Simple Screen Capture

When troubleshooting a problem on someone's computer, I often ask the person to send me a screen capture of the error message. This is a real time saver when trying to diagnose the problem.

Unfortunately, they're usually not sure how to perform this task. It’s really simple and you might find a reason to use this in your own work, even if it’s not related to technical support.

To take a screenshot on a PC

In Windows, you can use the Snipping Tool to capture any portion of the screen and even use some simple markup tools to highlight an area. You can also press the Print Screen key, this copies an image of your full screen to your clipboard so that you can paste (Ctrl + v) it into a document or e-mail message. To capture only the active window, use Alt + Print Screen. This prevents the image from including other tabs, labels or applications.

To take a screenshot on a Mac

Use Command + Shift + 3 to capture the entire desktop.
or
Command + Shift + 4 and your cursor will change so you can drag a box around the section you want to copy.

With either approach, you will find a capture of the screen on your desktop.