4 Windows Snipping Tool Tips and Tricks You Must Know

The Snipping Tool is one of the most useful features in Windows 11. It allows you to take screenshots of any part of your screen and save them as images or copy them to the clipboard. You can also annotate your screenshots using pens, highlighters, and erasers—but that's not all this tool can do. Over the years, Microsoft has added updates to make Snipping Tool even better. We'll go over four tips and tricks to help you get the most out of this tool, whether you're using a gaming PC or one of our favorite laptops.

4 Use keyboard shortcuts for faster access

You can search for Snipping Tool in the Windows Start menu and open it from there, but it's quicker too – just press Windows + Shift + S. You can find an even faster shortcut at Settings > Accessibilityscroll to interaction section and select Keyboard. You will see an option to do this in the list Use the Print button to open the Snipping Tool. Turn this setting on Toand you can open Snipping Tool by just pressing Print screen Key.

The Snipping Tool supports several other useful keyboard shortcuts to make taking screenshots even easier. When the app is open, you can press Alt + M to select a snipping mode or Alt + N to create a new snip in the same mode as the last one. To customize your selection, use Shift + arrow keys to move the cursor through different snip types. Once you've made your cut, Ctrl + C copies it to the clipboard, while Ctrl + S You can save it here.

3 Copy text from images

Windows 11 expands the Snipping Tool with additional functionality with integrated OCR (Optical Character Recognition). This feature allows you to copy text from your snips and paste it elsewhere. To use it, first make a cutout and then click Text actions Click the button on the Snipping Tool toolbar to make the text selectable. From there you can select the text with the mouse and copy it. Alternatively, you can quickly capture all the text in the snip by clicking Copy all text Click the toolbar button or use Ctrl + A to select all and Ctrl + C to copy.

You can also use the Snipping Tool to edit the text in your screenshots, for example to remove sensitive information before pasting them into another application or sharing them with other users. You can click on Fast processing in the toolbar and the tool automatically blacks out email addresses and phone numbers.

If you need to capture pop-up menus or tooltips that disappear when you click away, the Snipping Tool has a solution. Open the Snipping Tool and then select delay and select a delay time (up to 10 seconds). After setting the timer, you can navigate wherever you want and capture your clip using any shooting mode you select, giving you access to the menus that usually disappear too quickly.

In early 2023, Microsoft added video recording capabilities to the Snipping Tool. You can record video of any area on your screen, capturing both system audio and microphone inputs. First, open Snipping Tool, switch to video mode and click New. Before you begin, you need to define the area you want to capture. Select any rectangular section as long as it doesn't span multiple monitors.

Once you have selected an area, click start at the top of the screen to start recording. If you want to record your voice, click microphone icon next to the recording timer. To record system audio, click the icon to the right of the microphone. When you're done recording, press the button Stop Click on the button above (the red square). You also have the option to preview your recording before sharing it.

Look beyond the snipping tool

The tips and tricks discussed here will help you get the most out of the Snipping Tool. If you're looking for more options, consider these five alternatives to Windows Snipping Tool. Our favorite is ShareX, which is free and offers features that rival some of the more expensive tools that require purchases and subscriptions.