I take screenshots on a daily basis.  What I use to do was press Print Screen on my keyboard, open my graphics editor, then paste and crop my desktop screenshot to my liking.  With the Windows 7 Snipping Tool I can drag a box around what I need, capture a single window, or capture the entire screen.

The Snipping Tool is available on most editions of Windows 7, including Home Premium, Professional, Ultimate, and Enterprise.  You can find it under Accessories in All Programs in the Windows 7 Start Menu.  You can also use the new search feature at the bottom of the start menu to find it.  Just type Snip into the search box and it should appear at the top of your results.

When you open the Snipping Tool, there really doesn’t seem to be much to it.  The good news is … there isn’t much to it.  It’s a very simple tool for a simple function: to capture part or all of your screen (a screenshot) as an image.

If you click the chevron (small arrow) next to the word New, you can choose how you want to capture your image.  Free-form Snip lets you draw around the area of screen for which need a screenshot.  Rectangular Snip lets you drag a rectangular box around the section of your screen you need to save.  If you need to capture an entire window, select Window Snip.  Lastly, Full-screen Snip captures your entire desktop.

Once you have your screenshot, you can use the Snipping Tool’s Highlighter and Pen tools to bring attention to specific parts of the image.  Unfortunately, the Snipping Tool does not allow text annotation, but for me this is not an issue.  Once I take a screenshot, I usually edit the image in a graphics editing program.  Other options let you create a copy of the image or send it via email.

When you are ready to save your image, choose File then Save As or simply click the disk icon on the toolbar.  In the dialogue that shows up, you can browse to where you would like to save your image, give your image a name, and choose the format of your image (png, jpg, gif, or Microsoft mht).