How to Use Windows 10 New Snip & Sketch Tool for Screenshots

In its recent October 2018 update, Windows 10 added a new app to its arsenal: Snip & Sketch. Technically the app itself is a revamped combination of the Snipping Tool and Screen Sketch – drawing on features from both to create a new and improved experience.

With the new app users will be able to capture screenshots and annotate them – all in the same app. In short it carries the promise of a more streamlined approach, once you learn how to use it.

Taking Screenshots with Snip and Sketch in Windows 10

Just like the Snip Tool, Snip & Sketch provides users with several ways to capture screenshots in Windows 10.

In particular there are three ways that you could do so:

From within the Snip & Sketch app

Assuming you’ve updated to the latest version of Windows 10, you can go to the Start menu and search for Snip & Sketch then launch the app. In it you can then click on the New button in the upper-left corner, and a floating toolset will appear.

The floating toolset has 3 options that you can choose from to snap screenshots in the form of a rectangle, freeform clip, or full screen. Once you select the one that you want you can click and drag the mouse cursor to select the area (unless it is full screen) and it will snap the screenshot.

All screenshots will be opened in the canvas of the Snip & Sketch app afterwards.

From the Action Center

Arguably a quicker way to take a screenshot is via the Windows 10 Action Center that can be opened by clicking on the Action Center button in the notification area, or using the ‘Windows Key + A’ keyboard shortcut. In the Action Center there will be a ‘Screen snip’ option that you can select to open the Snip & Sketch floating toolset.

As before the floating toolset has three options that you can choose to snap your screenshot, and it will appear in the canvas of the Snip & Sketch app afterwards.

With the ‘Print Screen’ keyboard button

While it is possible to take screenshots using the ‘Print Screen’ button – you will first need to enable it. To do that Windows 10, first open up the Settings then click Ease of Access, select Keyboard, and find the option to ‘Use the PrtScn button to open the screen snipping’.

After that option is enabled, you can just hit the ‘Print Screen’ key on your keyboard at any point to open the floating toolset – and snap the screenshot as before.

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Annotating Screenshots

As mentioned the screenshots you capture will automatically appear in the Snip & Sketch canvas – or you could click the folder icon to open an image file into it. In the interface you’ll see several tools that you can use to annotate the screenshot, including a ballpoint pen, pencil, or marker, and you can click on them to customize the thickness of each.

Aside from those tools there is also a ruler to draw straight lines, an eraser to delete the annotations you’ve added, and a cropping tool to adjust the screenshot frame further. The Undo or Redo buttons are located to the left, while the Save, Copy, and Share buttons are to the right.

All in all it is really very straightforward but should provide you with easy access to the tools that you require to annotate your screenshots and save them. The Windows 10 Snip & Sketch app will save screenshots as PNG files when you’re done.

Final Words

On the whole however, Snip & Sketch is good at what it does, and will let you easily snap and annotate screenshots in Windows 10. While there is no word as to whether Microsoft plans to add to the tool in the future – some users are hoping that it eventually supports JPG and other image formats alongside PNG.

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