Taking a screenshot is often useful at work or just to show a friend something you found interesting on social media. If you use one of the top Chromebooks as your daily machine, you'll undoubtedly need to take a quick screenshot at some point. The good news is that taking a screenshot on ChromeOS is just as simple as on your Mac or PC. Let's take a quick look at how to take a screenshot and edit or annotate the result.
How to take a screenshot on a Chromebook
If you want to take a screenshot on your Chromebook, it's easy. There are two types of screenshots you can take, too. You just have to use a few keyboard shortcuts. We'll get into these here.
- For a screenshot of your entire screen: Press Ctrl + the Show Windows button (Ctrl + F5 on a Windows keyboard). The Show Windows key, which looks like a rectangle with two lines on the right side, is on the top row of the keyboard (this is in the same position as F5 on a Windows machine).
- To capture a partial screenshot: Press Shift + Ctrl + Show Windows (Shift + Ctrl + F5 on a Windows keyboard), then click and drag your cursor over the exact area you want to capture. A crosshair icon will appear; click and drag it until the part of the screen you want to copy is highlighted, then click the Capture button.
It is worth noting that all screenshots taken on ChromeOS end up in the Downloads folder. This is a bit different from the storage defaults on a Mac or PC. You can quickly find the Downloads folder by navigating to the Files app in your launcher. It's also quite easy to add additional folders for organization.
If you have a ChromeOS tablet or device running in tablet mode, you won't have direct access to the keyboard. Taking a screenshot is still possible, using a different method. Press Power + Volume Down simultaneously. With a stylus, you can also select a part of the screen to capture in tablet mode.
Editing a screenshot on a Chromebook
Google has a nice built-in annotation tool for editing screenshots in ChromeOS, which you can access in a few ways.
- You can tap the Edit option in the initial pop-up box.
- If you decide that you want to edit your image later, you can navigate to the Downloads folder and select the image.
Syncing screenshots across devices is also easy. You can use Google Keep as an annotation tool to accomplish this. For those who need more robust and powerful editing, consider checking out Chrome Canvas. Now you're all set to start taking screenshots on your Chromebook or Chromebox. If you work with screenshots for work all the time like we do, you might also want to consider a docking station for your Chromebook. This allows you the additional flexibility of working from a larger monitor. Keep in mind that you can also use Android apps on ChromeOS, so you can screenshot your favorite social media posts too.