While many people have started using the Windows Snipping tool instead of a third-party product to capture screenshots, not many realize that it can also be used to capture those elusive pop-up menus that are so important when trying to describe how to do something on a document or web. page.
First, launch the Snipping Tool app; it’s in the accessories folder. You can also just click the start button and enter a snippet.
For more information on the Snipping Tool and other methods of taking screenshots, read our post – The Complete Guide to Taking Screenshots
Use the snipping tool
When the Snipping Tool app launches and you click Create, your screen becomes cloudy and the Snipping Tool app pop-up screen shown below appears.
Usually at this point you draw a rectangle or freehand sketch (depending on the mode you choose) to start shooting what you want and the results will be displayed in the Snipping Tool window.
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Instead, press the ESC button on your keyboard. Your screen should immediately clear, as if nothing is happening, except that the Snipping Tool popup should still be visible. Don’t worry, this is normal.
Then go to your app, which has a popup menu. In this case, we’ll grab the font popup menu that pops up when you click on the current font in Word. Click Current Font to open the font window.
Then press Ctrl – PrintScr on your keyboard (press and hold the Ctrl key while reaching out and pressing the Print Scrn key; then release both keys at the same time). The screen should immediately go cloudy again.
This time, the popup menu should still be visible on the screen. To grab the drop-down menu, click in the corner of where you want to capture the photo, then hold down the mouse button and move to a new position, drawing a rectangle around the part of the screen you want to capture, then release.
Once you do this, the part of the screen you captured will appear in the Snipping Tool application window, where you can save it and then do whatever you want with it. It should look something like this:
You can also use this method to grab any right-click context menus in Windows. The above method works well, but you can also use another method that involves adding a delay. Just hit the “Delay” button and wait a few seconds before capturing begins.
In those few seconds, you can open a popup menu or a menu by right-clicking and then just wait for the screen capture to start. Enjoy!
Note. You can also draw or take a snapshot of an image in free form, in a window, or in full screen mode while cropping an image, by clicking the down arrow next to the Mode button in the Scissors screen.
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