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Using the Print Screen Key

You've seen it...you've glanced at it...you've even stared and glared at it. You've pressed it...you've poked at it...you might have even prodded it with a stick! But nothing happened! I'm talking, of course, about that "Print Screen" button on your key board. Like me, you may have pressed it time and again and stared at your printer, waiting for a picture. But alas, nothing ever comes out.

To understand the "Print Screen" key, it helps to understand what a computer considers "print". While we usually think of a printer, a computer thinks, "Location, location, location!" And one such location is your computer's clipboard.

Since the image is printed to your clipboard, it is then available to most image editing programs, such as Photo Editor (in the Microsoft Office suites) or other types of image/publishing programs. You simply paste the saved image into the program (you may need to paste from a menu selection). You can even paste directly into some word processing programs such as Word. The picture at the right is a copy of my desktop, with several windows open.

You may not want all the windows to be captured. To select just one window, click on the window you want so the title bar is hi-lighted (a selected window is also called an "active" window) and then press the combination "Alt + Print Screen". Only the selected window will be copied to your clipboard, ready for pasting into a program. Notice how only the Excel spreadsheet from my desktop is copied. This was from the same desktop screen shot, I just chose one window.

That's all there is to it! That's how many of the screen shots in software manuals, like my Email Primer, and online tutorials are made. It is also useful for capturing pictures of those pesky error message boxes that pop up from time to time. My Dad emails me a picture of error messages that he gets so I can help him troubleshoot the problem.

You'll find many uses for this key, so press that key and have some fun!


		News and Reviews Using the Print Screen Key You've seen it...you've glanced at it...you've even stared and glared at it. You've pressed it...you've poked at it...you might have even prodded it with a stick! But nothing happened! I'm talking, of course, about that "Print Screen" button on your key board. Like me, you may have pressed it time and again and stared at your printer, waiting for a picture. But alas, nothing ever comes out. To understand the "Print Screen" key, it helps to understand what a computer considers "print". While we usually think of a printer, a computer thinks, "Location, location, location!" And one such location is your computer's clipboard. Since the image is printed to your clipboard, it is then available to most image editing programs, such as Photo Editor (in the Microsoft Office suites) or other types of image/publishing programs. You simply paste the saved image into the program (you may need to paste from a menu selection). You can even paste directly into some word processing programs such as Word. The picture at the right is a copy of my desktop, with several windows open. You may not want all the windows to be captured. To select just one window, click on the window you want so the title bar is hi-lighted (a selected window is also called an "active" window) and then press the combination "Alt + Print Screen". Only the selected window will be copied to your clipboard, ready for pasting into a program. Notice how only the Excel spreadsheet from my desktop is copied. This was from the same desktop screen shot, I just chose one window. That's all there is to it! That's how many of the screen shots in software manuals, like my Email Primer, and online tutorials are made. It is also useful for capturing pictures of those pesky error message boxes that pop up from time to time. My Dad emails me a picture of error messages that he gets so I can help him troubleshoot the problem. You'll find many uses for this key, so press that key and have some fun! Steve Maurer Article Copyright 2000-2002
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