How to take a screenshot on Windows 7 and auto create screenshot file on desktop like Mac?

Question

I'm trying to find information how do we take a screenshot on Windows 7 that will actually create a screenshot file like .png in to your desktop like on mac where you can do it by pressing commandshift+4.

In windows all I know is that I can do it by press PrtScn = Windows captures the entire screen and copies it to the clipboard.

or for the Active windows I can just do hold Alt and press PrtScn = Windows captures only the currently active window and copies it to the clipboard.

Right now I'm using maComFort which it gives me the functionality of Mac-like keyboard that I can take a screenshot in such the same way with Mac OS X but really it changes many of the keys in my keyboard in the way I don't like.

So I wonder if there is a better way?

Answer 1

Download NirCmd, AutoHotKey and Install them both. (Copy nircmd files to either Windows directory or extract it to a new folder).

Change this to relevant directories where the nircmd executable is stored and the path to your desktop.

c:\path\to\nircmd.exe savescreenshot c:\path\to\desktop\Screenshot.png

If everything goes fine, you should see a screenshot on your desktop. Now to make PrintScreen to execute that command. This is where AutoHotKey comes in.

I just modified the Script found here. Create a new ".ahk" file using Notepad, Paste this and modify as needed.

#NoEnv
SendMode Input
SetWorkingDir, path:\to\desktop

PRINTSCREEN::Run, c:\path\to\nircmd.exe savescreenshot c:\path\to\desktop\Screenshot_%A_Now%.png
!PRINTSCREEN::Run, c:\path\to\nircmd.exe savescreenshotwin c:\path\to\desktop\Screenshot_%A_Now%.png
return

Now use the "Convert .ahk to .exe" tool which is installed along with AutoHotKey and create a executable.

Run that executable and press PrintScreen (and Alt+PrintScreen); See if that did the job.

Now just add a shortcut to that executable to your Startup folder (which automatically loads it whenever you boot).

Edit: Modified to add Alt+Printscreen and Timestamp to files.

Answer 2

I use Screenpresso. It's free, portable and only uses the Print key (with modifiers).

Answer 3

Simply use the built in Snipping Tool. It will capture the screen and prompt you to save it to a .png file. If you want it to run when you hit PrintScrn then bind it to that key using AutoHotKey.

Answer 4

You could try Purrint.

http://www.bcheck.net/apps/

It gives you choices on formats to use, based on the extension you give the screengrabs when you first configure the program. And of course, you can choose where you want the screen shots to go.

Answer 5

btw if you already happen to use IrfanView (which I happened to do, because it's an unbelievably super handy tool for quick editing images and opening/converting between all sorts of image formats), there is an option for starting a Screen Capturing session (Options -> Capture/Screenshot..) (i am attaching the dialog that is displayed, containing all the possible options like the destination directory and the shortcut buttons, as well as the naming and the format of the destination image files)

[edit] at the time of this writing IrfanView is "FREEWARE (for non-commercial use)"

Answer 6

This is a very old question, but it seems FRAPS still has no competition. It lets you set up a destination folder and file format, bind a screenshot key, and lets you capture from fullscreen applications such as games and movie players.

Answer 7

I wrote a simple python script to capture the screen to a file on a hot key.

The script and its shortcut are here.

There are two files printscreen-win.lnk and printscreen-win.py

Copy both of them to c:\utils, that path can be changed but you need to edit the shortcut file.

The shortcut file expects that your python is:

c:\Python27\pythonw.exe

Copy the shortcut to your Desktop and make a "Shortcut Key" from its Properties. Default one that I use is Ctrl + Alt + S

Once you execute the script it will save a new screen-shot under ...\Desktop\screen\

You will need Python 2.x and PIL.

Enjoy!