Along with the Turbo button on 90's PC's, the Prt Sc button on the keyboard is almost useless. But Microsoft is trying to change that! Just kidding of course, the Prt Sc key is set to increase the value of the Prt Sc key (open in new tab) by allowing it to activate the OS's screen capture Snipping mode.

The latest test version of Windows 11, available via the Beta channel of the Windows Insider program, has this fix. This means that, by default, a single press of the Prt Sc key opens the snipping tool, and snipping mode can now be accessed in any of the standard rectangular selection, free-form, window, or full-screen modes.

Previously, pressing the Prt Sc key would just save the entire desktop to the clipboard, but if you wanted to actually save it as a screenshot, you had to open another app and paste the image. Waste of time.

And I know that the Win + Prt Sc combo can save a capture of the entire desktop to my machine, but that doesn't work for me either. I am dual screen, so capturing the entire desktop is of little use to me.

However, this new change to the default Windows setup breathes new life into a rarely used and often ignored key, and literally minutes of time spent moving my finger to press the Shift + Win + S key combo to launch the capture dialog can be saved.

This allows you to save screenshots to the clipboard and screenshot folder at the same time. To be fair, however, you don't actually have to be an Insider to have this wondrous new feature today.

All you need to do is go into Settings > Accessibility > Keyboard screen and select "Print screen button to open screen snipping". It literally changes my life so easily. I wish I had known about it sooner.

In fact, I wish I had known before I was surrounded by only 65-75% keyboards that sacrificed the Prt Sc key for space.

In a way, it is a little disappointing that this change is purely for the Snipping Mode feature, not the full Snipping Tool. The actual Snipping Tool app now allows users to capture video as well as still images, and can even capture specific areas of the desktop as video.

One step at a time, I guess.