How to use the Windows 'Snipping Tool'

If you write a blog, or have have a blog within your website, pictures are a great way of adding extra interest, and if you are trying to illustrate steps in a process, again it is great to be able to produce pictures to show this. In the past it was always possible to take a screen shot, and then use a programme, such as 'Paint', to crop a picture. But now there is a neat little programme within Windows called 'Snipping Tool' to allow you to copy part of the screen without having to use multiple programmes to get the image you want. Take the image below as an example:

This is just an image selected from my 'Contact' page within my author website. I used the Windows 'Snipping Tool' to capture this image, straight from the website. If you'd like a full tutorial on how Windows 'Snipping Tool' works, then just visit Bleeping Computer. They have produced an excellent step by step explanation.

Another 'clipping' tool is available in Word. If you want to paste a selection of a picture directly into Word, then this can be done using 'Screenshot' within Word. It can be found under the 'Insert' tab of the main menu.

If you click on the small arrow below the word 'Screenshot', an extra window will open, which shows all the main windows open on your computer at the time. You can then take a screen shot of any of the windows open, by clicking the specific window you want. If you want a small sample, this can be done by clicking 'Screen Clipping'.

This will allow you to select part of the window which is currently open. You then simply hold down the mouse, and select the area you wish to copy. So that's a short overview of two very useful tools for quickly selecting images to copy and save.