The 6 easy ways to take a screenshot on Surface Pro in 2023

Microsoft Surface Pro lineup is the most popular 2-in-1 tablet or laptop that does great in both worlds with an incredible performance, detachable keyboard, adjustable kickstand, best-in-class digital pen, and more. It’s a great device for digital artists, students, and professional users who are looking for a capable machine with a portable form factor.

If you’ve just switched from other laptops, you might experience some difficulties taking a screenshot on Surface Pro, especially while in tablet mode. Microsoft Surface Pro with Windows 10 or Windows 11 installed, has many ways to do more than just take a screenshot. Read on to find out what is the best way for you.

1. Using tablet buttons
2. Using Surface Type Cover
3. Using Surface Pen
4. Using Windows snipping tool
5. Using Windows snip & sketch tool
6. Using Windows keyboard shortcuts
7. FAQs

1 Using tablet buttons

This method is useful when you are using your Surface in tablet mode without connecting to the type cover. To take a screenshot on Surface Pro using hardware buttons, do the following steps:

The screen will dim for a split second to let you know that a screenshot has been captured.

2 Using Surface Type Cover

If you have a Surface Type Cover attached, you can follow the traditional ways to take screenshots by using the dedicated PrtSn (Print Screen) key on the keyboard. To do so.

Option 1: Capturing all entire screens and storing them in the Windows Clipboard.

Option 2: Capturing the active window and store it in the Windows Clipboard.

3 Using Surface Pen

Surface Pen has been developed and getting much better functions in Windows 10. In Windows 10 anniversary update, there is a new feature called Screen Sketch. This function will capture the device’s screen and pop up with tools for drawing, cropping, and others.

You can take a screenshot by using the Surface Pen with this function. To activate the screen sketch function

1. Double-click the eraser button on the top of your Surface Pen.
2. Now you can edit, crop, and save the screenshot by clicking on the “Save as” button on the top right of the screen.

4 Using Windows snipping tool

In Windows, a built-in screenshot program called the Snipping tool has more controls and functionalities than the above methods. To open this tool:

• Open the Start menu and type “Snipping Tool”, or you can type into the Cortana textbox directly.
• You can also open this tool by opening the Start menu and locating the Snipping Tool under the Windows Accessories folder.

When you launch the tool, you can take a screenshot in 4 ways as Full desktop, specific program windows, any size of a rectangle shape, and any form you draw manually.

After you select an area you want to take a screenshot of, it will display in a new window. You can draw or highlight the screenshot before saving them. This tool allows you to save the screenshot as a JPEG, PNG, GIF, or HTML file as your desire.

5 Using Windows snip & sketch tool

In recent Windows 10 Updates, Microsoft has introduced a new modern tool called Snip & Sketch that allows you to quickly annotate screenshots, photos, and other images with your pen, touch, or mouse and save, paste or share with other apps. To take a screenshot with this tool:

1. Open the Start menu and type “Snip & Sketch”, or you can type into the Cortana textbox directly. You can also open this tool by opening the Start menu and locating the Snip & Sketch app.
2. When the tool launches, click New and click Snip now.
3. Select an area you want to capture.
4. The captured image will appear in a new Snip & Sketch window. At this point, you can annotate, draw, or highlight whatever you want on the screenshot.
5. Click the Save icon to save the screenshot to a file. Or click the Copy icon to copy the screenshot to the Windows clipboard so you can paste it elsewhere.

6 Using Windows keyboard shortcuts

There is another quick way to activate the Snip & Sketch tool by using Windows 10 shortcut keys. To do that:

1. On your keyboard, press and hold the Windows key & Shift key and then press and release the S key.
2. It will launch the Snip & Sketch tool with the screen clipping mode, so you can select and capture any area you want immediately.
3. Now you can annotate, draw, or highlight the screenshot within the tool.
4. Click the Save icon to save the screenshot to a file. Or click the Copy icon to copy the screenshot to the Windows clipboard so you can paste it elsewhere.

7 FAQs

Check the following frequently asked questions that might answer questions you have.

Those are the six quick and easy ways to take a screenshot on your Surface Pro. What is your favorite one? Or do you have any other ways? Share with us in the comment section below.