Is there a keyboard shortcut to take a snapshot of the active window and save it automatically?

Introduction

Taking screenshots is an important feature for many computer users. It allows you to capture what is on your screen and save it as an image file. There are many ways to take screenshots in Windows, including using the Snipping Tool or the Print Screen button on your keyboard. However, in this article, we will discuss a specific keyboard shortcut to take a snapshot of the active window and save it automatically.

The Problem with Win + Alt + PrintScreen

As mentioned in the question, the keyboard shortcut Win + Alt + PrintScreen used to work in Windows 10 Home to take a screenshot of the active window and save it automatically as a PNG file in the folder “C:UsersUSERNAMEVideosCaptures.” However, after updating to Windows 10 Home Version 1809, this shortcut stopped working and prompted a message saying “Gaming features not available. Enable gaming features for this app to record gameplay.”

This error message is related to the Game Bar feature in Windows 10, which allows you to record gameplay and take screenshots while playing games. It seems that the Win + Alt + PrintScreen shortcut is now considered a gaming feature and requires the Game Bar to be enabled to work.

Using Win + Shift + S

Fortunately, there is another keyboard shortcut that can be used to take a screenshot of the active window and save it automatically. This shortcut is Win + Shift + S, and it works in Windows 10 Home Version 1809 and later.

When you press Win + Shift + S, the screen will dim, and a small toolbar will appear at the top of the screen. This toolbar allows you to select the type of screenshot you want to take, including rectangular, freeform, window, or full-screen. To take a screenshot of the active window, simply click on the window you want to capture.

After selecting the window, the screenshot will be copied to the clipboard, and a notification will appear in the lower-right corner of the screen, saying “Screenshot saved.” To access the screenshot, simply open an image editor or a file explorer and paste the image from the clipboard.

Using AutoHotkey

If you prefer to have the screenshot saved automatically without the need for additional steps, you can use a third-party tool called AutoHotkey. AutoHotkey is a free, open-source scripting language for Windows that allows you to automate tasks and create custom keyboard shortcuts.

To use AutoHotkey to take a screenshot of the active window and save it automatically, follow these steps:

1. Download and install AutoHotkey from the official website.
2. Create a new text file and name it “screenshot.ahk” (or any other name you prefer) with the following content:


; Take a screenshot of the active window and save it automatically
#z::
WinGetActiveTitle, Title
FormatTime, TimeString, %A_Now%, yyyy-MM-dd_HH-mm-ss
ImageFile = C:UsersUSERNAMEPicturesScreenshots%Title%_%TimeString%.png
CoordMode, Pixel, Window
WinGetPos, X, Y, Width, Height, ahk_class % "Shell_TrayWnd"
WinGetPos, X, Y, Width, Height
X1 := X + 1
Y1 := Y + 1
X2 := X + Width - 1
Y2 := Y + Height - 1
PixelGetColor, Pixel, X1, Y1
PixelSearch, X1, Y1, X2, Y2, %Pixel%, 0, Fast RGB
ImageSearch, X, Y, X2, Y2, *100 %Pixel%, 5, Fast RGB
If ErrorLevel = 2
MsgBox Could not find the active window.
Else If ErrorLevel = 1
MsgBox Could not capture the screenshot.
Else
{
ImageFile = %ImageFile%
ImageFile := RegExReplace(ImageFile, "[^x20-x7E]", "")
ImageFile := RegExReplace(ImageFile, "[\/:*?""<>|]", "")
ImageFile := RegExReplace(ImageFile, " ", "_")
ImageCapture(ImageFile, X, Y, X2, Y2)
}
return

ImageCapture(ImageFile, X1, Y1, X2, Y2)
{
CoordMode, Pixel, Screen
X := X1
Loop, % (X2 - X1)
{
Y := Y1
Loop, % (Y2 - Y1)
{
PixelGetColor, Pixel, %X%, %Y%
PixelPutColor, Pixel, %X%, %Y%
Y++
}
X++
}
CoordMode, Mouse, Screen
CoordMode, Pixel, Window
Sleep, 100
Clipboard := ""
Sleep, 100
ImageCapture := ClipboardAll
Clipboard := ""
FileDelete, %ImageFile%
FileAppend, %ImageCapture%, %ImageFile%
}


3. Replace “USERNAME” in line 6 with your actual username.
4. Replace “C:UsersUSERNAMEPicturesScreenshots” in line 7 with the folder where you want to save the screenshots.
5. Save and close the file.
6. Double-click on the “screenshot.ahk” file to run the script.
7. Press Win + Z (or any other key combination you prefer) to take a screenshot of the active window and save it automatically.

This script captures the active window using the AutoHotkey functions WinGetActiveTitle, WinGetPos, PixelGetColor, PixelSearch, and ImageSearch. It then saves the screenshot as a PNG file in the folder you specified in step 4. The file name includes the window title and the current date and time to avoid overwriting previous screenshots.

Conclusion

Taking screenshots is an essential feature for many computer users. While the Win + Alt + PrintScreen keyboard shortcut used to work in Windows 10 Home, it now requires the Game Bar to be enabled to function. Fortunately, there is another keyboard shortcut, Win + Shift + S, that works in Windows 10 Home Version 1809 and later. Additionally, you can use a third-party tool like AutoHotkey to take a screenshot of the active window and save it automatically without the need for additional steps.

You can use the built-in Snipping Tool in Windows to take a screenshot of the active window and save it automatically. Press the Windows key + Shift + S to open the Snipping Tool, and then select the “Rectangular Snip” option.

Your screen will dim, and you can click and drag to select the active window you want to capture. The screenshot will then be saved automatically to your clipboard, and you can paste it into an image editing program or other application to save it as a PNG file in the desired directory.

Alternatively, you can also use the key combination Windows key + Alt + PrintScreen to take a screenshot of the active window and save it automatically to the “C:\Users\USERNAME\Videos\Captures” folder.

You can also use third-party software like Lightshot, ShareX, etc that offer more flexible ways of taking screenshots and also allows to save the screenshots in the desired directory.

As far as I know, Windows does not have a built-in tool that automatically saves screenshots to disk. The updated snipping utility called Snip and Sketch, released in Windows 10 build 1809, can be set to open when the PrtScrn key is pressed, but it does not fulfill the requirements you specified.

However, there are several third-party applications that offer this feature, it’s possible that you were using one of them before.