How to Take a Screenshot on a Chromebook (Full, Partial, and Window)

Hold down Ctrl and Shift, then tap the Show Windows key. It's on the top row, usually above the 6, and the icon looks like a rectangle with two vertical lines next to it. A small toolbar slides up from the bottom of the screen.

That single shortcut is the only one you need to remember. The toolbar is where you pick what kind of screenshot to take - one click instead of a different shortcut for each mode.

On the toolbar, the leftmost screenshot icon - the camera with a solid square around it - is the full-screen mode. Hover over it and the tooltip reads Take full screen screenshot. Click it once.

The whole display gets captured. No selecting, no clicking - the screenshot is taken the instant you press the button. Use this when you want everything that's visible, including the shelf at the bottom.

The middle screenshot icon is partial mode - it looks like a dotted square with a crosshair in the corner. Click it. The cursor turns into a crosshair.

Click and drag a box around whatever you want to capture. A small camera button labeled Capture appears next to the selection. Click Capture and just that rectangle gets saved. You can resize the box by dragging the corners before you commit.

The third screenshot icon is window mode - a solid rectangle that looks like a single window outline. Hover over it and the tooltip says Take window screenshot. Click it.

Move your cursor over any open window - a Chrome tab, the Files app, a Settings panel - and the window highlights. Click it. Only that window ends up in the screenshot, with nothing else around it. Useful when you want to share one app without showing your other tabs or the shelf.

The gear icon on the right end of the toolbar opens a settings panel. Three sections show up: Audio input (for recordings - Off or Microphone), Camera (Off or Front Camera, so your webcam can overlay on recordings), and Save to (Downloads is the default, or pick a different folder).

For plain screenshots, the audio and camera settings don't do anything. They only kick in once you switch the toolbar over to video recording mode. The Save to setting applies to both screenshots and recordings.

The moment you take a screenshot, a notification slides in from the bottom-right corner that says Screenshot taken with three buttons: Show in folder, Edit, and Delete. A blue banner under it confirms Copied to clipboard.

Show in folder opens the file in your Downloads folder. Edit opens the Chrome OS image editor where you can crop, draw on it, or add text. Or you can skip the file entirely and paste the screenshot straight into an email or document with Ctrl + V - the clipboard copy is still there.

The toolbar isn't just for screenshots. The second icon from the left - the video camera - switches the whole thing into screen-recording mode. The label above it reads Record video.

Pick full, partial, or window the same way you did for screenshots, then click to start. A countdown counts you in and a red stop button appears in the shelf at the bottom-right. Click that stop button when you're done, and the recording saves as a webm video to your Downloads folder.