How do I create a screenshot of my problem?

Revision Information
  • Revision id: 20691
  • Created:
  • Creator: AliceWyman
  • Comment: first draft, based on old version of "Adding screenshots" article.
  • Reviewed: Yes
  • Reviewed:
  • Reviewed by: AliceWyman
  • Is approved? No
  • Is current revision? No
  • Ready for localization: No
Revision Source
Revision Content

A screenshot is an image (i.e. snapshot) of your computer screen or portion of the screen. On the Firefox Support forum, we don't want people to be shy about adding screenshots. A picture is worth a thousand words and can go a long way to help explain a Firefox problem or solution.

Creating the screenshot

Note: Basic instructions for creating a screenshot are also given on various websites, including http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Screenshot and http://take-a-screenshot.org/

Once you have got the screen presented the way you want for the screenshot, press the Print Screen or Prnt Scrn key on your keyboard. It is usually found in the upper right section of your keyboard. To capture only the active window, you can hold down the Alt key, while you press Print Screen or Prnt Scrn.

As a result, there will be an image of your screen in the Windows clipboard, which you can paste into any image editing program such as MS Paint, by clicking on the Edit menu and selecting Paste.

Crop the image, if necessary, and then save it in PNG format, to the desktop or to another location on your computer.

Tools

Once you have got the screen presented the way you want for the screenshot, hold down the command key, as well as the Shift key, as you press 3. To capture a specific section, hold down the command key, as well as the Shift key, as you press 4; then select the area you want to copy. To capture a specific window, hold down the command key, as well as the Shift key, as you press 4; then press the spacebar. You can then click on a window to capture it.

As a result, there will be a PNG file on your desktop, called Picture 1.

Tools

On Ubuntu Linux, once you have got the screen presented the way you want for the screenshot, click the Applications menu, go to the Accessories folder, and select Take Screenshot. In other cases, using the Print Screen or Prnt Scrn key will also work.

Tools