HOW TO TAKE A SCREENSHOT ON A COMPUTER (PC)

  

Figure 1

The link will bring you to this picture

LIGHTSHOT is such an easy program to use, you might find yourself replacing your present screenshot tool.   After you install the program, all you have to do is press one key on your keyboard and you have snapped a picture of what's on your screen. 



Some of the perks:  
You can type on your picture, make it darker or lighter, and you can even change the color of the picture. You can outline your picture with a border of any color, save the picture to your device, copy paste it to show to others, and you can even print it right from the snap screen. 




To get started, go to this link and download LIGHTSHOT screenshot tool.   

https://app.prntscr.com/en/download.html

Now you are ready to install the program.  If the download doesn't start right away, click on your download button (located at top right of your Chrome menu) and look for  "setup-lightshot.exe."  Or if you are not using Chrome, go to your Download folder on your device.  

Figure 2

At top right of your Chrome screen, you should see this down arrow.
When you hover your mouse over it, the word "downloads" appears.

I save all my pictures and downloads to my Desktop and put a name on each one so I can find them easier.  Then I put each in named folders later. This is so my desktop doesn't become disorganized or get junked up with pictures. But do whatever works best for you.

Double click the file to start the install. Or click the caret arrow as seen in Figure 3 below.

Figure 3

Click the arrow which is also called a caret

Figure 4

Select OPEN

Follow the prompts on your screen. Keep the process moving by checking the box to Accept the Terms of their agreement.  You can read it if you want to, but if you don't accept, you can't use the program and the setup will shut down.

Figure 5

You have to accept the agreement or you can't use the program

When it's done installing, you are ready to practice taking a screenshot on your PC. You won't need too much practice because it's pretty easy.  You can take a picture of whatever is presently on your screen or select something of your own now.

There are two ways you can take a screenshot with this program.  



The first way that the App suggests is to press the purple feather icon in your app tray at bottom right of your screen as shown in Figure 6. 

Figure 6

The purple feather should be showing in your tray
but if it isn't, just click on the caret arrow and select
"hidden icons" and it will be there

The second way is by far the easiest way. Click PRNT SCRN key on your keyboard which sort of acts as a 'camera' because it is that key which actually snaps the picture of what is on your screen.  If when we are done here and when you have practiced, if you find it easier to use the purple feather, then good. But the PRNT SCRN key is much easier for most users.

Figure 7

This key is usually in the top row next to the "F" keys. 

Sometimes the PRNT SCRN key is in a different spot on other company's keyboards because all keyboard manufacturers are allowed to change the location of their Function Keys. 



Find it on your keyboard, use it 3 or 4 times and you will find that you don't even have to look for it after a few times.  Your finger will go to it out of habit.


You can skip the SIGN IN prompt because you DO NOT need to sign-in to be able to use this app.  Your download file keeps copies of every screenshot for you and so does Google Photos which comes free with your Google Chrome or GMAIL account.

Figure 8

When you press the purple feather, you will see this
popup most of the time depending on your operating system. But
when you press the PRNT SCRN key, you won't see this.

Figure 8 shows what is the default. So if you use PRNT SCRN key, you won't see this.

IMPORTANT:

Remember, whatever is visible on your screen when you press the PRNT SCRN key or the purple feather is what is going to be in your screenshot - until you edit it to cut out the parts you don't want. If you snapped in error or changed your mind about snapping the picture, just click CANCEL and start over.

Once you press the PRNT SCR key or press the purple feather, you will notice a slight dimming of your computer screen. It's normal.





Just nudge your mouse a little until you see the words SELECT AREA. Give it about 10 seconds to sharpen and come into focus, because sometimes it is blurry right after the snap.

Next, Pick out the part of the screenshot you want to use and trim off the rest. 





Sometimes your screenshot might have some of your personal information on it or extra stuff that isn't needed in the picture. If you are snapping a picture of something on your desktop, as in the example in Figure 9, the open tabs at the top of your browser tells viewers what you are working on in other tabs. If you have a bookmarks bar visible, you are exposing all your bookmarks.




Never post an unedited screenshot. Cut out the stuff that isn't meant for other people to see and show just the part you intended.

Figure 9

This is an unedited screenshot that exposes more than intended

Figure 10

Trim out the part you DON'T want, outline the part you DO want in the color of your choice,  then click DISK icon to save it

Next, you now have the picture captured inside your mouse.  As long as you don't click anything else, your mouse will hold the picture until you save it or post it.    




LEFT click your mouse, select the area you want to show to others by holding down your LEFT mouse and move it along in a square fashion.  This will square out the part you want to KEEP in your picture. 

If you screw up, RIGHT click your mouse and select CANCEL. Then click PRNT SCRN again to snap a new picture. The old picture will be replaced inside your mouse by your new picture.

IMPORTANT: Now that the screenshot is in your mouse, be careful that you don't click on anything else or you will lose your picture. 

Once you get the intended part captured and edited, select the DISK icon on the bottom of the screenshot frame (see my red arrow on Figure 11 picture below). The disk icon will allow you pick a folder on your device to SAVE the picture so that it will be easy to find when you are done.

Figure 11

Only the edited part will save. Notice the white part of the picture. That's the part that will SAVE.  The darkened part of this picture won't be included in the final screenshot.

IMPORTANT: If your intended use of your screenshot is for a one time use (for example, if you want to post it to your timeline, or show it to one person in a message or post it in a group - where you are sure that you won't need it for anything else), after you have outlined it with your mouse, you don't always have to save it using the disk icon. 



You can RIGHT click your mouse and select COPY.  Make sure you don't click on anything else or you will lose the COPY inside your mouse. Now, go to where you want to show it and RIGHT click, then select PASTE. Your screenshot will appear where you pasted it. 

To type text on your picture, click the T.  

You can change the RED text to any color you wish by clicking on the Color box to customize your color choice.  

To make the text larger or smaller, move the wheel of your mouse up or down. 

As of today, there is only one Font available, so you can't change fonts or emphasize text by using Bold or Italics print, but you can underline and use quotations to emphasize.

I tried to cover everything on this tutorial. But if you are someone who learns better watching videos, here's a step by step YouTube version for Computer (PC)

https://youtu.be/kW5LKwrUPxw

and here's a step by step YouTube version for MAC 

https://youtu.be/Ey7hKYmAJNQ




TIP: 

I do NOT recommend using the Chrome extension for the LIGHTSHOT tool that is found in your Chrome Store because the more extensions and add-on's you have added to your Chrome, the slower your Chrome browser is going to perform. 

Adding a lot of add-ons and extensions to any browser (but especially Chrome) make your webpages hang or stall, so you are waiting awhile for them to load.  It is because the added weight junks up the performance of the browser.



Use the stand alone version of LIGHTSHOT and you will get perfect performance every time.


I know this tutorial might seem complicated at first read, but if you go through it and follow the steps, you will see that the actual time from snapping the picture to saving it to disk is less than 3 minutes.



If you have any questions, please post them in comments.



© July 2018. Cally Russell