# Using Microsoft's snipping tool



## Packard

Microsoft's snipping tool allows you to copy images and place them where you want them.  Surprisingly this works in the posts (but not in private messages and conversations).

The two main uses are when quoting heavily formatted text.  For example when quoting from Collin's Dictionary, to make it intelligible it requires several time-consuming editing functions.  Or alternatively a simple snipping operation.  Below is an image snipped from Collins.  It is very readable with no special editing on my part.  However none of the internal links will function, so if you think people might want to use the link, it is beneficial to identify the quote as an image.  






The second good reason to use the snipping tool is to crop the image.  The image link importing allows resizing, but not cropping.    For example this image which took up the entire width of the page before resizing.  

With the snipping tool I can crop the image.  

Original image using image link.





From the same image, but cropped with the snipping tool:




Other editing can be done and if anyone is interested, I can explain how.  But these represent the two main applications for the snipping tool.

A third application that is useful, is that occasionally the linked image will show up while editing but will be replaced by a red X when saved.  In that case, go back to edit, snip the image as it appears and replace it with the snipped image.  Then save.


Use Snipping Tool to capture screenshots

Use Snipping Tool to capture screenshots​


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## wildan1

Just a comment--that only works with Microsoft on a PC. Apple products have different tools.

Take a screenshot on your Mac


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## Packard

I sometimes post with my IPad (IOS).  I have not found the tool to do that with the IPad.  

I do have a separate keyboard so I can type reasonably well on the IPad, but the Microsoft tools are easier to use.


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## wildan1

How to take a screenshot on an iPad


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## Paulfromitaly

Packard said:


> Microsoft's snipping tool allows you to copy images and place them where you want them.


When you say "copy", do you mean to actually save an image on your HD or do you mean "to take a screenshot" of a specific area of your screen?
You don't need a tool to do that on Firefox (there's an in-built feature that allows you to do that) and you only need an add-on to do that on Chrome.


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## Packard

I mean it is a screenshot, which I copy and then deposit using "Control-V", which I have done just below.






I use Firefox.  Where do I find that feature?

Regardless of the mechanism, it is sometimes more expedient to take an image of text than it is to copy the text and then have to format it.


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## Paulfromitaly

Packard said:


> I use Firefox. Where do I find that feature?


Right-click on an empty part of the page and select "Take Screenshot". Alternatively, you can use the keyboard shortcut Ctrl + Shift + S.
Then you can COPY or DOWNLOAD your screenshot and save it as an image.


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## Packard

OK.  That worked.  Good to know.


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## Packard

wildan1 said:


> How to take a screenshot on an iPad


I already knew how to take the screenshot and to crop and edit it.  I have no idea how to insert it into a post.


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## swift

Packard said:


> Regardless of the mechanism, it is sometimes more expedient to take an image of text than it is to copy the text and then have to format it.


The downside to that is the search engine won’t find the text on your image. And unless you use an add-on to include “alt text,” people with certain disabilities and requiring reading assistance (e.g., text-to-speech) are left with a mere file name or generic image description.


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## Packard

The search will probably work for definitions because I always mention the word in addition to adding the image.

I never considered text to speech. Is it used much in forums? It is not like visually impaired can really use these forums.


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## swift

Packard said:


> It is not like visually impaired can really use these forums.


How can you tell?  When I was in college, there were some students with retinitis pigmentosa that studied English and French to become translators and/or interpreters and they would use language forums all the time.


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## Packard

I would be interested in hearing from someone who uses that service. Of course they also miss out on all the visual aids that are posted.


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## swift

Here’s an interesting accessibility evaluation tool:
WAVE Report

Overall, the scores are not great.


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