Print Screen

Does anyone know of a program—maybe something a little unconventional, but effective—that automatically saves an image whenever I hit the Print Screen key? I'm looking for something that keeps stacking them up no matter how many times I press it. I already know the old-school way where you hit Print Screen, open Paint, and save it manually, but that’s such a drag, and the files end up being huge, like 1-2MB per shot. If you guys have any recommendations, let me know if they're easy to find online.

Freeware
Shareware

Tech Enthusiast said:I know about that trick where you hit Print Screen, paste it into Paint, and save it, but the files are huge—like 1 or 2 MB per shot.

Well, yeah, because it's saving as a BMP in Paint.

Just toss it into any other program (like Photoshop) and "Save As" a JPG instead.

What on earth???
I mean, look at this—this screenshot is only 1024x768 pixels (on my 21'' monitor), yet it’s already hitting 178 kb.

Give PrintKeyPro a shot

If you're looking to register the software using some kind of... let's call it an "alternative" method, you might want to check out astalavistu

There are honestly a ton of programs out there designed for capturing your desktop, specific windows, or just tiny little details on your screen. How you decide to save your results really just comes down to what you're actually planning to do with those screenshots later on, right?

Jacob Wilson50 said:For what???
this 1024x768 screenshot (on a 21'' monitor) is only 178 kb

That resolution on a 21-inch screen?!?!? Are you blind or something? 🙄
You seriously need to upgrade to a 1280x1024.

I’m reviving this ancient thread just to avoid cluttering things up with a brand-new one... so, here’s the deal: I’ve got an old HP laptop running Windows 7, and for some reason, my Print Screen key is completely unresponsive. I can't figure out if it's a hardware issue with the keyboard itself. On the keycap, it says "prt sc," but right above it, "insert" is printed in a much larger font, which makes me think the "insert" function might be taking priority. Does anyone actually know how to force this Print Screen function to work? If you have a solution, please, help a guy out 🙂. (Not that I'm totally helpless—I already have a specific screen capture program installed)...

Are you positive it isn't working? Try hitting the key again and then open up Paint. Once you have that open, look for the EDIT - pasta option at the top—just click that, and your image, like a desktop screenshot, should pop right into the editor.

Regarding that Insert key, try holding down Shift while you press it. That should toggle the function over to 'Print Screen'.

I’ve gone through the entire ritual—hitting Shift, Ctrl, Alt, even Alt-Gr... but honestly? Not a single thing worked.

The Fn key should be sitting right there on the bottom left—I think it’s the second one from the edge. Just hold that down and hit Print Screen

Jack Jones33 said:The Fn key should be located on the bottom left—I believe it's the second one from the edge. Hold that down and then hit Print Screen.

Well, thanks a million. It works perfectly.👍

Don't mention it. All those other shortcuts—adjusting the volume, muting, whatever—they all work using that same logic. "Fn" is just short for function. 😉