HowTo: Take screenshot on Windows desktop, Windows 8 and MacOS-X

copying from an e-mail I received from Skype support:

Taking a screenshot on Windows desktop

1. On your keyboard, press the Print Screen (Prt Scr) key to take a screenshot of your entire desktop. To take a screenshot of an active window, press the Alt+Print Screen (Prt Scr) key combination.

2. Save a copy of the image in Microsoft Paint. To do so, simply click Start > All Programs/Programs > Accessories > Paint.

3. Press the Ctrl+V key combination to paste your screenshot into Paint.

4. Go to the menu and click File > Save. Make sure you can remember where you save the image to, as you’ll need to find the file to attach the image in an email.

5. Enter a file name.

6. In the Save as type: drop-down menu, select JPEG.

7. Click Save.

Taking a screenshot on Windows 8

On your keyboard, press the Windows + Print Screen (Prt Scr) key combination. A screenshot of the entire screen is taken. To take a screenshot of an active window, press the Alt + Print Screen (Prt Scr) key combination. The screenshots are automatically saved in your Screenshots folder.

To find the folder:

1. In the Start screen, press the Windows key. Windows 8 switches to classic view.

2. Open the File Explorer from the task bar.

3. Under the Libraries folder on the left side, select Pictures. Your Screenshots folder is located here.

Taking a screenshot on Mac

On your keyboard, press the Command+Shift+4+Spacebar key combination and click the window you want to take a screenshot of.

To take a screenshot of your entire desktop, press the Command+Shift+3 key combination. To capture a portion of the desktop, press the Command+Shift+4 key combination. A cross-hair cursor will appear. Simply click and drag the cursor to select the area you’d like to capture. To save the screenshot, just release the mouse button.

The screenshots will be saved on your desktop in .png format.

Should you have further concerns or clarifications, please do not hesitate to contact us again.

It’s nice that Windows 8 now has a Screenshots folder under a user’s account folder, this is similar behaviour to the facility that Dropbox includes for taking screenshots directly to a Screenshots subfolder under your Dropbox folder. Wonder though why Windows key is needed to be pressed and what will happen if you just press PrintScreen on the Windows 8 home screen (Metro/Modern UI).

Also, wonder why Apple keeps on using those cryptic key combinations for doing things (sticking to MacOS legacy I guess).