Smart phones have revolutionized the way we document the world by making it very easy to take and share photos. For a visual learner such as myself, that’s a great thing. It’s easier than ever to show someone an example of what I’m trying to explain to them. Going even farther back, computers have made it easier to share images. So we expect to always be able to SEE a sample. Today, I want to share with you a quick way to grab an image from your computer screen – a screenshot or a snip.
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What is a screenshot or snip?
A screenshot is just that – a shot of what you’re seeing on your computer screen. When you take a screenshot, you’re telling your computer to capture exactly what it’s showing right at that moment so you can save it like a photograph.
A snip is similar. But instead of capturing the entire screen, you are isolating just a portion of it to save.
Why might you need one?
There are many uses for a screenshot or snip as a Silhouette user. Here are just a few:
- Send it as a quick mock-up to someone else (show them the design you’re creating).
- Have a thumbnail of a design from the Silhouette Design Store so you can view it on your design area as you work. To see how to add it to the page, check out this post.
- Use with the Color Picker tool to grab precise colors from an image. You can learn to do that in this post.
- It’s SUPER helpful if you ever need to show Silhouette’s Customer Support something that’s happening in your software.
If you read my blog, then you see them all the time. It’s what I use to show you what something looks like in the Silhouette Studio software.
What NOT to do with it
I’m going to tell you this part before I teach you, because I don’t want you to miss it. You should NOT use a screenshot or snip in order to use images you are not legally entitled to have or use. I don’t know HOW many times a day I see in Silhouette user’s groups on Facebook folks who are irritated that someone else has copied a design or project they have created and used it as if it were their own. Or folks who are using trademarked images on items they sell and there’s no way they have a license to do so.
Please DO NOT DO THIS!!!! Yes, it’s possible. No, it’s not right. Okay, rant over. Now we can continue.
How to take a screenshot
For Windows
On a Windows computer, you can take a screenshot many ways, but I’m only going to show you the 2 that I think are the most useful.
Print Screen
All Windows keyboards have a Print Screen key. Look on your computer keyboard for something like PRTSC or PRNT SCRN. It’s often combined on a key with another option. You may need to do some simple sleuthing to figure out how to perform the Print Screen.
Here’s an example — my computer keyboard. The PRTSC key is in the upper right on the same key with the END button. Notice the gray color used for the wording. That’s clue #1. If I look around, I’ll see that my Function (FN) key in the lower left is also printed with gray letters. That’s clue #2. It tells me that I need to press and hold my FN key along with my PRTSC key to take the screenshot.
When you take the screenshot you won’t notice that anything has happened, but it has. Your computer took a picture (a PNG) of your screen and placed it on your clipboard – an imaginary holding spot on your computer. You can use the keyboard shortcut CTRL+V to paste that screenshot to a new location.
Windows Key + Print Screen
This is a variation that saves the screenshot onto your computer hard drive, rather than just placing it on the clipboard. Use the clipboard when you only want it temporarily. Use this option when you want to keep it around for a bit longer.
Instead of pressing just the FN key (or whichever is required on your keyboard), press and hold it along with the Windows key (it’s just to the right of my FN key in the photo above) before you press the Print Screen button. The screen flickers quickly to show you something has happened. The screenshot is saved in your Pictures folder in a subfolder titled Screenshots.
For Mac
To capture your entire screen on a Mac computer, press SHIFT+CMD+3. This saves the screenshot as a PNG file on your desktop.
How to take a snip
For Windows
The Snipping tool has been included on Windows computers since Windows Vista. That’s a pretty old operating system, so chances are pretty good you already have this built in on your computer. Here’s how to use it.
- Click the Start button (or the Windows icon) in the lower left of your computer screen or on your keyboard.
- Scroll through the programs until you find Windows Accessories. Click that to expand the folder to show its subfolders.
- Click on Snipping Tool.
- That opens a window that looks like this:
- Click New to start a new snip. The default should be on a rectangular snip.
- Your computer screen will fade a bit, which is the indicator that you’re ready to start your snip. Move your cursor to the upper left of what you want to capture, then left click and drag. Let go of the mouse to finish.
- You’ll now see the snip within the Snipping Tool window.
- Use the drop down or right click menus to save the snip on your computer. Or copy it to the clipboard so you can paste it somewhere else, such as on an email, in a document you’re typing, etc. If you have Designer Edition and above, then you can paste it directly onto your design area in Silhouette Studio.
There are other options for a freeform snip, drawing on the snip, etc. So you can just click through the menus to see those options.
For Mac
- Press SHIFT+CMD+4. You’ll notice that your mouse cursor changes a bit – it now looks like crosshairs.
- Move the cursor to the upper left of the area you want to capture, then drag around the area.
- Release your mouse button to finish.
As with a screenshot, your computer saves the snip as a PNG file on your desktop.
Conclusion
That’s all there is to it – several simple ways to grab a quick shot of what you’re seeing on your computer screen. If you’re interested in learning more, there are also ways to grab a snip of just your active window or menu. You can find that info pretty easily online on many webpages.
There are times you’re going to need a better image from your Silhouette Studio software. With Business Edition in version 4.1 and up, you can save something you’re designing as a JPEG, PDF or SVG. To learn more about that, check out this post.
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