6 ways Take a Screenshot on a Samsung Galaxy Devices
There are a number of ways to take screenshots on your Galaxy phone or tablet.
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| Source: Pixabay |
To quickly take a screenshot on your Samsung Galaxy device, press the Volume Down and Power buttons.
You can also take a screenshot on Samsung devices using Palm Swipe, Bixby and Smart Select.
If you don't want to use Samsung's built-in screen capture tools, you can use an app instead.
It's surprising how often you need to take a screenshot on your phone. Whether it's capturing a social media post, an in-game victory screen, or a funny meme, knowing how to take screenshots is vital.
Fortunately, Samsung Galaxy phones and tablets offer a variety of ways to take screenshots using the touchscreen, side buttons, and even the S Pen.
Here's how to take screenshots on your Samsung Galaxy, whether it's a Galaxy S, Galaxy Note, or Galaxy Flip.
Power and volume down buttons
The easiest way to take a screenshot – shared by almost every modern Android phone – is by using the power and volume down buttons.
1. Set the screen with the content you want to capture.
2. Press and hold the Volume Down and Power buttons simultaneously for a second until the screenshot is taken. You will see the screen flicker and shrink slightly.
3. A screenshot toolbar will appear at the bottom of the screen for a few seconds. Here you can use tools to edit the image, but if you wait a while, the screenshot will move off the screen and save to the gallery.
Palm swipe
Samsung Galaxy phones are known for their slightly curved displays. This special screen lets you perform common actions with just hand gestures – like taking screenshots with Palm Swipe.
This feature should be enabled by default. However, you can check this in the Settings app:
1. Open the Settings app.
2. Tap Advanced Features.
3. Select Motions and Gestures.
4. Make sure palm swipe capture is turned on.
Once activated, you can take a screenshot with the side of your palm.
1. Set the screen with the content you want to capture.
2. Place the edge of your palm on the edge of the device screen with the little finger pointing down the long side of the phone.
3. Move your palm across the phone in one smooth motion. You can do this in either direction – right to left or left to right.
You will see the screen flicker and shrink, indicating that the screenshot has been successfully taken.
Bixby
Bixby, Samsung's personal assistant (similar to Apple's Siri), can also take a screenshot on your behalf.
Assuming you've already set up Bixby, follow these steps:
1. Set up the screen with the content you want to capture.
2. Say, "Hey Bixby, take a screenshot."
Bixby takes a screenshot and saves the image to the gallery.
Smart Select
If you only want to take a picture of a certain part of the screen and not the whole thing, you can use the Smart Select function.
This allows you to crop the screenshot before you take it, so you only capture what's important.
To use Smart Selection, you must enable the Edge Panel feature.
1. Open the Settings app.
2. Tap View.
3. Click Border Panels to display all available panel options.
4. Click Panels.
5. The first panel, Applications, is usually already enabled. If not, tap Smart Selection to turn it on.
Once you turn it on, you can use Smart Select to capture a portion of the screen:
1. Set the screen with the content you want to capture.
2. To open the Edge panel, swipe its handle—it looks like a gray transparent card—on the left or right edge of the screen.
3. Swipe the Edge panel until the Smart Selection options appear. If you have more than one panel activated, you may need to swipe multiple times.
4. When you see the Smart Selection panel, click the desired tool, such as the Rectangle tool.
5. Place and resize the screenshot selection, then tap Done.
6. When you're ready, tap the Save button—the square with the down arrow—at the bottom right of the screen to save your selection to the gallery.
Scroll sensing
Normally, when you take a screenshot, it only captures what you're currently seeing on the screen. This is usually fine, but won't work if you're trying to take a screenshot of an entire web page or a long post.
In these situations, you should use the Scrolling Capture feature. This will take you a long screenshot.
You must enable Scrolling Capture before you can use it.
1. Open the Settings app.
2. Tap Advanced Features.
3. Tap the Smart capture switch to turn it on.
Once you have it turned on:
1. Take a screenshot using one of the methods described above.
2. When the screenshot toolbar appears at the bottom of the screen, click the Scroll Capture button - it looks like a box with two arrows pointing down.
Each time you tap the button, the screenshot gets longer, so tap until it captures everything.
There are other options on the toolbar, including a crop button, a note button, and a share button.
Third-party applications
If you don't want to use any of your Samsung Galaxy's built-in screenshot tools, you can use a third-party app instead. A great choice is ScreenMaster.
1. Download and install ScreenMaster on your Samsung Galaxy phone.
2. Open ScreenMaster and grant it all necessary permissions.
3. Make sure the Show floating button switch is turned on. If not, tap to activate the feature.
4. Tap the green power button at the top to turn on screen capture.
5. Since this is your first time using ScreenMaster, you will be redirected to a page in the Settings app where you enable the Display on Top option. This will ensure that the Screen Capture button always appears in front of whatever screen you are on. So find ScreenMaster in the list of applications and tap its switch to turn it on.
6. Navigate to the screen you want to capture, then tap the Screenshot button on the left side of the screen.
7. Tap Save from the menu at the bottom of the screen. The screenshot will be saved to the ScreenMaster album in the gallery.
8. To stop the screen capture session, open ScreenMaster and tap the red power button at the top.