October 27, 2020

What is the Snipping Tool and How do I Use It?

You need to get an Image on your laptop over to a client quickly. But the file is too big to attach. What do you do?

Not everyone is a master of photoshop or knows how to import a photo into paint. Create a project in the photo editor on Windows and crop it, export it to a different size that will fit in an email. Also, that takes a lot of time. Just typing that out and explaining it took a while. Thats where the Snipping Tool comes in. It comes pre-installed on Windows machines. It is a great tool to quickly grab a screenshot of an image to resize or just capture specific important text. Then save it and email it out! You can even copy it to your clipboard and paste it inline through outlook! Very simple.

I Just use "Print Screen" and it works Perfectly...

Well that's great! The print screen button is an awesome way to capture your screen. Just by hitting the windows key then the print screen button you can capture your entire screen. This is a simple way. But the big difference is that you can't select what content you capture. It just captures everything. If you have a private conversation or email open on your system that might become a problem. Both options work great, just make sure you don't share any personal data in your screenshot! Print Screen is a button that is located in approximatly the top right beside scroll lock. Definatly helpful to know about. But If you want to grab a specific section of your screen then the Snipping Tool is what your looking for.

Fool Proof Snipping Tool Steps:

  • Search in the Taskbar for "Snip.." and it will pop up. (From there you can drag it into your taskbar and keep it so you can always click on it.)
  • Open up the window or photo you want to take a screen grab from. (Make sure it doesn't take up the entire screen.)
  • When the Snipping Tool is open you can select under "Mode" what style of capture you want to make.
  • Then hit "New" and your screen will go grey, but you will now be able to click and drag your mouse over the area you wish to capture.
  • Once you let go of the mouse the screen shot will ask where and what you want to save it as.
  • Select those options and hit save. (Quick Tip: If you are emailing the image, a JPG. is smaller then a PNG so it's easier to send.)

The snipping tool is great to know how to use. It definatly saves you from having to take a picture of the screen with your phone and texting it to co-worker. If these instructions didn't help you understand how the Snipping Tool works. Make sure to scroll up to the top of this page and watch the Video. Mandi from our service team goes over how to use the tool and makes things easy sending it off in a Teams message.

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