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How to Take a ScreenShot?

How to Take a Screenshot in GNOME?

Detailed GNOME screenshot and screencast guide with selection, screen, window, save folder, clipboard and keyboard controls.

How to Take a Screenshot in GNOME visual guide

GNOME integrates screenshots and screencasts into one shell overlay. The Print key is the normal starting point on current GNOME versions.

How to take a screenshot in GNOME?

  1. Press Print or use the screenshot control in the system menu.
  2. Choose Selection, Screen or Window.
  3. Use the pointer/crosshair to select when needed.
  4. Press the capture button or use the supported keyboard confirmation.

Where screenshots are saved?

GNOME documentation says screenshots are automatically saved to Pictures/Screenshots and also placed on the clipboard. Screencasts go to Videos/Screencasts.

Selected area, one window and full screen

Prefer the desktop’s built in capture modes because they integrate correctly with the current compositor/session. This is especially important on Wayland, where old X11-style tools may not have unrestricted access to the screen.

Clipboard behavior

Some desktop screenshot workflows both save a file and copy the image to the clipboard; others do one or the other depending on the shortcut. If no file appears, try pasting into an image editor before assuming the capture failed.

Wayland and X11

If a third party screenshot tool works on X11 but fails on Wayland, verify that the installed version supports the desktop portal/compositor rather than weakening the system configuration just to accommodate an outdated capture method.

Troubleshooting

  • Open the screenshot utility from the application launcher to separate an app problem from a shortcut problem.
  • Check the desktop keyboard shortcut settings for a remapped Print key.
  • Test a simple desktop capture before troubleshooting one protected or sandboxed app.
  • Confirm the save folder and clipboard behavior.
  • Update the screenshot utility from the distribution’s trusted package source if your desktop release expects a newer version.

Additional details

Within the GNOME capture UI, keyboard controls can switch between selection, screen, window, pointer visibility and screenshot/screencast modes. Exact visual layout can change across GNOME releases.