Are you trying to find how to screenshot only one monitor in Windows 10? Using a multiple monitor setup for many computer users these days is quite common for a variety of reasons.
Some people use it for gaming so they can extend their field of view while others use it for multi-tasking, expanding productivity, and real estate of their desktop.
In many cases, an extra external display is better than increasing the screen resolution on a Windows computer.
However, while using multiple displays on a Windows PC makes a lot of sense, some users have experienced some issues with the setup.
Taking screenshots is one of those situations, and in this article, we will be addressing how to screenshot one monitor, even if you have a dual monitor setup.
The same applies if you connect your laptop to an external monitor and use it as a second screen.
For example, when you use the keyboard shortcut Windows key + Prt Scr (Print Screen key) on a computer system with multi-monitor setup, the entire screen capture you get might be too large.
This makes you spend more time cropping and resizing the output image of to a specific or exactly as you need it using an image editor.
Also, in most cases, when people try to take a screenshot on dual-screen setup, they end up having screenshots of both monitors.
These can be frustrating but there are ways to get around it. Find out how to screenshot only the first or second monitor in the steps below.
Before we explain how to do the printscreen, start on by finding the print screen button, prtscn key, or prtscn button (Prt Scr), as it’s called. It should be right beside the Scroll Lock (ScrLk). After that, let’s see how to do a screen grab.
Table of Contents
How to Screenshot only one monitor in Windows 10
How to print screen one monitor using the Windows Snipping tool
How to screenshot one PC screen only? This method will teach you how to print screen on only one monitor. To use it, you have to set your primary display to the monitor you would like to take the single monitor screenshot.
On the Windows 10 Operating System, the Snipping Tool has been complemented with the Snip & Sketch application.
Although you could get a screenshot app – and we’ll suggest a few computer screens captures software by the end of this article -, you already have this one and it’s a great option as a screenshot tool. Let’s see how to use it.
It still remains the best option for taking screenshots on the primary monitor of your dual-monitor setup.
- STEP 1: Launch the “Search” tool by clicking on the search icon at the bottom left corner of your screen. Search for “Snip & Sketch”;
- STEP 2: Press Ctrl + N or “New” at the top left side of the screen;
- STEP 3: Click on the “rectangle tool” to start snipping your monitor screen;
- STEP 4: Drag the cursor to snip the area of your monitor that you would like to take the screenshot;
- STEP 5: The screenshot will be displayed within the Snip & Sketch tool;
- STEP 6: Press Ctrl + S or click on the floppy disk icon to save the screenshot to your file manager.
The screenshot will be saved to the folder you chose as a picture file.
This method will not work for your secondary display unless you go to the display setting and change your primary screen. If you want to know how to take a screenshot of your secondary monitor, check out the following method.
How to take a screenshot of only one monitor using the Print Screen (PrtScr) Key
This method allows you to screenshot the image on your secondary monitor, but you have to make sure a program is opened on the mentioned monitor:
- STEP 1: Move your cursor to the area of the screen that you would like to capture;
- STEP 2: Press the shortcut, Ctrl + Alt + Print Screen, to initiate the screenshot;
- STEP 3: Launch Microsoft Paint and press Ctrl + V to paste the picture there;
- STEP 4: Press Ctrl + S to save the image to your file manager.
However, if you wish to screenshot both screens together on multiple displays, check out the method below:
How to print screen with dual monitors by pressing the CTRL and PrtScr keys together
- STEP 1: Press CTRL + PrtScr, and the image on the screen will be copied to the clipboard;
- STEP 2: Launch Microsoft Paint or Word Document and paste the image using Ctrl + V;
- STEP 3: You will find the image pasted successfully.
Wrap Up
Taking screenshots on your Windows 10 is one of the simplest tasks, and while many people struggle with it, you should find it really easy to do after reading this article.
The steps highlighted above should help you sort out how to take a screenshot of only one monitor.
However, if you still find it challenging, there are lots of additional tools that can help you take a screenshot on your Windows 10 monitor screen.
Some of those tools include the Windows Snipping Tool that we already discussed above, as well as other third-party apps like Tiny Take, Screenshot Captor, FastStone, etc.
Any of those mentioned tools will get the job done, and some still offer a bigger array of options. If you encounter any further challenges or have questions on how to screenshot one monitor, let us know.
Check out some of our other awesome articles:
- Taking screenshots without using the PrtScr Key
- Using the Snipping Tool in Windows 10
- Taking screenshots in Windows 7 without the Snipping Tool
- How to screenshot entire pages in Google Chrome