WFH Tips & Tricks | Sometimes It’s the Little Things…the Snipping Tool
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Sometimes in our everyday work, a small tool can be a game changer.
During the past year WFH in the Catalyst has presented some substantive topics: from dual monitors to Outlook rules and templates, from Gmail filters to work-life balance. Sometimes, though, you discover a small tool that you may not use every day, but when you need it, it’s a game changer. Often, I only want to save or share a snippet of what is on the screen and print screen (PrtScn) is certainly not the solution. Meet the Snipping Tool, which actually has been part of Microsoft Windows in various forms since 2002.
To find the Snipping Tool, type “snipping” in the Start/Magnifying Glass type box in the lower left corner of the page and select the Snipping Tool app. A small box will pop up.
Of the four modes—free-form, rectangular, window, and full-screen—rectangular is the one that I almost always use. (In earlier versions of Microsoft, access modes by clicking the down arrow to the right of the “New” button. The mode is always set to the one you used last.) When you click on “New” the screen freezes and becomes milky opaque and the cursor becomes a crosshair (large plus sign). Simply click and drag over the portion of the screen you want to capture and release when done. Once captured, the image also can be annotated or edited using the pen and highlighter on the top toolbar.
The snipped image can be printed, saved on your computer (PNG, GIF, JPEG), pasted (ctrl-v) into an open document or email, or sent directly to an email recipient. If the screen image is too small, don’t forget to click ctrl-plus to enlarge before you snip. If like me, you find yourself using the tool every day, you will either want to pin the app to your toolbar or create a shortcut key.
In 2018, Microsoft 10 also added the Snip and Sketch tool with the plan to completely replace the Snipping Tool as part of the default installation in new computers; however, the Snipping Tool was still being included as of late 2020. Pressing the Windows logo key + Shift + S gives you easy access to the Snip and Sketch tool with same functionality as the Snipping tool. For Mac users, Command + Shift + 4 turns the cursor into a crosshair allowing you to select a screen image to copy and save to the clipboard.
Authored by Rebecca D. Claycamp, Private Consultant, Chief Grants Management Officer, Retired
National Institute of Mental Health
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