What's this thing on my screen? (2/27/08)

The Problem
Has this ever happened to you? You're using your computer as usual, checking your email or working on a document, when something strange appears on the screen. Perhaps it's an odd error message, or something confusing or disturbing. You manage to get past it and get on with your work. Later on you mention it to your computer person, who asks, "What did it say? Didn't you write it down?" and you're at a loss to tell them more.

A Simple Solution
You could certainly keep a pad of paper near your computer and write such things down, or take out your camera and try to take a picture of the screen, but for most people those are just too difficult. Instead, with a few simple steps you can take an electronic "screen shot," which captures a picture of the entire computer screen and stores it in a file on your computer, and you don't have to worry about focus, red-eye, or writing anything down. Here's how:

On Windows:

On your keyboard, tap the PrintScreen key (PrtSc on laptops). This puts a copy of the entire screen on the Clipboard as a picture. It doesn't give you any indication that it's done anything, not even a beep, but have faith!
Open Microsoft Word, or, if you don't have Word (or want something simpler), open the Paint program (Start->All Programs->Accessories->Paint). You don't have to close anything first.
Pull down the Edit menu and choose Paste. You'll see a picture of your screen appear in the document
Save this new document (File->Save). I suggest putting it in your Documents or Desktop folder, and giving it a memorable name, e.g., "Odd email error Feb 25" or "Strange computer thing."

On Macintosh:

On your keyboard, hold down both the Command (a.k.a. Apple) and Shift keys with your left hand.
Still holding down those keys, tap the "3" key once with your right hand. If your volume is turned up high enough, you should hear a "camera shutter" sound.
Release the Command (a.k.a. Apple) and Shift keys.
Pressing this key combination creates a picture file called "Picture 1" (or "Picture 1.png") on your Desktop. If a "Picture 1" file is already on the Desktop, later files will be called "Picture 2," etc.
I suggest renaming this file to something more memorable, e.g., "Odd email error Feb 25" or "Strange computer thing." You may have to close or hide some windows first to uncover this desktop icon before you can rename it.
(Optional) Double-click this new file to take a look at your screen shot.

Now that you know how to take a screen shot, you can capture whatever you see on your screen without laboriously writing down everything you see! This has a number of uses:

If it's something you're concerned about, you can attach it to an email (or simply print it out) and send it to someone who might be able to help.
If you're used to a certain arrangement of icons on, say, your customized Toolbars, Desktop, or Macintosh Dock, a screen shot is a simple way to keep a record of it.

Limitations
These screen shot methods will probably capture everything on your screen except an image of your mouse cursor. There are also a few situations when you may not be able to take a screen shot:

If your computer is frozen or stuck in some way.
If you computer is in the early stages of starting up.
If your keyboard isn't connected or working properly.

Where to go from here

Practice taking a screen shot before you find yourself needing one.
If you think it's useful, write the steps on a post-it and stick it on the side of your monitor.

Now, the next time something strange happens on the computer and your support person asks, "What did it say?" you can give them the screen shot and proudly say "Here's exactly what it said!"

If you know someone else who might find this helpful, please feel free to forward it to them.
If you have any comments about this article, send me a reply!
If you have a topic that you'd like me to write about, I'd love to hear about it!