How to Screenshot on Dell Laptops – Print screen tips

Dell are still making some pretty great laptops, from the well known XPS series through to their G3, G5 and G7 gaming laptops – they also make some of the best laptops for animation. They’re still one of the top brands out there if you’re looking for good quality.

And with any laptop comes shortcut keys that you can use to give your laptop a specific command. One of these commands that’s very commonly used by most folks is the Print Screen function, or the screenshot function.

But just how can you screenshot on a Dell laptop, and what’s the easiest way to do so? We’re going to look at the best method to get a screenshot of what’s on the display of your laptop.

How to Screenshot on Dell Laptops

If you want to take a screenshot on your Dell laptop, then all you need to do is go ahead and press the PrntScrn button on the device. This is the easiest way for you to take a screenshot on your Dell laptop.

But if you do this, then this will take a screenshot of all of the active Windows that you have opened currently on your screen. In some cases, you may not want to take a screenshot of the whole screen. You may only want to capture the active window, or even just a small snippet.

So, there are other methods that you can use to take a screenshot quickly as well.

If you want to take a screenshot of all of the Windows that are currently open on your Dell laptop, then just press the Print screen key.
If you want to take a screenshot of the entire Window on your display, then you have to press the Windows button + print screen key at the same time.
And finally, if you only want a screenshot of the Window you’ve currently using, then press Alt + Print screen key simultaneously.

On older versions of Windows, these options will copy the screenshot you’ve taken to the clipboard of your laptop. From here, you’ll have to paste it into whichever software you want to. For some people, this will just be Paint, but you can paste it into other softwares just as easily, like Photoshop.

However on newer versions like Windows 10, you’ll be able to find the screenshots that you’ve taken in your screenshots folder. This is much more convenient, as you’ll have all your screenshots, pictures and other downloaded media in folders ready to be opened.

Using the Snipping Tool

Whilst the previous information will help if you’re looking to screenshot a large portion of your screen, it’s not so helpful with smaller areas of the screen. If you want to take a screenshot of a particular section of your screen, then you’ll need to go ahead and use the snipping tool to do this.

Unfortunately, there is no shortcut key for the snipping tool on a Dell laptop. This means that the easiest way for you to open the snipping tool is for you to search for it within your Windows search bar. However, the snipping tool is very straightforward for you to use.

First, you’ll want to choose between which snipping mode you’re going to want to use. This is between free-form, rectangular, Window or full-screen snip. Most people will want to choose free-form here, as it gives the most flexibility with a click and drag function.

Then, all you need to do is click where you want to start your screenshot, and drag it to where you want your screenshot to finish. This will select the area that you’ve chosen and effectively screenshot it, and it’ll save the screen shot into your folder.

Within your snipping tool menu, you’ll then see the Save function light up. You can click this to save it the screenshot to your screenshot folder, or you can go ahead and get a better one instead without having to save it.

Other Dell shortcuts worth knowing

There are some basic shortcuts that everyone should know and use with a Windows laptop – Ctrl + C to Copy, Ctrl + V to Paste and so on. But these aren’t specific to Dell.

Although the screenshot shortcuts are probably the most used out there, there are many other shortcuts that you might want to know about with your Dell laptop too. This includes;

  • FN + F1 – This will send your laptop into sleep mode.
  • FN + F2 – You can use this combination to bring up BIOS.
  • FN + F3 – If you want to turn scroll lock on or off, use this.
  • FN + F5 – Easily disable your touchpad by using these two together, and you can enable it the same way.
  • FN + F7 – This will launched the Dell Control point, which is your security center.
  • FN + F8 – For those that want to use more than one monitor, you can do that by using this shortcut.
  • FN + F10 – This is a quick way to go back to the previous track if you’re using a media player.
  • FN + F11 – Whilst F10 is for going back a track, you can use F11 to play or pause a track within a media player.
  • FN + F12 – Need to skip to the next track? Then you can use these two buttons to do that.

Using the Windows key + C shortcut is a great one too, as it calls for Cortana – the Windows equivalent of Siri. These shortcuts can help you avoid having to head to the Start button every time you need to do something.

Conclusion

Though once you know how to screenshot on a Dell laptop it’s very straightforward, it isn’t as simple as it is on some other laptops (like a Macbook, for example). But after you’ve done it a few times and gotten use to it, then it becomes much easier for you to do so.

The print screen key is your best friend in this case, and you can use it to take a variety of different types of screenshot. From the entire screen to just your active window, you can get a shot of pretty much anything you want.

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About Jon

Hey, I'm Jon. I'm an engineer by trade, so it makes sense that I'm obsessed with anything technology related! On the weekends, you can find me playing around with my computers or fixing something around the house. Feel free to leave a comment if you want to get in touch.

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