Windows: Snipping Tool Quick Guide to Capture Screenshots

NOTE: Some advanced Snipping Tool functions require a Copilot+ PC. On Swarthmore imaged computers, Copilot can be added through Microsoft 365. It is an add-on to Microsoft 365. Older college Windows (that started as Windows 10) may need to convert from Office 2019 to Office 365.

The Snipping Tool can take a snapshot to copy words or images from all or part of your PC screen. Use Snipping Tool to make changes or notes, then save, and share. On a Copilot+ PC, you can also use these AI-powered features Perfect Screenshot and Color Picker. With Snipping Tool, you can also annotate a snip, capture a video snip, add captions or audio to a video snip, and enlarge, crop, or rotate a snip. Snipping Tool can also edit exiting images.

Below is a quick guide for using the Windows built-in Snipping Tool. For full details about everything the Snipping Tool can do and more instructions, go to Microsoft's article Use Snipping Tool to capture screenshots.

Opening the Snipping Tool

Search for Snipping Tool: Click on the Start menu and type “Snipping Tool” in the search bar. Select the Snipping Tool app from the search results.
Pin to Taskbar: For quick access, right-click on the Snipping Tool app and select “Pin to taskbar”.

Capturing a Screenshot

New Snip: Open the Snipping Tool and click on the “New” button. This will freeze your screen and allow you to select the area you want to capture.
Select Area: Click and drag to select the area of the screen you want to capture. Release the mouse button to take the screenshot.
Snip Types: You can choose from different snip types by clicking on the arrow next to the “New” button:
- Rectangular Snip: Drag the cursor around an object to form a rectangle.
- Freeform Snip: Draw a free-form shape around an object.
- Window Snip: Select a window, such as a browser window or dialog box, to capture.
- Full-screen Snip: Capture the entire screen.

Editing and Saving the Screenshot

Edit: Once you’ve taken a screenshot, you can use the built-in tools to annotate, highlight, or erase parts of the screenshot.
Save: Click on the “Save” icon to save your screenshot. Choose the location where you want to save the file and give it a name.
Copy: You can also copy the screenshot to the clipboard by clicking on the “Copy” icon and then paste it into another application.

Text Extraction with Built-in OCR

Snipping Tool’s Text Extractor / Text actions integration lets you draw a selection, run Optical Character Recognition (OCR) and copy the recognized text to the clipboard (or copy it as a table), all in just a couple of clicks.

NOTE: The built‑in OCR is optimized for printed and typed text; handwriting recognition is limited and inconsistent. It may also how trouble with complex layouts and low resolution. Snipping Tool is image quality dependent.

Arrange the content on screen so it’s clear and legible.
Press Windows key + Shift + S to open the Snipping Tool capture bar.
From the capture toolbar, choose the Rectangle capture mode.
Drag a rectangle around the text you want to extract and release to capture.
Click the notification preview (or open the capture in the Snipping Tool editor).
Click Text actions (an icon commonly labelled or shown as lines within a frame). The tool runs OCR and highlights detected text.
Use Copy all text to copy everything to the clipboard or select parts of the highlighted text and copy them manually. Paste where needed with Ctrl + V.

For more in depth information about the built-in Text Extractor and OCR function, go to the Windows Forum article Windows 11 Snipping Tool: Built-in OCR for Fast Text Extraction

Additional Tips

Keyboard Shortcut: Press Windows + Shift + S to quickly open the Snipping Tool in snipping mode.
Delay Snip: Use the delay feature to set a timer (3, 5, or 10 seconds) before the screenshot is taken. This is useful for capturing context menus or tooltips.
Settings: Customize the Snipping Tool settings by clicking on the three dots in the top right corner and selecting “Settings”. Here you can change the theme, enable or disable notifications, and more.
Visual Search: In some builds the Snipping Tool also offers Visual Search (Bing) that can perform object identification, translation, or cloud‑based OCR/analysis when you choose that option — an action that sends the selection to Bing’s backend for processing.