Open and Use Windows Snipping Tool with Shortcut Keys

Snippingtool used used to take screenshot in windows operating systems. Snipping tool is provided by default and can be used for basic snipping, screenshot operations.

No Shortcut Keys To Open Snipping Tool

By default, there is no shortcut key or a hotkey for the Windows snipping tool. But we can use the PrtSc print screen key from the keyboard directly to take a screenshot of the whole screen.

Set Shortcut Key or Hotkey To Open Snipping Tool

Even the Windows snipping tool does not have any shortcut key we can create a hotkey that is very similar to the Shortcut key. As the keyboard has the F1, F2, F3, … key series we can use one of these keys to open the snipping tool. This technique is called as a hotkey. We will use F5 because other hotkeys can be used for different purposes.

First, we have to open the Snipping Tool executable properties. First, open the snipping tool from the Start menu by typing snipping like below.

Then we will see the following properties window. Select the Shortcut tab and click on the Shortcut key text box. The next step is just press F5 which will set for the snipping tool hotkey.

The last step is to click to Apply where is requires Administrative rights which can be requested like below. We will click to the Continue from the Access Denied box.

We will open the snipping tool just pressing the F5.

Open New Version Of Snipping Tool with WIN+SHIFT+s Shortcut

Microsoft is working on a new snipping tool named Snip&Sketch which will replace the snipping tool. If we are using an operating system which is Windows 8 or Windows 10 we can open the Snip&Sketch with WIN+SHIFT+s keyboard shortcut. This will directly take the screenshot after we select the mode and area of the screenshot. And the screenshot will be saved into the clipboard which can be pasted later.

Take Screenshot with ALT+n Shortcut

We can use other shortcuts in order to take a screenshot with the snipping tool. We will just use the ALT+n shortcut when the snipping tool is open.

Windows Snipping Tool Shortcut Keys

Here are other shortcut keys for the Windows snipping tool.

• ALT+M can be used to change screenshot taking mode.
• ALT+S is used to save the captured screenshot.
• CTRL+S is used to copy the captured screenshot.
• ESCis used to cancel the snip operation.