Print Screen is a keyboard feature that takes a quick “snapshot” of a computer screen and copies it to the clipboard. By pressing the labeled key and opening a paint or image program, the screenshot can be pasted as an image file and saved or printed from there. If the computer user does not need a snapshot of the entire screen, but just an image of the active window, they can hold down the alt key while pressing the print screen key. This is a great way to save menu screenshots for instruction pages, making it easier for people to follow along when setting up software, for example.
The print screen key on a computer keyboard.
People can also use the feature when ordering products online. Once the order process is complete, a confirmation page is usually displayed. Instead of printing this page, the buyer copies an image from the screen and saves it until the merchandise arrives. This means there is no need to use paper or ink.
The screen printing function only preserves what is easily visible on the screen. Users will not be able to “scroll down” if the page goes beyond the bottom of the screen. For scrollability, a user can save the page as an HTML file. To do this, you can select File on the top toolbar, then choose Save Page As and use the default extension.
Popular word processors, such as Microsoft Word®, allow images to be pasted into documents using the print screen. Once the key is pressed, the user can simply open the word processor and from the top toolbar choose Edit and Paste. Alternatively, you can right-click on an empty part of the page within the document and choose “paste” from the context menu.
The print screen key is located at the top right of a standard 102-key US keyboard. It can be found using the scroll lock and pause keys. In previous decades, pressing this key sent the screenshot to the printer port, automatically printing the screen. Today’s keyboards simply copy the snapshot, allowing more flexibility.
