Technology Notes for Teachers -- a series of booklets to aid teachers prepared by the CTL

Printing your Computer Screen:

for Windows Users and Macintosh Users

To Copy the Screen in Windows and Window 95

• 1. First make sure the screen you wish to copy is the active screen. (You can make sure the screen is active by clicking your mouse anywhere within the screen.)
  
• 2. Press the Print Screen button on your keyboard. Print Screen may be abbreviated on your keyboard. (This copies the entire screen to the clipboard.)
• 3. Then switch to an application program, such as WordPerfect 6.1, and open a new file or document. (You are essentially giving the screen you copied a place to be pasted.)
• 4. Under Edit, select Paste. Make sure the cursor is where you want the copied screen to be placed. Some applications such as WordPerfect allow you to resize an image. Do not confuse the pasted image of your screen with your actual screen. Some people have reported trying to click the close button on the image of the screen rather than on the actual screen!
• 5. After you have the image pasted into this new document, you may print it as you would any other document. (Under File, select Print.)
  

  To Print your Computer Screen in Macintosh

  There are at least two options to printing a screen in Macintosh

  :
  I. While working in the Finder -- the desktop that displays your Harddrive, Trashcan, CD-Rom, etc.:
  
  • While working in the Finder, simply go to File and select Print Desktop.
  
  II. While working in any other application program.
  
  • 1. Capture the screen by pressing simultaneously the Command key at the bottom left (the one with the Apple and the figure with four circles at the four corners), Shift, and the numeral 3. You will probably hear a click, as the computer takes a “snapshot” of the screen. The computer automatically saves your selection as Picture 1, Picture 2, and so forth to your harddrive.
  • 2. With some Macs you may find the file on the harddrive, and double click on it and it will be opened by some software on your computer. If so, you will be able to print from there by selecting File and Print.
  • 3. However, you may have to open the file with some other application program. In WordPerfect, for example, go to File and Insert File. Select the Picture file you wish to insert. The image of the screen may be resized in WordPerfect.