{"id":3890,"date":"2016-08-23T19:46:51","date_gmt":"2016-08-23T14:16:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/198.58.113.91\/blog\/?p=3890"},"modified":"2021-05-10T11:20:05","modified_gmt":"2021-05-10T05:50:05","slug":"automatically-take-screenshot-open-in-editor","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/automatically-take-screenshot-open-in-editor\/","title":{"rendered":"Automatically Take a Screenshot and Open it in Editor"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Using the <kbd>WinKey<\/kbd> and <kbd>PrintScreen<\/kbd> keystroke is probably the fastest way to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/take-screenshot-windows-different-ways-prnt-scrn\/\">take a screenshot<\/a> (and automatically save it to a file) of the entire screen in Windows 8 and Windows 10. When using this method, the screenshot image contains your entire screen, including the Taskbar and everything. And in most cases, you may have to crop the image before sending or sharing it with someone, so that only the relevant portion is shown.<\/p>\n<p>This article tells you how to take a screenshot of your entire screen and open the saved image in the editor &#8212; both operations in a single click.<!--more--><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-3915\" src=\"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/screenshot-and-editor.png\" alt=\"automatically take screenshot and editor\" width=\"777\" height=\"420\" \/><\/p>\n<p>The\u00a0<kbd>Alt<\/kbd> + PrintScreen keystroke can capture the current window but doesn&#8217;t save to a file automatically, and it can&#8217;t capture context menus &#8212; so it&#8217;s not always the desired option.<\/p>\n<h2>Automatically Take a Screenshot and Open it in Editor<\/h2>\n<h3>1] Using a VBScript<\/h3>\n<p>My <a href=\"https:\/\/gist.github.com\/winhelponline\/ea605151dd2b1e8a7efdc8e64e2f9a8b\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">script<\/a> at GitHub automates the task of taking a full screenshot using NirCmd and opening the saved PNG file in an image editor (Paint). The script below takes a screenshot of your entire screen and opens the saved file using the image editor. Personally, I prefer the following script method to <kbd>Alt<\/kbd> + PrintScreen or Snipping Tool or a 3rd party screenshot software.<\/p>\n<p><script src=\"https:\/\/gist.github.com\/winhelponline\/ea605151dd2b1e8a7efdc8e64e2f9a8b.js?file=screenshot_and_edit.vbs\"><\/script><br \/>\n<noscript><\/p>\n<pre><code>\r\n\r\n'File: screenshot_and_edit.vbs\r\n'Ramesh Srinivasan, Winhelponline.com\r\n'Take a screenshot and open it in image editor\r\n'Requires NirCmd.exe (from www.nirsoft.net) to automate Win + PrntScrn\r\n'For Windows 8 and Windows 10.\r\n\r\nSet WshShell = CreateObject(\"WScript.Shell\")\r\nSet fso = CreateObject(\"Scripting.FileSystemObject\")\r\n\r\n'Sleep for 2 seconds until the user sets the active Window or menu\r\nWScript.Sleep 2000\r\n\r\n'Take full screenshot\r\nWshShell.Run \"nircmd.exe \" & \"sendkeypress rwin+printscreen\"\r\n\r\n'Sleep again for half a second - wait until the PNG file is written\r\nWScript.Sleep 500\r\n\r\nDim fNewest\r\n\r\n'Find the latest PNG file in Screenshots folder and Open it in editor.\r\nSShots = WshShell.ExpandEnvironmentStrings(\"%userprofile%\")\r\nSShots = SShots & \"\\Pictures\\Screenshots\"\r\nIf Not fso.FolderExists(SShots) Then WScript.Quit\r\nFor Each f In fso.GetFolder(SShots).Files\r\n   If UCase(fso.GetExtensionName(f)) = \"PNG\" Then  \r\n      If fNewest = \"\" Then\r\n         Set fNewest = f\r\n      ElseIf fNewest.DateLastModified < f.DateLastModified Then\r\n         Set fNewest = f\r\n      End If\r\n   End If\r\nNext\r\nIf fNewest <> \"\" Then WshShell.Run \"mspaint.exe \" & Chr(34) & fNewest & Chr(34)\r\n\r\n<\/code><\/pre>\n<p><\/noscript><\/p>\n<h3>Usage<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li>Download <a href=\"http:\/\/www.nirsoft.net\/utils\/nircmd.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">NirCmd<\/a> (from NirSoft) and move the executable to your Windows folder.<\/li>\n<li>Download the above Vbscript.<br \/>\n<em>(Or manually copy the above script code to Notepad and save the file with .vbs extension. Be <strong>sure<\/strong> to save the file in <code><strong>ANSI<\/strong><\/code> encoding instead of <code>UTF-8<\/code>.)<\/em><\/li>\n<li>Create a desktop shortcut to the .vbs (script file)<\/li>\n<li>Optionally, change the shortcut icon. Pin it to the taskbar if required.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<div class=\"qt\">\n<p>When a script is used to trigger <kbd>WinKey<\/kbd> and <kbd>PrintScreen<\/kbd> key sequence, the window focus will change (which is not the case when pressing <kbd>WinKey<\/kbd> and <kbd>PrintScreen<\/kbd> manually).<\/p>\n<p>Due to this, your program window would show up with inactive title bar color in the screenshot. To avoid that, the script is set to wait for 2 seconds after it&#8217;s being launched and then simulates the keypress event. In the meantime, the user can set the focus back to the appropriate window. The timeout can also be useful if you want to capture a context menu.