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How to take a screenshot or screen recording on different devices.

Updated

This article will cover how to take screenshots or video on your computer or devices!

 

TO TAKE A SCREENSHOT


PC computer

  • Use the keyboard to press: Alt + PrtScn. You can also take screenshots of the active window.
  • Open the window that you want to capture and press Alt + PrtScn on your keyboard.
  • The screenshot is saved to the clipboard (To get to your clipboard history at any time, press Windows logo key + V)

MAC computer

  • Press Shift-Command-4 this will bring up a little target type icon where your mouse pointer is.
  • Drag to select the area of the screen to capture. 
  • After you release your mouse or trackpad button, find the screenshot as a .png file on your desktop.

How can I have my screenshots in other file formats than PNG?
With Preview you can save your screenshots in JPG, TIFF, PDF, and other file formats.

 

Kindle

  • Press and hold the “power” and “volume down” buttons at the same time, until you see your snapshot.

 
On a Fire tablet

  • To take screenshots on Fire tablets 3rd Generation and later (after 2012), use the physical buttons on the device.
  • Before taking a screenshot, locate the volume down button and the power button.
  • With the device powered on, press and hold down the volume down button and power button together for one second.

 
On a tablet without the home button
In this case, the button combo is volume down and power, as usual with other devices.

  • Hold down both buttons until your device takes a screenshot.
  • Certain tablets also have a quick launch button that can be set to capture screenshots.

 
Without using the power button on stock Android

  • Begin by heading over to the screen or app on your Android that you want to take a screen of.
  • To trigger the now on tap screen (a feature that allows button-less screenshot) press and hold the home button.

 
On Android

  • On most Android devices, the easiest way to take a screenshot is to simultaneously press and hold down the power button and volume-down button.
  • The screen will flash, and a notification will pop up pointing you to the new image in your gallery. 
For devices on which this does not work, try holding down the physical home button and volume-down simultaneously.
 

Some Android devices have a palm swipe feature. For these devices:

  • Swipe the edge of your palm across the screen from right to left (This will need to be enabled in Settings > Advanced Features > Palm swipe to capture)

On iPhone 8 or previous models, iPad, and iPod touch
 

  • Press and hold the top or side button.
  • quickly click the home button, then release the top or side buttons.
  • A thumbnail of your screenshot appears in the lower-left corner.
  • Tap the thumbnail to add drawings and text with markup, or press and hold the thumbnail to share the screenshot.
  • Swipe left on the thumbnail to dismiss it.

To find the screenshot you just took, go to Photos > Albums and tap Screenshots.
 
On an iPhone X or later

  • Press and hold the side button on the right side of your iPhone.
  • Immediately click the volume up button on the left side, then release the buttons.
  • A thumbnail of your screenshot appears in the lower-left corner of your iPhone.
  • Tap the thumbnail to add drawings and text with markup, or press and hold the thumbnail to share the screenshot.
  • Swipe left on the thumbnail to dismiss it.

 

TO RECORD A VIDEO (SCREEN RECORDING)

 

IOS 11 AND UP DEVICES (IPHONES, IPADS, ETC)

Take the following steps to access the screen recording tool.

  • Tap the Settings icon, found on your device's Home Screen.
  • iOS's Settings should now be displayed. Select the Control Center option.
  • Tap Customize Controls.
  • Scroll down until you locate Screen Recording and tap on the green plus (+) icon found to the left of it.
  • Screen Recording should now be moved towards the top of the list, under the INCLUDE heading. Press your device's Home button.
  • Swipe up from the bottom of the screen to access the iOS Control Center. You should notice a new icon which looks like a record button. To begin recording, select this button.
  • A timer countdown will display (3, 2, 1) at which point screen recording has started. There will be a red bar at the top of your screen while recording is taking place. Once finished, tap on this red bar.
  • A pop-up message will appear, asking if you'd like to finish recording. Select the Stop option. Your recording is now complete and can be found within your Photos.

OPERATING IOS DEVICES OLDER THAN IOS 11
If you have a Mac computer available, your best bet is to connect your iOS device to your Mac using the Lightning cable.

Once connected, launch the QuickTime Player app (found in your Dock or in the Applications folder).

Click File in the QuickTime menu, located at the top of the screen. When the drop-down menu appears, select the New Movie Recording option.

A recording toolbar should now be displayed. Click on the down-arrow, located to the right of the Record button. A menu should appear showing your available recording devices.

Select your iOS Device from the list. You're now ready to capture a screencast from your iOS device.

Click on Record to begin, and Stop once you're done.

The new recording file will be saved to your Mac's hard drive.

macOS

  • Start by opening QuickTime Player.
  • Click on File in the QuickTime menu, located at the top of the screen.
  • When the drop-down menu appears, select the New Screen Recording option. The Screen Recording interface will now be shown.
  • To start capturing, simply click on the red and gray Record button.
  • At this point you'll be given the option to record all or part of your screen. Once complete, click on the record/stop icon now located in the upper right-hand corner of your screen next to the power and network indicators.
  • That's it! Your recording is now ready, and QuickTime gives you the option to play it, save it or share it in a number of different ways such as AirDrop, Mail, Facebook or YouTube.

PC

Windows includes a built-in tool designed for gamers.

How to record your screen with Game Bar

To use this, your PC has to support one of the following encoders. Most modern graphics cards or processors will support them.

  • AMD VCE
  • Intel Quick Sync H.264 (Intel 2nd Generation CPU or newer)
  • Nvidia NVENC (Most Nvidia GeForce 600 or newer, most Quadro K series or newer)

To use this feature:

  • Click the Start button followed by the gear icon located on the Start Menu. This opens the Settings app.
  • Select Gaming       
  • Under Game Bar, be sure the Record game clips, screenshots, and broadcast using Game Bar option is toggled to on

  • Type the keyboard shortcut to open the Game Bar: Win + G. You may or may not see a prompt asking if the highlighted application on your screen is a game. If you do, just select Yes.

  • The Game Bar appears near your screen’s top center edge. It provides buttons to access multiple overlays, including Audio, Performance, and Capture. 
    The Game Bar’s Capture overlay should appear by default. If not, click the webcam icon on the Game Bar.

  • Click the round Start Recording button. Click the purple Stop button to stop recording.

    Note: The Game Bar’s recording feature won’t work with the desktop or File Explorer. But it should work with games and non-game apps.

    Note: You can type the Win + Alt + R key combination to start and stop recording with Game Bar enabled.

  • All video captures save to the Videos > Captures folder and will be saved as an MP4 file.

 

Linux
The operating system does not offer native screen recording functionality. There are free applications available to aid in capturing video of your screen.

 

Android Device

If you have Samsung or LG and Android 10:

Samsung and LG phones on Android 10 can access a screen recording option from their Quick Settings bars. Swipe down twice on your notification shade to access the Quick Settings section, and then select Screen Recording (on an LG phone) or Screen Recorder (on a Samsung phone). Then, tap the Start button, and wait for the short countdown to complete to begin recording. You may need to allow the recorder some permissions before it will begin, and LG warns that any protected content — like Netflix — will be displayed as a black screen with audio. When you’re finished, tap the Stop button, and your recording will end.

 If you do not have Android 10:

You can screen record on your Android device using a third-party app. Unlike the iPhone, there is not currently a built-in app or feature to screen record on your Android device. There are third-party apps that make it easy to record, edit, and share screen recordings on your Android 5.0 device or newer.

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