Windows 11 Snipping Tool: Screenshots and Screen Recording

The Windows 11 Snipping Tool is the built-in way to take screenshots and record your screen. It replaces the old split between Snipping Tool and Snip & Sketch, so one app now handles region captures, full-screen grabs, delayed shots, markup, screen recording and even copying text out of an image. You do not need to install anything else for everyday screenshots.

This guide covers the shortcuts, the Print Screen key setting, each snip mode, screen recording, where files are saved and the Text actions feature. It applies to Windows 11 version 24H2 and 25H2 on Home and Pro. Snipping Tool is updated through the Microsoft Store, so a few buttons may move slightly between app versions.

The shortcuts to know

You rarely need to open Snipping Tool from Start. These shortcuts, all listed on Microsoft’s keyboard shortcuts page, cover almost everything:

Shortcut	What it does
Win+Shift+S	Opens the capture overlay. Select a region and the screenshot is copied to the clipboard.
Win+Shift+R	Select an area of the screen to record as a video.
Print Screen	By default, opens the same capture overlay as Win+Shift+S.
Win+Print Screen	Captures the full screen and saves it straight to Pictures > Screenshots.
Alt+Print Screen	Copies a screenshot of the active window to the clipboard.

After a capture, a notification appears. Select it to open the snip in Snipping Tool for markup. If you ignore it, the image is still on the clipboard, so you can paste it straight into an email, chat or document with Ctrl+V. If you turn on clipboard history (Win+V), older snips stay available too. For more shortcuts, see our Windows 11 keyboard shortcuts reference.

Change what the Print Screen key does

On current Windows 11, pressing Print Screen opens screen snipping rather than silently copying the whole screen. Some people prefer the old behaviour, or have another app (such as a game capture tool) that wants the key.

1. Open Settings > Accessibility > Keyboard.
2. Find Use the Print Screen button to open screen snipping.
3. Turn it Off to make Print Screen copy the full screen to the clipboard, or On to open Snipping Tool’s overlay.

If another screenshot app has taken over Print Screen, you may need to change that app’s settings as well.

Snip modes and the delay timer

When the capture overlay opens, the toolbar at the top offers four modes:

• Rectangle: drag a box around the area you want. This is the default and the one you will use most.
• Window: click a window, such as a dialog box, to capture just that window.
• Full screen: captures the whole screen immediately.
• Freeform: draw any shape around the area you want.

Menus that close when you click elsewhere are hard to capture. That is what the delay timer is for:

1. Open the Snipping Tool app from Start.
2. Select Delay and choose a time, such as 5 seconds.
3. Pick your snip mode, then select New.
4. During the countdown, open the menu or tooltip you want.
5. When the screen dims, draw around it.

Inside the app, Alt+M chooses a mode, Alt+N starts a new snip in the same mode and Alt+D sets a delay.

Mark up, copy text and redact

Once a snip is open in the app, you get a small set of editing tools: pen, highlighter, shapes, eraser, crop, and undo and redo. For bigger edits such as resizing or adding text, choose Edit > Edit with Paint.

Text actions is the most useful recent addition. Select Text actions on the toolbar and Snipping Tool recognises the text in the image. You can then:

• select and copy just the text you need,
• use Copy all text to grab everything, or
• use Quick redact to hide email addresses and phone numbers before you share the image.

Microsoft says this text recognition runs locally on your device. It works well on clear screenshots of text, less well on photos or stylised fonts, so always check what you paste.

Some features, such as a colour picker and an automatic tight crop, are listed by Microsoft as available only on Copilot+ PCs, so do not worry if you do not see them.

Record your screen

Snipping Tool can record part of the screen as a video, which is handy for showing someone a bug or a quick how-to.

1. Press Win+Shift+R, or open Snipping Tool and select Record, then New.
2. Drag to select the area you want to record.
3. Select Start to begin recording.
4. Select Stop when you are done.
5. Save the recording as it is, or select Edit in Clipchamp to trim it or add captions.

By default, recordings are saved automatically as MP4 files in the Screen Recordings folder inside Videos. For recording games, Xbox Game Bar (Win+G) is usually a better fit; see our Windows 11 gaming hub.

Where screenshots are saved

Snipping Tool auto-saves by default:

Capture	Default location
Screenshots from Snipping Tool	Pictures > Screenshots
Win+Print Screen	Pictures > Screenshots
Screen recordings	Videos > Screen Recordings

To change this, open Snipping Tool, select See more (the three dots), then Settings. You can turn off automatic saving or choose a different folder. To keep a copy somewhere else just once, use Save as. If your Pictures folder is backed up to OneDrive, screenshots may sync there too; see our OneDrive backup guide if that is not what you want.

If Snipping Tool is not working

Most problems have a simple cause:

1. Nothing happens on Win+Shift+S. Make sure Snipping Tool is installed and updated in the Microsoft Store. Some keyboard utilities also hijack Windows-key shortcuts.
2. Print Screen does nothing. Check the setting in Settings > Accessibility > Keyboard, and check whether another app has claimed the key.
3. No notification after a snip. Check that notifications for Snipping Tool are allowed in Settings > System > Notifications, and that Do not disturb is off.
4. App will not open. Go to Settings > Apps > Installed apps, find Snipping Tool, open Advanced options and try Repair, then Reset.

If several built-in apps misbehave at once, read our Microsoft Store not working guide, and see the Windows 11 features hub for other built-in tools.