How to Copy a Screenshot to the Clipboard: Every Shortcut for Windows and Mac
Most screenshot shortcuts save a file to your desktop or Pictures folder, which you then have to find, drag into a chat, and delete later. A screenshot on your clipboard skips all that. You take it and paste it straight into a chat or an email.
Windows and Mac handle this differently: some shortcuts copy, and some save. Here are the ones that copy.
Quick reference
| You want to capture | Windows | Mac |
|---|---|---|
| A selected area | Windows+Shift+S | Control+Shift+Command+4 |
| The whole screen | Print Screen | Control+Shift+Command+3 |
| One window | Alt+Print Screen | Control+Shift+Command+4, then Space, then click the window |
| Everything from one menu | Windows+Shift+S | Shift+Command+5, with Save to set to Clipboard |
| Whole screen on a laptop without a Print Screen key | Fn + the key labeled PrtSc (for example F9) | n/a |
Windows
Windows+Shift+S: capture any area
This is the one to learn.
- Press Windows+Shift+S. The screen dims, and a small bar pops at the top.
- Choose a mode: rectangle, freeform, window, or full screen.
- Drag over what you want and let go.
The snip is on your clipboard instantly. A notification also appears. Click it to open the snip in the Snipping Tool, where you can edit it or save it. Ignore it if you only wanted to paste.
Print Screen: the whole screen
Press Print Screen (PrtScn). The whole screen is copied, and with several monitors, all of them as one image. On many laptops, you’ll need to hold down Fn too.
On many Windows 11 PCs, Print Screen opens the snipping bar instead of copying right away. You then pick an area as above, and it’s copied to the clipboard once you select it. It’s a setting under Settings > Accessibility > Keyboard (“Use the Print Screen button to open screen capture”).
Alt+Print Screen: just the active window
Click the window you want, then press Alt+Print Screen. You get that window alone, with no taskbar and no desktop behind it. If that doesn’t work, hold Fn along.
Not a clipboard shortcut: Windows+Print Screen
Windows+Print Screen saves a full-screen file to Pictures > Screenshots instead of copying. It’s useful when you want a file, but it won’t paste anywhere until you open it.
Capturing menus and tooltips
Menus and tooltips vanish as soon as you hit a shortcut. Two fixes:
- Print Screen can work where Windows+Shift+S closes the menu, because it doesn’t interrupt the window you’re in.
- Snipping Tool’s Delay option gives you 3, 5, or 10 seconds after you click New. Open the menu while the timer counts down, and the screenshot is taken.
No Print Screen key? Use the Fn combination
Many laptops don’t have a separate Print Screen key. They print “PrtSc” in small letters on another key instead, often a function key. On some models, that key is F9. Hold Fn and press the key labeled PrtSc, and it works as Print Screen. If PrtSc is on your F9 key, the three Print Screen shortcuts become:
- Whole screen, copied to the clipboard: Fn+F9
- Whole screen, saved as a file: Windows+Fn+F9. The screen briefly shadows, and the picture is saved to Pictures > Screenshots.
- Active window only, copied to the clipboard: Alt+Fn+F9
Which key carries PrtSc varies by laptop, so look for the label on yours. If the shortcut does nothing, your keyboard may have Fn Lock switched on. On many keyboards, Fn+Esc toggles it.
Mac
The Mac shortcuts you probably know, Shift+Command+3 and Shift+Command+4, save a file to your desktop. Hold Control as well to copy instead.
Control+Shift+Command+4: capture a selected area
Press the keys, then drag across the part of the screen you want. Hold Space as you drag to move the selection without changing its size, and press Esc to stop.
Control+Shift+Command+3: the whole screen
One press and your screen is on the clipboard.
One window
Press Control+Shift+Command+4, then press Space, and the cursor becomes a camera. Click the window you want. Hold Option as you click to drop the window’s shadow.
Shift+Command+5: set it once; skip the Control key
This opens the screenshot toolbar. Click Options, then under Save to, choose Clipboard. Every capture from the toolbar now goes to the clipboard until you switch it back. The same Options menu has a 5- or 10-second timer, the Mac way to capture a menu.
After you copy it, paste it, or keep it as a file
Pasting into a chat, email, or document works with Ctrl+V (⌘+V on a Mac). When you need an actual image file, paste the screenshot into the paste to download tool. It downloads instantly as a PNG, or as a JPG or WebP if you change the Save as menu. For other ways to turn it into a file, see how to save a clipboard image as a file.
The clipboard holds one screenshot at a time, and the next thing you copy replaces it. Windows can keep a history: turn it on with Windows+V, and your recent copies, images included, appear in a list. macOS has no clipboard history, so paste before you copy anything else.
When it doesn’t work
- Print Screen does nothing. Try Fn+Print Screen, or check whether your keyboard labels it PrtSc or has an Fn Lock.
- Windows+Shift+S does nothing. A game or a screen-recording app may be using the shortcut. Close it and try again.
- The Mac screenshot landed on your desktop. You left out the Control key. Add it, or set the toolbar’s Save to option to Clipboard.
- The screenshot is black. Protected video, like some streaming services, blocks screenshots. The shortcut works, but the app won’t let you capture it.
- It’s gone. You copied something else, or restarted. Take it again.