Definition: screen capture

(1) See screen scraper.

(2) Copying all or part of the current screen to an image file or the clipboard. Knowing how to take a screenshot is essential. For example, when printing a Web page from a browser, the underlying code in the page may cause it to print poorly. However, a captured screen always prints the way it looks because it is a single image file. See bitmapped graphics and printer friendly format.

A screen capture is sometimes the only way to print what is desired, but not just Web pages. Snippets of anything on screen can be extracted and printed or saved to a file for future reference. See selection print and screenshot.

Capturing the Screen in Windows and Mac
Windows has keyboard commands to copy the screen to the clipboard (see Win Print screen). Starting with Windows 7, a stand-alone Snippit utility has been included, allowing the user to select the area on the screen to capture.

Mac keyboard commands copy the screen either to the clipboard or to a newly created file on the desktop (see Mac screen capture). For both platforms, there are third-party capture programs, and some offer sophisticated editing tools.

Capture a Scrolling Window

Screen capture software may offer sophisticated capabilities. While the index on the left side of this Encyclopedia's Windows app was manually scrolled, TechSmith's Snagit captured the content.