How to Print Screen on Windows 7: Easy Screenshots

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Capture your screen on Windows 7 Professional or Home

Co-authored by Luigi Oppido and Rain Kengly

Last Updated: June 22, 2026 Fact Checked

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Capturing the Entire Screen

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Capturing One Window

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Using the Snipping Tool

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Video

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Expert Q&A

Using Print Screen on Windows allows you to take a screenshot. You can capture the entire screen, a specific window, or a certain part of your screen. If you don't have a PrtScn button, you'll need to use the Function key. Here's how to Print Screen on Windows 7 using the PrtSc button and the Snipping Tool.

Quick Guide: Taking Screenshots on Windows 7

To take a screenshot of the whole screen, simply press the PrtScrn (print screen) button on your keyboard, then paste the screenshot with Ctrl + V. To take a screenshot of just one window, click on the window and press Alt + PrtScrn. You can also use the Snipping Tool app to snip just part of the screen.

Method 1

Method 1 of 3:

Capturing the Entire Screen

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1
Press PrntScrn. Doing so saves the entire image on the screen to your computer's Clipboard, in the same resolution as your monitor setting. For example, a 1280x720 dpi monitor will result in a 1280x720 dpi image.
- If your keyboard doesn't have a PrntScrn key, press Fn+Insert.
- This article shows you how to screenshot and use Print Screen on Windows 7. If you have a newer device, see our article to take a screenshot on Windows 11 and 10 instead.
Do so in any app that supports the pasting of images, like Word, Outlook, or Paint.

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3
Press Ctrl+V to paste the screenshot. You can also select Paste from the Edit drop-down in the menu bar. The screenshot will be pasted into the document. You can now save it, email it, print it, or otherwise share it.
- If you want to capture a specific window, see the [#Capturing a Specific Window|next section]]. Alternatively, you can use the built-in Snipping Tool.

Method 2

Method 2 of 3:

Capturing a Specific Window

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This will select it.
2
Press Alt+PrntScrn. Doing so saves an image of the window to your computer's Clipboard.
- If your keyboard doesn't have a PrntScrn key, press Fn+Insert in addition.
Do so in any app that supports the pasting of images, like Word, Outlook, or Paint.
You can also select Paste from the Edit drop-down in the menu bar. The screenshot will be pasted into the document. You can now save it, email it, print it, or otherwise share it.

Method 3

Method 3 of 3:

Using the Snipping Tool

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This is the field at the bottom of the Start menu.
Doing so opens a dialog box.^{[1]
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Microsoft Support
Technical support and product information from Microsoft.

Go to source}
This lets you create a rectangle-shaped image.
This takes a screenshot of the section of the screen you outlined and shows you the resulting image.^{[2]
X
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Microsoft Support
Technical support and product information from Microsoft.

Go to source}
5
Click Save Snip. It's the icon that looks like a purple floppy disc. This will open the "Save As" window, and you can enter a filename for the screenshot and choose where to save it.
- The default image file type for the snipping tool is JPEG. You can change this by clicking on the "File Type" drop-down menu in the dialog box.
The selected portion of the screen will be saved as an image to your computer.^{[3]
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Expert Q&A

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Question

Where does Print Screen save to on Windows 7?

Luigi Oppido
Computer & Tech Specialist
Luigi Oppido is the Owner and Operator of Pleasure Point Computers in Santa Cruz, California. Luigi has over 25 years of experience in general computer repair, data recovery, virus removal, and upgrades. He is also the host of the Computer Man Show! broadcasted on KSQD covering central California for over 7 years.

Luigi Oppido

Computer & Tech Specialist

Expert Answer

When you click Print Screen, it copies a screenshot of your screen, so all you need to do is paste it into a Paint file or Word document.

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Question

When I press CTRL + V in Paint, it is not pasting the copied printed screen (I have Windows 7). What can I do?

Community Answer

Try to right click on the screen and a little box will pop up, then click Paste.

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Question

Can print screen be saved as a JPG image?

Community Answer

Yes. After doing a screen print, just open Paint and select Paste to copy the image. Then it can be saved several different file types, including JPG.

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