screen you want a shot of (useful for capturing confirmation info from on-line orders). GT ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2007, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saving-results-of-the-print-screen-key-as-a-picture/402851/11 "2007-05-05T19:27:29Z")
> [@](#): > > (it will automatically create a pdf called ‘Picture1’ (or whatever #) on the Desktop) Or PNG, on my computers at least. ---
**Author:** ![LilShieste](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/9f8e36/32.png) [@LilShieste](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LilShieste)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2007, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saving-results-of-the-print-screen-key-as-a-picture/402851/12 "2007-05-05T19:30:41Z")
[QUOTE=Lumpy] Also, doing Alt-PrintScreen will save just the active window, not the whole screen, to the cut-n-paste buffer. [/QUOTE] I was unaware of this - thanks for the tip, **Lumpy**! LilShieste