Screenshots and screencasts

You can take a picture of your screen (a screenshot) or record a video of what is happening on the screen (a screencast). This is useful if you want to show someone how to do something on the computer, for example. Screenshots and screencasts are just normal picture and video files, so you can email them and share them on the web.

Take a screenshot

Press the Print key or launch Take a Screenshot from the Activities overview.

The screenshot overlay presents you with handles to select the area to capture, and indicates screenshot (still image) mode.

Click the pointer button to include the pointer in the screenshot.

Click and drag the area you want for the screenshot using the handles or the crosshair pointer.

To capture the selected area, click the big round button.

To capture the entire screen, click Screen and then click the big round button.

To capture a window, click Window. An overview of all the open windows is displayed with the active window checked. Click to choose a window and then click the big round button.

Where do they go?

A screenshot image is automatically saved in the Pictures/Screenshots folder in your home folder with a file name that begins with Screenshot and includes the date and time it was taken.

The image is also saved in the clipboard, so you can immediately paste it into an image-editing application or share it on social media.

A screencast video is automatically saved in your Videos/Screencasts folder in your home folder, with a file name that starts with Screencast and includes the date and time it was taken.

Make a screencast

You can make a video recording of what is happening on your screen:

Press the Print key or launch Take a Screenshot from the Activities overview.

Click to switch to screencast mode.

Click the pointer button to include the pointer in the screencast.

Choose Selection or Screen. For Selection, click and drag the area you want for the screencast using the handles or the crosshair pointer.

Click the big round red button to start recording what is on your screen.

A red indicator is displayed in the top right corner of the screen when the recording is in progress, showing the elapsed seconds.

Once you have finished, click the red indicator or press ShiftCtrlAltR to stop the recording.

Keyboard shortcuts

Within the screenshot feature, you can use these keyboard shortcuts:

S	Select area
C	Capture screen
W	Capture window
P	Toggle between show and hide pointer
V	Toggle between screenshot and screencast
Enter	Capture, also activated by Space or CtrlC

These shortcuts can be used to bypass the screenshot feature:

AltPrint	Capture the window that currently has focus
ShiftPrint	Capture the entire screen
ShiftCtrlAltR	Start and stop recording a screencast