Print screen is a keyboard function that takes a quick “snapshot” of your computer screen, copying it to the clipboard. By pressing the print screen key, then opening a paint or image program, the screenshot can be pasted into the program as an image file. From there, it can be saved or printed. If you don’t need a snapshot of the entire screen, but only want an image of the active window, hold down the alt key while pressing the print screen key. This is a great way to save menu screenshots for instructional Web pages, making it easier for people to follow along when configuring software, for example.

You might also use the print screen key when ordering merchandise online. Upon completing the ordering process, a confirmation page is normally displayed. Rather than printing this page, you can elect to use the print screen key to save the image file until the merchandise arrives. This conserves both paper and toner.

However, print screen only preserves what is readily visible on screen. You will not be able to “scroll down” if the page extends beyond the bottom of the screen. In order to have scrolling ability, it’s best to save the page as an HTML file. To do this, select File from the top toolbar, then choose Save Page As, and use the default extension.

Popular word processors like Microsoft Word allow images to be pasted into documents by using print screen. Once the print screen key has been pressed, just open the word processor, and from the top toolbar, choose Edit then Paste. Alternately, right-click on an empty part of the page within the document and choose “paste” from the right-click menu.

The print screen key is located on the top right portion of a standard U.S. 102-key keyboard. It can be found by the scroll lock and pause keys. In decades past, pressing this key sent the screenshot to the printer port, automatically printing the screen. Today’s keyboards only copy the snapshot, allowing greater flexibility.