BleepingComputer.com: How To Capture And Edit A Screen Shot.

How To Capture And Edit A Screen Shot


Guide Overview

This outline will describe how to make an image from the content displayed on your computer screen. The aim will be to isolate an item on the screen so it can be posted back to the internet.
We will be using Paint to edit the image.

Instructions

1) Make the target image that you want to capture appear on the screen. If it is an error message it may be helpful to place it in the middle of the screen.

2) Press the Print Screen key once on your keyboard. This key located to the right of the F12 key, and above the Insert key on the upper right side of the keyboard.

3) Open Paint. It will be found here... Start>Program Files>Accessories>Paint

4) From the Toolbar select Edit. The Paste option will be highlighted. Left click on it. The entire screen will be display in the workspace in Paint.

5) Place your mouse cursor on the upper left corner of the image you wish to save. A small cross with a circle in the center will appear. Press and hold the left mouse button. Drag the cursor down and to the right of the desired image. When the image has been highlighted with a dotted line release the mouse button.

6) Right click the mouse button and select Copy.

7) From the Toolbar select File, then New. You will be asked to save the desktop image. Select yes and give the file a name. I recommend you save it in the event you have to start over. You should now have a white empty field.

8) From the Toolbar select Edit and then Paste.

9) You will now have the image in the workspace. You will edit the image from here to a) remove more of the image or B) keep the current view but reduce it's overall size.

a) Place the mouse cursor on the lower right corner of the image. When you are in place a double arrow will appear. Press and hold down the left mouse button, and drag the cursor to the left and up till the desired size is reached. This will remove part of the image. When you have the image you want stop.


B) From the Toolbar select Image then Stretch and Skew.... By decreasing the Horizontal and Vertical you will reduce the size of the image. By increasing the number to above 100 you will increase the image size.

Note: If you make a mistake you can simply click the Undo feature in Edit. Each time you click Undo it will take you back one step, undoing all changes.

10) Save you image by selecting Save as... under File in the Toolbar. I recommend .jpg, or .gif. If you are placing your image to the internet make sure whatever file type you use is supported.

This post has been edited by acklan: 05 February 2006 - 12:45 AM

I think a little modification of the steps would be necessary. I'm pertaining to Step 5.

acklan, on Feb 3 2006, 01:34 PM, said:

If this step would be followed carefully, it would be noticed that a four header arrow appears rather than the small cross. This is because upon pasting the image into the Paint Work Area, the image is still selected / highlighted by default. Therefore, clicking the Select Tool would be necessary. By doing so, the small cross would appear when the mouse pointer rests at the Work Area.

Alternative method for editing/posting screen shot:

1. Download/install IrfanView .

2. Press Print Screen key to save image to clipboard.

3. Open IrfanView...click Edit, then Paste.

4. Click Image, then Resize/Resample.

5. Under Set New Size as Percentage of Original...try 50%, click OK. Changing the first value changes the second one also.

6. Click File/Save As...give it a name, the default format should be .jpg/.jpeg. Click Save, choosing a location where you can easily find the saved graphic.

Submit as attachment to your next post.

Louis

This post has been edited by hamluis: 31 January 2012 - 08:11 AM