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"rp\"><strong>RELATED:<\/strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/screenshot-portion-screen-windows-10-winkey-shift-s\/\">Screenshot a Portion of the Screen in Windows 10 [Win+Shift+S]<\/a><\/div>\n<hr \/>\n<h3>2] Using ShareX, GreenShot, or Other Utilities<\/h3>\n<p>ShareX is a handy screenshot utility with some advanced options such as uploading the captured image to your cloud storage account or sharing the link on social networking sites etc. In ShareX, you can configure &#8220;after capture&#8221; tasks and create task actions that would be carried out automatically.<\/p>\n<p>Set the After capture tasks to &#8220;Perform actions.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-3892\" src=\"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/sharex-2.png\" alt=\"automatic screenshot and open in editor\" width=\"650\" height=\"528\" \/><\/p>\n<p>And in the Task Settings, enable the checkbox for Paint or any image editor you use. If your image editor isn&#8217;t listed, you can add one manually.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-3891\" src=\"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/sharex-1.png\" alt=\"automatic screenshot and open in editor\" width=\"650\" height=\"424\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Third-party screenshot programs like ShareX, GreenShot, PicPick include a nice editor with which you can crop, add text\/annotation, and do other image processing tasks.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Using the WinKey and PrintScreen keystroke is probably the fastest way to take a screenshot (and automatically save it to a file) of the entire screen in Windows 8 and Windows 10. When using this method, the screenshot image contains your entire screen, including the Taskbar and everything. And in most cases, you may have &#8230; <a title=\"Automatically Take a Screenshot and Open it in Editor\" class=\"read-more\" href=\"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/automatically-take-screenshot-open-in-editor\/\" aria-label=\"Read more about Automatically Take a Screenshot and Open it in Editor\">Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[8,10],"tags":[480],"class_list":["post-3890","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-windows-10","category-windows-8","tag-scripts"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":3304,"url":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/take-screenshot-windows-different-ways-prnt-scrn\/","url_meta":{"origin":3890,"position":0},"title":"Take Screenshot in Windows 10 Using Different Ways","author":"Ramesh","date":"June 18, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"In any version of Windows, the PrintScreen key captures the screen to the clipboard, which can then be pasted in Paint or any image editor and saved to a file. However, Windows 8 and Windows 10 save you that additional step, making it very easy to capture your screen and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Utilities&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Utilities","link":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/category\/utilities\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"snip & sketch - capture lock screen in windows 10","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/snip-sketch-capture-lock-screen.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/snip-sketch-capture-lock-screen.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/snip-sketch-capture-lock-screen.png?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/snip-sketch-capture-lock-screen.png?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":5100,"url":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/screenshot-portion-screen-windows-10-winkey-shift-s\/","url_meta":{"origin":3890,"position":1},"title":"Screenshot a Portion of the Screen in Windows 10\/11 [Winkey+Shift+S]","author":"Ramesh","date":"January 10, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Starting with the Windows 10 v1703 (also known as Creators Update), OneNote's popular screenshot feature has been made an Operating System feature -- you can capture a specific region of your screen to the clipboard using the Win + Shift + S shortcut key. Screenshot a Portion of the Screen\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Windows 10&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Windows 10","link":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/category\/microsoft\/windows\/windows-10\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"snipping tool save screenshots automatically","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/snipping-tool-save-screenshots.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/snipping-tool-save-screenshots.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/snipping-tool-save-screenshots.png?