Taking a Screen Capture With Windows 7
The Snipping Tool – Windows 7’s New Screen Capture Tool
The Snipping
Tool is a new feature that Microsoft has included with Windows 7. It is a
lightweight screen capture tool that can have many applications. For
example let’s say you keep getting an error message and you want the
Helpdesk to see what you saw, open the snipping tool and grab a snapshot
to send with your helpdesk request. The following article will cover
how to use of the Snipping Tool.
Let’s start by
opening the Snipping tool. To do this click on the Start Menu and type
“snipping tool” in the search box. Above the search box under “Programs”
click on “Snipping Tool” to open the application.
This little window
is all you need to start taking screen captures. Clicking on the down
arrow next to “New” will allow you to choose from four different
captures, free-form, rectangular, window, and full screen. Free form
capture allows you to draw a capture area with your mouse
pointer in any shape you desire. The rectangular capture allows for
straight edge rectangular captures. With the window capture you would
click on a specific window that you want captured, and full screen
capture will capture everything on the entire screen. Once you select
your capture method you can then capture the area you want and you will
automatically be brought to the Snipping Tool’s editing window.
The Snipping
Tool’s editor gives you the ability to highlight sections of the screen
capture, or use the pen tool to write notes. There is also an eraser
tool to erase any pen or highlighter markings you have made. To use
these tools click on the corresponding icon in the menu bar.
Once you have made your changes to the capture you can then click on the disk icon in the menu bar to save you image. By default
the application saves captures as a .png, but you can also choose to
save as a .gif or .jpg. To do this you would expand the drop down menu
under the file name and choose the image format that you are most comfortable with.
The editor also
has the ability to send the image as an email, but note in order to
email the capture Microsoft Outlook will need to be configured.
As I mentioned before the Snipping
Tool is very useful and can have many applications, be it sending error
reports to the helpdesk or just trying to be green and save on paper
prints. This concludes the article on Microsoft’s Snipping Tool, if
there are any questions feel free to call or email the helpdesk and we
would be happy to assist you.
