by Tony Rushin
Most of you already know how to copy what’s on your computer screen. But what if you have multiple windows open on your monitor and you only want to copy one of them? Or perhaps you have dual monitors and you only want to take a screen shot of one of them? Finally, what if you want to freelance and only copy a portion of what’s on your screen? This blog shows 3 tips, from basic to advanced (by the way, advanced does not mean difficult).
Basic: Screen Shot
Want to copy what’s on the screen? Find and press the “Print Screen” button (usually in the upper right hand side of the keyboard; if it’s a laptop it may be combined with another key so you might also need to press the “function” key).
Medium: Active Window / Dual Monitors
In this photo, what if you only want to copy the active (Outlook) window?
Hold down the “ALT” key while pressing “Print Screen” and you’ll just copy the active window:
This same concept works if you have dual monitors. If you do a normal “Print Screen” with dual monitors you copy both monitors (because Windows considers the total real estate to be your screen). If you just want the right monitor in the example below
make it your active window (by clicking on the window) and then hold down the “ALT” key while pressing “Print Screen”:
Notice that the entire contents of the monitor weren’t copied, just the active window (there isn’t a straight-forward way to copy an entire screen in a multiple monitor environment).
Advanced: Copy / Markup a Snippet
There are several free tools available that let you snip part of your screen and add some simple markups. Highlighted here is Snipping Tool, the free tool that’s built into Windows Vista and Windows 7. One of our engineers, Michael Saba, told me about it; he uses it to communicate fixes and solutions to clients.
In the active Outlook window I showed earlier, let’s say I just want to show someone the list of people I share my calendar with. Here’s how to do it:
Click on “Start” – go to “All Programs” – “Accessories” – “Snipping Tool” (after you’ve done this once then it will show up in your list of recently used programs when you click on “Start”)
Click “New” and drag the cursor around the area you want to capture
Then click on the “Copy” icon and paste what you’ve captured wherever you’d like. Want to mark it up first to illustrate something? Select the Pen, Highlighter or Eraser icon in the Snipping Tool, markup what you’ve captured and then click the “Copy” icon. For example, here are the people on the Network 1 sales team with whom I share a calendar:
That’s all there is to it… have fun!
Network 1 Consulting is a 14-year-old, IT Support company in Atlanta, GA. We become – or augment – the IT department for professional services companies: law firms, medical practices and financial services firms. Our IT experts can fix computers – but what our clients really value is the industry-specific best practices we bring to their firm. This is especially important with technology, along with regulations and cyber threats, changing so rapidly. We take a proactive approach to helping our clients use technology to gain and keep their competitive advantage.
