If you want to capture screenshots on a Chromebook, you’re in luck. This process may not have as much flexibility as on a PC, but taking two types of screenshots on Chromebooks is as easy as taking screenshots on a computer.
How to make a screenshot on a Chromebook
Before you begin, you’ll need to make sure you know one specific key on your Chromebook’s keyboard. This is the Overview key, which is sometimes called the “Show windows” or “Window switch” key. The Google key description is “Show all windows in Preview mode.”
This key should be above your row of numbers and appear as a rectangle with two vertical lines next to it.
Take a full screenshot
To take a screenshot of everything on the screen of your Chromebook, hold down the “Ctrl” key and press the “Change Window” key. The last button is usually on the top line between the Full Screen and Brightness down buttons and is represented by many squares.
When you press both buttons, a notification will appear in the list at the bottom corner of the screen that warns you that the screenshot has been saved. Screenshot files are stored directly in the Download folder on your Chromebook, so you can take and download screenshots offline. They are marked with the date and time of recording. Click the notification to open the Downloads folder and select the image file.
Note: Screenshots are saved locally and are only available in Google Drive. Move the file manually.
If you have a Chromebook with a 360-degree hinge, such as a pixelbook, you can use another method of capturing a full screen shot. If you’re using Chrome OS 64.0.3282.134 or newer, you can simply press the power and volume down buttons at the same time, just like on a smartphone. It’s great if you’re in tablet mode where using the keyboard is far from convenient.
How to take a screenshot of part of the screen
In many cases, you won’t want to take a screenshot of the entire screen. Maybe you just want to share a small piece of something you see in the Chrome app or website.
In this case, you can capture a custom screen region by doing the following:
- Step one: Press Ctrl + Shift + Review (or Ctrl + Shift + F5).
- Step two: Click and drag the mouse to select the rectangular screen region you want to dump.
Editing screenshots
Screenshots taken by the Chrome operating system are ready to be shared, but if you are a little familiar with them, you should familiarize yourself with the built-in Chrome photo editor.
- Step one: Open the Downloads folder and double-click the screenshot to open it in the image viewer.
- Step two: Click the pen icon in the lower right corner of the window to open the editing mode. Tools for cropping, rotating and adjusting brightness are displayed at the bottom of the window.
- Step three: When you’re done, click the pencil icon again to complete the changes. You can’t save a copy using the built-in editor, so you may want to manually copy the image before you get done.
