I have owned a few computers each with different keyboards, and with each keyboard NEVER have I been able to use the 'Print Screen' button on any of them. I press press press away but never a reaction do I get!!!

Why does the 'Print Screen' button never work?

The print screen button actually serves as a copy button, it allows you to copy the entire screen at once, so you can later paste the image into paint or something like that, I guess it used to immediately print the entire screen. But they must have changed it cause of the inefficiency, who wants to print the whole screen at once anyway...

Hope this helps...

Try hitting "Print Screen" and then open up the Paint program, hit the edit button

and select paste. - print screen -

thanks scuzzy47, thanks RJM, I tried out the print screen button with the paint program and it worked perfect!

----------------

p.s. To MSFN who moved this Topic from it's original location due to my starting it in a forum considered by moderators to be the incorrect forum....

Thank you for moving my topic to where it would seem best suited....

Thank you for emailing me to let me know that it had been moved....

Please, next time can you also let me know where you left it!!!

I love you all, thank you

Also... just FYI, if you only want to print screen a certain applicaion like for example a non maximized web site or anything else that's 'active' just hit and hold Ctrl + Alt + Print Screen. Then just paste as usual and the only thing you will get is a print screen of the currently active window .

I guess it used to immediately print the entire screen. But they must have changed it cause of the inefficiency, who wants to print the whole screen at once anyway...

Hope this helps...

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

It did use to print the whole screen, under MS-Dos (the real one, not the cmd that comes with XP ) and since this was a text screen running 80 chars by whatever, it was pretty efficient

Also, there was no clipboard to use in them thar days ....

SP

ringfinger I just tried out Ctrl Alt Print Screen to paste just an active window and it worked lovely me'arty!!

seapagan maybe one day they will re-introduce printing direct to the printer alongside the functions which it can perform now

Glad to hear it... I use that combo all the time, quite helpful.

Edited September 3, 200520 yr by ringfinger

Also... just FYI, if you only want to print screen a certain applicaion like for example a non maximized web site or anything else that's 'active' just hit and hold Ctrl + Alt + Print Screen.  Then just paste as usual and the only thing you will get is a print screen of the currently active window .

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

thx for that tip, ive had to edit the picture for that

The print screen button is a throw back to the DOS days, when you could rap on that key and all the text on the screen would be output on LPT1 to your dot matrix printer.

Well those days are pretty much gone. But the key of course is still there on our keyboards. Instead of sending the screen to the printer port, in Windows it sends the screen to the Windows Clipboard. Neat eh?

Then to print it, all you have to do is paste that image into any word processor and print it, or save it....or whatever.

A handy little thing to have hanging around is a shortcut to Wordpad. I put mine on the start Menu where its always easy to get to.

There are quite a few Screen Print programs out there floating around too. Most are freeware.

Good Luck,

Andromeda43 B)

if you hold ALT then press PRINT SCREEN, it'll only copy the active window

It seems you're right Bledd... sorry bout that, when I was introduced to the shortcut the person that showed me used Ctrl + Alt + Print Screen and I've just used it ever since. It appears that just doing Alt + Print Screen captures only the active window w/o needing the Ctrl key

Also... just FYI, if you only want to print screen a certain applicaion like for example a non maximized web site or anything else that's 'active' just hit and hold Ctrl + Alt + Print Screen.  Then just paste as usual and the only thing you will get is a print screen of the currently active window .

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Alt + Print Screen is enough for the active window.

Edit: oh, sorry, I didn't read the last two posts. How can I delete this post?

Edited September 5, 200520 yr by Fox Mulder