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":730,"url":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/capture-screenshot-uac-elevation-dialog\/","url_meta":{"origin":3890,"position":2},"title":"Take a Screenshot of UAC Dialog (User Account Control)","author":"Ramesh","date":"October 15, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"The User Account Control (UAC) elevation dialog is displayed on a secure desktop, and hence the Print Screen button wouldn't capture it. If you're a technical writer who needs to capture the User Account Control dialog to add it to documentation or help file, here are some ways to take\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Windows&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Windows","link":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/category\/microsoft\/windows\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"user account control settings - slider","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/10\/uac-slider-no-dim-prompt.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/10\/uac-slider-no-dim-prompt.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/10\/uac-slider-no-dim-prompt.png?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/10\/uac-slider-no-dim-prompt.png?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":3369,"url":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/start-snipping-tool-capture-mode-default\/","url_meta":{"origin":3890,"position":3},"title":"How to Make Snipping Tool Default to New Snip when Launched","author":"Ramesh","date":"June 28, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Snipping Tool is a handy screenshot tool included in Windows Vista and higher, with the annotation feature. Running Snipping Tool in Windows Vista and 7 would start the utility in capture mode (New rectangular snip) automatically, but this has changed in Windows 8 and Windows 10. In Windows 8 and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Windows 10&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Windows 10","link":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/category\/microsoft\/windows\/windows-10\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/w10-snipping-tool-mode-menu.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":77996,"url":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/snipping-auto-save-screenshots-windows-10\/","url_meta":{"origin":3890,"position":4},"title":"Can Snipping Tool automatically save screenshots in Windows 10?","author":"Ramesh","date":"February 28, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"On Windows 10, after taking a screenshot using the Win + Shift + S keyboard sequence, you need to click on the notification to open the snip in the Snipping Tool and then save it manually. You wonder if an option exists to auto-save Win + Shift + S screenshots\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Windows 10&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Windows 10","link":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/category\/microsoft\/windows\/windows-10\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"win shift s screenshot screenclip folder","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/screenclip-screenshot-folder.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/screenclip-screenshot-folder.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/screenclip-screenshot-folder.png?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/screenclip-screenshot-folder.png?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":833,"url":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/using-problem-steps-recorder-psr-windows-7\/","url_meta":{"origin":3890,"position":5},"title":"How to Use the Problem Steps Recorder Tool in Windows?","author":"Ramesh","date":"January 15, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Problem Steps Recorder (PSR.EXE) utility included into Windows is a great little tool to record the steps to reproduce a problem in the computer. If you're getting an obscure error when performing certain action(s) in a program or anywhere in Windows, and want to capture the steps to send them\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Windows&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Windows","link":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/category\/microsoft\/windows\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Problem Steps Recorder utility in Windows","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/01\/psr2.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/01\/psr2.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/01\/psr2.png?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3890","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3890"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3890\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3890"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3890"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3890"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}