In the past couple of days, I’ve realized that several of you have just recently upgraded to Windows Vista and the questions on how to do things with the new operating system just keep pouring in. That’s wonderful! Of course, I’m still quite new to Vista too and by answering all of your questions, I’m learning right along with you and that’s very exciting! And today’s topic is no exception. Let’s check it out!
As you all probably know, the older versions of Windows mainly made use of the Print screen button (Prt Scr) on the keyboard to make screen shots. So, whenever you wanted to make a screen shot for yourself, you had to hit that button and then go into a photo editing program to crop it, sharpen it, etc. until it finally looked the way you wanted it. Well, in Vista, you can actually bypass a lot of that work. Want to learn how? Then let’s get started!
Today, I’m introducing you to the Windows Vista Snipping Tool. This tool is so cool, I just know all of you are going to fall in love with it by the time you’re done reading this tip. And I promise if you have Vista on your computer right now, you’re going to want to try it out ASAP! First of all, to open the Snipping Tool, go to Start, Accessories, Snipping Tool. (You can also access it by typing the word “snip” into the Start menu search box).
When it opens, you’ll see a box with three commands in it: New, Cancel and Options. The New button is what you can use to decide which part of the screen you want to capture, the Cancel button can be used to cancel any action after you’ve already started a screen capture and the Options button is there to help you choose which way you want your Snipping Tool to work. Those choices will come up each time you go to create a new screen shot.
When you’re ready to take your screen shot, open the Snipping Tool and click on the New button. From there, you can choose which type of shot you’d like to do. The choices are: free-form snip, rectangular snip, window snip or full-screen snip. When you’ve decided which one you want to do, focus in on what you want to capture. You may have a photo you want to make a screen shot for or you might have part of a Web site you’d like to send to a friend. Either way, make sure it’s up on your screen so that you can start to “snip” it.
To snip the image, just drag your mouse until you’ve captured what you want. Once you’ve got it snipped, you can choose from different customizing options to add certain things to your image. For example, you can use a highlighter to highlight certain things in whatever color you’d like to use. You can use the pen tool to write in some colorful text and if you make a mistake, the eraser tool is always there to bring you back to the start. Now, if none of those tickle your fancy, you can click on the Options choice to change your image around even more. This is what the Options window looks like:
Now, when you’re done with your screen shot, you can either save it or you can even send it to someone in an e-mail. To save it, go to File, Save and just save it to a folder on your computer. I always like to save mine to the My Pictures folder, but it’s up to you. If you’d like to send your screen shot in an e-mail, go to File, Send To and you can choose to send it in the body of an e-mail or you can send it as an attachment. Then just type in your recipient’s e-mail address and they’ll be able to see all the snipping work you did!
I know this new tool might still be a little confusing to you, but you can’t really get a good feel for it until you’ve tried it for yourself. So, my recommendation is to go and experiment with it as much as possible. Once you do that, I think you’ll find there’s so much you can do with the Snipping Tool and you’ll be using it all the time. It really is a cool addition to Windows Vista and it’s much easier than using the Print screen button. With it, you’re able to go past all the steps of editing and do it all in one quick swoop. Give it a try today!
