EASILY INSERT SCREENSHOTS INTO YOUR WORD DOCUMENT

Previously, I explained how the Snipping Tool made it easy to grab screenshots and save them. Today, I want to show how Word 2010 has a similar feature built right in. And if you're using two monitors (you're using two monitors right?), then it is incredibly useful.

To locate the feature in Word (or most of the MS Office suite products), go to the Insert tab on the ribbon and click on Screenshot.

If you have two monitors, the entire second monitor will be one option you can instantly insert. The other options will likely be other windows you have open behind your instance of Word. Clicking on one of the thumbnails will instantly insert the entire window or monitor into your document.

If instead you click on the Screen Clipping, then your entire screen will go light gray (just like the clipping tool). Then, you can select what you want to capture and draw a box around it. The selected area will be inserted into your document automatically.

If you're using just one monitor, then you need to make sure that the information you want to capture is the last window you had opened prior to opening Word for this to work.

I use this method when I am working in Word and sending email in Outlook. I use the clipping tool when I want to save images of my desktop as image files. Both methods work to accomplish the same thing, but each is convenient under different circumstances.