How to take a screenshot on samsung galaxy

Whether you're trying to save a bit of information for later or want to share something you came across, it's hard to find a more useful feature on our smartphone these days than the ability to take a screenshot. Thankfully, most Android manufacturers have standardized this process, so learning how to take a screenshot on a Samsung Galaxy phone should be a piece of cake. Don't believe me? I'll show you how below.

There are a bunch of ways to take a screenshot with a Samsung phone; one is pretty obvious and the other two ways... a little less so. We'll walk you through all three of these methods below.

Note: These methods apply to most Samsung Galaxy smartphones, including the Galaxy S and now-defunct Note lines, along with most modern Galaxy A models from the last four years. If your phone is over four years old, it may only support the below key combination screenshot method, and not the other two.

How to screenshot on a Samsung phone using a key combination

Like most Android smartphones, taking a quick screenshot on a Samsung phone combines the power button and the volume button in a quick gesture that may take some getting used to. But once you've mastered it, you'll never miss it again.

1. Open the content you want to screenshot.
2. At the same time, press the power and volume down buttons for one second, and release them.
3. Note that if you hold the buttons more than a second, your phone will either launch a long-press action with the power button or adjust the volume down. You only need to hold the buttons for a second to take a screenshot.
4. The screenshot will be immediately shareable from the bottom bar that pops on screen (far right button), or you can access it from the notification shade instead.
5. You can also jump into an editing mode by using the center button. This lets you crop and draw on the screenshot before sharing or saving.

How to screenshot on a Samsung phone using a palm swipe

1. Open the content to screenshot.
2. Place your hand vertically on the left or right edge of the phone, and swipe it across the screen, while keeping your hand in contact with the screen, in one motion.
3. If this method doesn't work, go into Settings, Advanced features, Motions and gestures and make sure Palm swipe to capture is turned on.
4. The screenshot will be saved, shareable, and editable in the exact same way from either the on-screen toolbar or the notification shade.

How to screenshot on a Samsung phone using Bixby Voice

Bixby Voice can be used to take a screenshot if you're unable to grab your phone to use the buttons or palm swipe.

1. Open the content to screenshot.
2. By default, a long-press of the button will launch Bixby Voice, after you've opened it once.
3. With the interface activated, say "take a screenshot."
4. With the Bixby method, you miss out on the instant edit capabilities of the other methods. You can, however, string together commands such as "take a screenshot and share it to Twitter" if you want to get elaborate.

No matter how you start your screenshot, after capturing you'll see a set of options at the bottom of the screen, including "screen capture." This button — on the left side, a box with down-facing arrows in it — makes the phone scroll through the content on the screen and take multiple screenshots, which are then stitched together into one tall screenshot showing everything together. This is super useful for capturing a full webpage, a set of turn-by-turn directions, or a long restaurant menu. While Samsung phones have had this feature for years, Google started rolling it out natively on Android 12.

Just tap the scroll capture button as many times as you need — it will also stop automatically once you've reached the bottom of the screen. And as soon as you're done you can share, edit, or save the screenshot just like any other.

To save a bit of tapping, you can also hold down on the scrolling button to capture an entire document or page in one fell swoop.

To access your screenshots for later, head to the Samsung Gallery app, which is found inside your launcher's app drawer. Screenshots are saved in the main camera roll, but you can also head to the Album tab and find all of your screenshots in one place inside the Screenshot album.

Happy annotating!

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It's surprising how often you need to take a screenshot on your phone. Whether it's to capture a social media post, the winning screen in a game, or a funny meme, knowing how to take screenshots is vital.

Luckily, Samsung's Galaxy phones and tablets offer a variety of ways to take screenshots using the touchscreen, side buttons, and even with the S Pen.

Here's how to take screenshots on your Samsung Galaxy, whether it be a Galaxy S, Galaxy Note, or Galaxy Flip.

Power and Volume Down buttons 

The easiest way to take a screenshot — which nearly every modern Android phone shares — is with the Power and Volume Down buttons.

1. Set up the screen with the content you want to screenshot.

2. Press the Volume Down and Power buttons simultaneously, and hold them for a second until the screenshot is taken. You'll see the screen flash and shrink slightly.

3. The screenshot toolstrip will appear at the bottom of the screen for a few seconds. You can use the tools here to edit the image, but if you just wait a few moments, the screenshot will slide off-screen and be saved to the Gallery.

Quick tip: To find your screenshots, open the Gallery app on your Samsung Galaxy, tap Albums in the bottom menu, and then tap the Screenshots album. You will find them there.

