How To Use Snipping Tool In Windows 10

There are many ways to take a screenshot using Windows 10 like taking a full screen by pressing PrtScn or Alt + PrtScn to capture a running window or you can use the Faststone Capture tool. However, in this article, the Network Administrator will introduce you to another sophisticated screen capture tool - the Snipping Tool.

 The article will guide how to take screenshots, how to edit, save and email screenshots, and how to use the built-in markup tools, and how to change the Snipping Tool settings. Let's start: 

What is Snipping Tool?

Snipping Tool is a Windows application that allows users to create and edit screenshots. This application is developed by Microsoft and is the default tool available on all modern Windows operating systems, including Windows 7, Windows 8.1 and Windows 10.

Open the Snipping Tool in Windows 10

There are many ways to open the Snipping Tool in Windows 10. However, the fastest way to launch the application is to use the Windows search function. From the Search on the taskbar, type Snipping Tool, then click or click the appropriate search result.

Its interface looks like this.

As you can see, the Snipping Tool in Windows 10 has a slightly different user interface than Windows 7 or Windows 8.1. In Windows 10 Snipping Tool there are Mode and Delay buttons (these two buttons are not available in Windows 7 and 8.1 versions).

Learn the user interface of Snipping Tool

The interface of Snipping Tool in Win 10 has five important buttons: New, Mode, Delay, Cancel, Options.

Functions of each button:

• New button allows users to take screenshots.
• Mode button is responsible for choosing the type of photo you will take.
• Delay button delays screen capture time 1, 2, 3, 4 or 5 seconds, depending on the user's choice.
• Cancel button allows the user to cancel the current job.
• Options button allows to customize the application's settings.

Screenshot with Snipping Tool

There are 4 types of screen capture available in Snipping Tool. You can choose a desired type by clicking your mouse or clicking the Mode button.

Here are your options:

• Free-form Snip allows you to draw any line around the object or area you want to capture.
• Rectangular Snip helps you to take a rectangular screen, by dragging the cursor around the object.
• Window Snip allows you to select a window (such as a web browser) or dialog box (such as an error message from an application) and take a screenshot.
• Full-screen Snip allows you to capture full screen, similar to the old Print Screen key.

Here, We will do an example using the Free-form Snip option. Click on Mode, then choose Free-form Snip. Next, click on New.

Select the area you want to capture by clicking and dragging the mouse pointer or your finger (if the computer has a touchscreen). If you use the default settings, when dragging, the selected area is surrounded by a red border.

When you release the mouse button, the captured area will automatically be copied to a new window. Here, you can annotate, save or share the screenshot.

Edit photos taken with the Snipping Tool

This editing window provides useful tools for editing the photos you take. For example, if you are not satisfied with the image quality, you can create a new snapshot using the New Snip button.

Before saving the screenshot, you can use the Pen and Highlighter tools to add markup to the photo. The Eraser tool has the ability to remove markers with Pen and Highlighter.

To save the screenshot, click the Save Snip button, choose the location you want to save, type a filename and choose the file type: PNG, GIF, JPEG or HTML. Then click Save.

You can also email screenshots using the Snip button on the toolbar. This button offers two options: E-mail Recipient and E-mail Recipient (as attachment). To use this button, you need to have an email client installed on your computer. One odd thing that everyone has noticed is that the Snipping Tool doesn't work with modern apps from the Windows Store. It only sends screenshots via email if you are using email clients in Outlook or Thunderbird.

Customizing the Snipping Tool

When you launch the Snipping Tool, you can click or click the Options button to set options on how the application works.

The Options button in the Snipping Tool. The Options button in the image editing window

The available options are divided into two parts: Application and Selections groups. The Application section has a set of check boxes that allow you to make the following changes:

• Hide Instruction Text - hide the instruction documents in the main Snipping Tool window.
• Always copy snips to the Clipboard - copies all photos to Windows clipboard so you can paste them into other applications (like Word or an image editor).
• Include URL below snips (HTML only) - save snapshot as Single File HTML or MHT document. If the picture is taken from an Internet Explorer window, it will also show the website URL in the screenshot. However, it does not work with any other browser, including Windows' Edge browser.
• Prompt to save snips before exiting - Displays a pop-up prompt to save the snapshot before exiting the application.
• Show screen overlay when Snipping Tool - if disabled, when you take a screenshot, the transparent Snipping Tool won't show up on the screen anymore.

Selection allows you to make a few settings related to the palette:

• Ink Color - change the color of the border when taking a photo.
• Show selection ink after snips are captured - when activated, a marquee outline will appear around the photo, using the color selected in the Ink Color drop-down list.

The article is all detailed instructions on how to use the Snipping Tool, the functions of each button and the options of this application in Windows 10. Experience it and see how it works! If you have any questions or share anything, please comment below!

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