Ubuntu 24.04 is the latest LTS release that offers a variety of new tools and features to enhance the user experience. It provides a default screenshot and screencast tool to capture basic to advanced screenshots and record videos. Moreover, Ubuntu 24.04 also supports keyboard shortcuts to quickly capture screenshots of specific parts, the entire screen, or a particular window. Also, we can install additional screenshot tools to get some advanced screenshot features (if needed).
In this tutorial, we’ll discuss how to capture screenshots on Ubuntu 24.04 using the default screenshot tool, and keyboard shortcut keys.
Capturing Screenshots on Ubuntu 24.04
Ubuntu provides a default screenshot tool that can be accessed via the “system menu” or the “PrtSc” key. This tool has a user-friendly interface and includes all the basic features for taking screenshots and screencasts, including capturing the whole screen, a specific part of the screen, or a particular window. We can also record videos or screen activities using this tool. Let’s go through the following stepwise instructions to take a screenshot on Ubuntu 24.04:
Step 1: Access Default Screenshot Utility
Press the “PRTSC” button on your keyboard or click on the capture icon from the system menu to access the screenshot tool:
Step 2: Capture Screenshot
The default screenshot tool shows the following three options for capturing a screenshot:
- Selection: captures a specific part/area of the selected screen.
- Screen: captures the complete screen.
- Window: captures only a specific window.
Select a specific option according to your needs/preferences and hit the capture button:
Important Consideration: When we capture a screenshot, the following message pops up on the screen:
The captured screenshot is copied to the clipboard and we can paste it anywhere we want. The captured screenshots are by default saved in the “Home/Pictures/Screenshots” directory.
Step 3: Screencasting or Screen Recording
We can also select the “Record Screen” option for screen casting. To do this, simply select the “Record Screen” option and then click on the “Capture” button:
To stop the screencast, click on the “Stop” button, as highlighted in the following screenshot:
The following notification pops up on the screen when the screencast is successfully recorded:
You can click on this notification to view the recorded video or you can access all the recorded videos from the “Home/Videos/Screencasts” directory.
Keyboard Shortcuts to Capture Screenshots on Ubuntu 24.04
The default screenshot tool can be accessed on Ubuntu 24.04 using the following shortcuts:
- Use “PRT SC” to take a screenshot according to the available options.
- Press “SHIFT + PRT SC” to capture the entire/full screen.
- Press “ALT + PRT SC” to capture the screenshot of a particular/selected window.
- Use “CTRL + ALT + PRT SC” to capture the current window.
The default screenshot tool supports additional shortcuts, but they only work when the tool is running:
- “S” to capture a specific region/part of the screen.
- “W” to capture a window of your choice.
- “C” to capture an entire screen.
Once you choose one of the above options, hit the “Enter” key to capture the screenshot.
Conclusion
Ubuntu 24.04 offers a feature-rich tool for capturing screenshots and screencasts to enhance both productivity and creativity. Using this default screenshot utility we can efficiently capture specific areas, entire screens, or particular windows according to our needs. Additionally, we can record screen activities to create tutorials, document workflows, etc. We can also use various keyboard shortcuts to quickly capture screenshots or screencasts. For instance, you can press “SHIFT + PRT SC” to capture the entire screen, “ALT + PRT SC” for the selected window, and “CTRL + ALT + PRT SC” for the current window. In this article, we explained how to take screenshots and screencasts using Ubuntu 24.04’s default screenshot tool.
