What is a screenshot, and what is it used for?
A screenshot captures your computer or mobile phone screen. It’s known as a screengrab or screencap in some cases, and they all refer to an image of your display screen that is created instantly.
While screenshots are basically pictures of your screen, they have many uses besides just taking photographs. You can use a screenshot to create a reference or memo, capture information you don’t want to forget, gather evidence, or even collaborate with others.
For instance, if you’re experiencing technical issues with your Telstra phone, you can use a screenshot to capture any related error message and send the created image to a Telstra customer representative. This way, you can avoid having to explain what you really don’t understand, and the Telstra representative will have all the details needed to resolve the issue quickly.
And if you come across an interesting article or juicy gossip you don’t want to forget, you can use a screenshot create an image of the article or gossip for later reference. You can also use screenshots to gather evidence of harassment, fraud, or maybe an offensive tweet that might get deleted later.
And if you’re working remotely, a screengrab is a great way to collaborate with colleagues. Let’s say you’re building a website, and you want to get a quick review from someone else. Just take a screenshot, send it over, and have them look it over and highlight the parts that need to be improved.
Of course, these examples aren’t exhaustive – screenshots serve a number of purposes. In this post, we’ll show you ways to take screenshots on your Telstra phone, whether it’s an Android, iOS, or Windows device.
Ways to take screenshots
There are several ways to take screenshots, mostly depending on your device, its manufacturer, or your operating system. There are also third party apps just for screenshots, but they come loaded with extra features.
In this post, however, we’ll focus on the taking screenshots on Android, iOS, and Windows. These operating systems use shortcuts which are built into the operating system. However, in some instances, a device manufacturer can use a different shortcut even when using one of these operating systems.
- Android screenshots
Android has a built-in shortcut for taking screenshots, so there’s a good chance you can use it if your phone uses an Android operating system. To take a screenshot with an Android 8.1 and up smartphone, briefly hold down the Power button and Volume Down button at the same time. You’ll notice a flash around your screen, along with a thumbnail at the top of your screen indicating a successful screengrab. - iOS screenshots
iOS also has a built-in shortcut for screenshots, so if your iPhone isn’t too outdated, this shortcut will work. Just briefly hold down the Sleep/Wake button on the right side of your phone and the Volume Up button on the left side at the same time. You’ll notice a thumbnail on the bottom left side of your screen indicating a successful screenshot. - Windows screenshots
Windows follows with its own built-in shortcuts for screengrabs. Just tap the Print Screen (PrtScr) key capture your entire computer screen, but this only saves to your clipboard temporarily for copy and paste purposes. If you’d like a more permanent solution instead, then save the screenshot of your entire display to your hard drive by hitting the Windows and Print Screen (WIN + PrtScr) keys at the same time. You can also save a specific window to your hard drive by hitting WIN + Alt + PrtScr. There are several other shortcuts for screenshots, all serving a specific purpose – for instance, WIN + Shift + S opens the Snip & Sketch tool for several screenshot options, and ALT + PrtScr captures whichever window is highlighted and saves to the clipboard temporarily.
While these operating systems have built in shortcuts for screenshots, Android devices might vary based on the manufacturer. For instance, older Samsung phones combined the Power button and Home button for screenshots. Newer Samsung phones also allow for motion commands, where you swipe the edge of your hand on the screen to take a screenshot.
Summing up
Like the ‘Back‘ button on a website, screenshots are far from a glamorous way of achieving a common goal. Whether it’s showing a friend what you’ve been looking at, recording something you want to remember for later, or freezing an image so you can zoom in, screenshots have become far more useful than anyone would have predicted when phones were designed.
In many ways, screenshots are such a common use case, so much so that there should be a button dedicated to it. The fact that you have a Telstra phone that you’re screengrabbing doesn’t matter – the operating system and device are what decide how you take a screenshot. Follow the instructions which your device manufacturer has provided and you’ll get where you need to.