Palm Swipe

Samsung Galaxy phones are famous for their slightly curved screens. This special screen allows you to perform common actions with just hand gestures — for example, taking screenshots with Palm Swipe.

This feature should be turned on by default. But you can check by going to the Settings app:

1. Open the Settings app. 

2. Tap Advanced features.

3. Select Motions and gestures. 

4. Make sure that Palm swipe to capture is toggled on.

Once enabled, you can take a screenshot with the side of your palm.

1. Set up the screen with the content you want to screenshot.

2. Place the edge of your palm on the edge of the device's screen, so your pinkie is pointing down the long side of the phone.

3. In one smooth motion, slide your palm across the phone. You can do this in either direction — right-to-left or left-to-right.

You'll see the screen flash and shrink, indicating the screenshot was successfully captured.

Bixby

Bixby, Samsung's personal assistant (similar to Apple's Siri), can take a screenshot on your behalf as well.

Assuming that you've already set Bixby up, here's how to use it:

1. Set up your screen with the content you want to screenshot.

2. Say, "Hey Bixby, take a screenshot."

Bixby will take a screenshot and save the image in the Gallery.

Smart Select

If you only want to screenshot a specific part of your screen, rather than the entire thing, you can use the Smart Select feature. 

This lets you crop your screenshot before you take it, making sure that you only capture what's important.

To use Smart Select, you'll need to enable the Edge Panel feature.

1. Open the Settings app. 

2. Tap Display. 

3. Tap Edge panels to see all the available panel options.

4. Tap Panels.

5. The first panel, Apps, is usually enabled already. If not, tap Smart select to turn it on.

Once you've turned it on, here's how to capture a portion of the screen with Smart Select:

1. Set up the screen with the content you want to screenshot.

2. To bring out the Edge panel, swipe its handle – it looks like a gray transparent tab – on the left or right edge of your screen.

3. Swipe the Edge panel until you see the Smart select options. If you have more than one panel activated, you might need to swipe a few times.

4. When you see the Smart select panel, tap the tool you want, like the Rectangle tool.

5. Position and resize the screenshot selection, and then tap Done.

6. When you're ready, tap the Save button – the square with the downward-pointing arrow – in the bottom right corner of the screen to save the selection to the Gallery.

Quick tip: If you're using a Galaxy Note8, you can also take out your S Pen to activate the Air Command feature, and then pick Smart select from the menu that appears.

Scrolling capture

Normally when you take a screenshot, it'll only capture what you can currently see on the screen. This is usually fine, but won't work if you're trying to screenshot an entire webpage, or a long post.

In these situations, you should use the Scrolling Capture feature. This will take a long screenshot for you.

Before you can use Scrolling Capture, you'll need to enable it. 

1. Open the Settings app. 

2. Tap Advanced features. 

3. Tap the toggle for Smart capture to turn it on.

Once you have that turned on:

1. Take a screenshot using any of the methods described above.

2. When the screenshot toolstrip appears at the bottom of your screen, tap the Scroll Capture button — it looks like a box with two downward-pointing arrows inside it.

Note: If the toolstrip doesn't show up, the image will automatically be saved to the Gallery.

Each time you tap the button, it makes the screenshot longer, so keep tapping until it captures everything.

There are other options on the toolstrip, including a crop button, an annotation button, and a share button.

Quick tip: If you're using a Galaxy with an S Pen, you can also take a long screenshot by using the S Pen, selecting Screen write, and choosing Scroll capture.

Third-party apps

If you don't want to use any of your Samsung Galaxy's built-in tools for screenshots, you can use a third-party app instead. A great option is ScreenMaster.

1. Download and install ScreenMaster on your Samsung Galaxy phone.

2. Open ScreenMaster, and give it any permissions it needs.

3. Make sure the toggle for Show floating button is turned on. If not, tap to enable the feature.

4. Tap the green power button at the top to turn on screen capturing.

5. Since this is your first time using ScreenMaster, you'll be taken to a page in the Settings app to enable Appear on top. This will make sure the Screen Capture button always appears in front of any screen you're on. So find ScreenMaster in the app list, and then tap its toggle to turn it on.

6. Go to the screen you want to capture, and then tap the Screen capture button on the left side of the screen.

Note: Before you save the screenshot, you can crop, share, and edit the image in various ways using the tools in the bottom menu.

7. Tap Save in the menu at the bottom of the screen. The screenshot will be saved in the ScreenMaster album in the Gallery.

8. To stop the screen-capturing session, open ScreenMaster and tap the red power button at the top.