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How to take screenshots on a Chromebook

While it can be incredibly easy to take screenshots on smartphones, a little more work has to go into capturing portions of your Chromebook’s display. The good news, though, is that once you learn how to take screenshots, the process is pretty hard to forget and takes just seconds to do…

How to take a screenshot of your entire display |

  1. Locate content that you wish to capture
  2. Find the Control and Switch windows buttons. The second button has an icon that looks like a box with two parallel lines to the right of it
  3. Press and hold the Control and Switch windows buttons at the same time
  4. The screenshot should be captured within a second with a preview of the image appearing in the notifications

How to take a partial screenshot |

  1. Locate content that you wish to capture
  2. Find the Control, Shift, and Switch windows buttons. The third button has an icon that looks like a box with two parallel lines to the right of it
  3. Press and hold the ControlShift, and Switch windows buttons at the same time
  4. The screen brightness will dim and your cursor should change into a + icon
  5. Press down and drag out a box around whatever you wish to capture
  6. The screenshot should be captured within a second with a preview of the image appearing in the notifications

How to take a screenshot in tablet mode |

  1. Locate content that you wish to capture
  2. Identify the power button and volume rocker
  3. Just like Android phones, all you need to do is hold down the power and volume down button at the same time for a second. A notification will pop-up showing the screenshot

How to edit a screenshot |

  1. Your screenshots should automatically save in the Downloads section of the Files application
  2.  Either double-click on any of the screenshots or right-click to see which applications are available to edit the PNG files. By default, it should open in the pre-installed Gallery app
  3. Select the Edit button (pencil icon) in the top right corner of the display
  4. Using the tools on the bottom bar, you can crop, resize, adjust the brightness, and rotate the image
  5. All edits and modifications should be saved automatically

In addition to these instructions, there are some Chromebooks like the Samsung Chromebook Pro/Plus and Pixelbook that come with their own styluses that allow you to capture even more precise screenshots. There are also other programs like Lightroom that can be downloaded from the Play Store (on compatible Chromebooks) that allow even more editing functionality.

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Avatar for Justin Duino Justin Duino

I’m a writer for 9to5Google with a background in IT and Android development. Follow me on Twitter to read my ramblings about tech and email me at justin@jaduino.com. Tips are always welcome.