Once you release the mouse, your screen returns to normal, and the screenshot is copied directly to your clipboard. A small pop-up notification from the Snipping Tool will appear; clicking it allows you to annotate, save, or share the capture. However, the crucial point for pasting is that the moment you capture it [8†L42-L44] [8†L47-L48].
Screenshots copied to the clipboard are image objects , not image files (.png). You cannot paste an image object directly into a folder. You can only paste it into an app that accepts images.
Note on Outlook: The legacy "Screenshot" button on the Insert tab is not yet available in the "New Outlook" app. You must rely on Ctrl+V for now [4†L4-L7].
By default in new Windows updates, pressing the key automatically opens the Snipping Tool interface rather than capturing the whole screen blindly. If you prefer the classic behavior where pressing PrtScn instantly copies the entire screen to your clipboard without opening a menu, you can revert it: Go to Settings > Accessibility > Keyboard .
One of the most powerful features is the ability to extract text directly from any image or screenshot. After capturing an image, click the "Text actions" button in the Snipping Tool. It will perform Optical Character Recognition (OCR) to scan the image for text [6†L5-L8]. From there, you can copy all text or even use the "Copy as table" feature to extract tabular data and paste it directly into Excel while preserving the table structure [6†L16-L18].
Note: If you prefer the old method where it copies the full screen instantly without opening a tool, go to and toggle off "Use the Print screen button to open screen snipping".