Tips to Take a Screenshot on Samsung Galaxy Phone
The usual way of taking a screenshot on any Android phone is to hold the Power and Volume down buttons together. You will hear the screenshot capture sound when a screenshot is taken. Apart from that, there are a couple of ways to take screenshots on Samsung phones that are mentioned below along with other useful tips.
1. Use Voice Assistants to Take a Screenshot
If you are interested in taking a screenshot on a Samsung Galaxy phone (or any other Android phone) without the Power button, you can take the help of voice assistants such as Google Assistant or Bixby. Go to the screen whose screenshot you want to take. Launch the preferred voice assistant using the set button or by saying ‘Hey Bixby’ or ‘Ok Google’. Then say or type the command ‘Take a screenshot’. You will be notified that the screenshot has been captured which can be found in the Gallery app.
2. Use Edge Panel for Screenshots
Another way to take screenshots without Power button on Samsung phones is by using the Edge panel feature. It’s a handy feature that is available in the newest Samsung Galaxy phone models. When Edge panel is enabled, you will find several panels consisting of various apps and features hidden inside the selected edge. You need to swipe on the panels to switch between them. One such panel is the Smart select panel that helps in capturing custom screenshots. You can capture rectangular or circular screenshots. To use this feature, follow these steps:
- First, make sure Edge panel is activated on your phone. For that, go to Settings > Display > Edge panels. Enable the toggle next to Edge panels.
- Tap on Edge panels text to go to its settings. Tap on Panels to enable Smart select panel.
- Make sure Smart select panel is enabled. Go back to the Edge panels settings and tap on Handle to change the handle’s position and style.
- Once enabled, you will see the Edge panel handle on the selected edge. Swipe inwards from that edge to open the panel. Then swipe right or left on the panels to find the Smart select panel. Tap on Rectangle or Oval smart selection tool.
- The selection box will open. Use the corners to change the size of the box. Hold and drag the box to change its position. When the appropriate part of the screen is inside the box, tap on Done.
- The screenshot will be captured. However, it’s not saved yet. You will see the screenshot toolbar at the bottom with the options to draw on the screenshot, share the screenshot, or save the screenshot to Gallery. Use the appropriate option as per your need. The Smart select tool also lets you capture a GIF. Tap on the GIF (Animation) option in the Smart select panel for that. The Edge panel can be used to create shortcuts to launch two apps in split-screen view as well.
3. Extract Text from Screenshot
If you use the Rectangle or Oval smart selection tools to capture a screenshot, you can extract text from captured screenshots. For that, capture a screenshot using either the Rectangle or Oval selection tool as shown above. Once the screenshot has been captured, you will notice the Extract text button below the screenshot. Tap on it. The extracted text will show up in a pop-up. Tap on Copy or Share to use it.
4. Pin Screenshot or Image
You know those situations when you have to copy the text in one app by looking at the text in another app. That’s where the screenshot pin feature comes in handy. Available in the Smart select panel inside the Edge panel, the Pin to screen feature lets you capture a custom screenshot that stays on your screen – on top of the other apps in the form of a pinned image. You can move the pinned image around or minimize it. Basically, you can easily see and copy the text from the pinned image to your app. When done, just close the pinned image. To use the Pin to screen feature, open the Smart select edge panel as shown in the above method. Tap on Pin to screen. Drag the selection box to the portion that you want to capture and hit the Pin to screen button. The captured image will show up on top of all apps. Open the required app and copy the text from the pinned image. Tap on the image to reveal various options such as minimize, expand, or close.
5. Enable Screenshot Toolbar
Typically, when you take a screenshot on your Samsung phone, it gets saved in the Gallery app. You need to open the Gallery app if you want to edit or share the screenshot. You can avoid that by enabling the screenshot toolbar that will open up as soon as you capture the screenshot. The toolbar will help you to crop the image, doodle on it, or share the image. To enable the screenshot toolbar, go to Settings > Advanced > Screenshots. Enable the toggle for Screenshot toolbar. Then capture a screenshot, and you will find the toolbar at the bottom. If you don’t like the toolbar, repeat the steps and turn off the same toggle.
6. Capture Scrolling Screenshots
Luckily, you don’t need to download third-party apps to take scrolling screenshots on Samsung Galaxy phones. It’s a built-in feature that can be accessed from the screenshot toolbar. Therefore, enable the screenshot toolbar first as shown above in order to use it. Then capture a screenshot on the required page. Once the screenshot toolbar appears, tap on the scrolling screenshot icon. Tap on the same icon again to scroll the page down once. Keep tapping the same icon to capture the required area. Once done, tap on the screenshot preview to view the image in the Gallery app.
7. Change Screenshot Format
Interestingly, Samsung lets you choose the image format (JPG or PNG) in which you want to save your screenshots. To change the default format, go to Settings > Advanced > Screenshots > Screenshot format.
8. Delete Shared Screenshots
Screenshots take a lot of storage space on our phones especially when we don’t delete them and they keep piling up. To save space, Samsung offers a setting where the screenshot is automatically deleted after you share it using the screenshot toolbar. To enable this setting, visit Settings > Advanced > Screenshots. Enable the toggle next to Delete shared screenshots.
9. Hide Status and Navigation Bar
By default, when you capture a screenshot, both the status and navigation appear in the screenshot. However, if you want you can hide them using a setting available in Samsung phones. Open Settings > Advanced > Screenshots. Enable the toggle for Hide status and navigation bars.
10. Auto Crop Screenshot
Often, you take a full-screen screenshot and crop it later to extract the smaller photo within it. Instead of manually selecting and cropping the smaller photo, your Samsung Galaxy phone will automatically detect the smaller photo when in editing mode. To use this feature, perform the following steps:
- Take a screenshot containing a smaller image.
- When the screenshot toolbar appears, tap on the Edit icon.
- Look for the blue selection icon and tap on it. The automatically detected image will pop up. Use the edges to adjust the size if required. Hit the Save button in the toolbar to save the image.
Wrap Up: Taking Screenshots on Samsung Phones
That’s how you can take screenshots on Samsung Galaxy phones in the best possible ways. If your Samsung phone supports Good Lock, you can use the One Hand operation+ app as well to capture screenshots quickly. Apart from that, Samsung Galaxy Note users can use S-Pen to take screenshots too.
