Snipping Tool in Windows Vista: How to Assign a Shortcut Key

Some versions have this and some don't. If it doesn't, then you probably shouldn't bother reading any further. Be sure to check and see if you have it. It might serve as an interesting tip on getting a Shortcut key to the Snipping Tool. It's a Windows Vista exclusive but this tool is limited to few versions only. As far as I know, the versions supported are Vista premium, business, enterprise and ultimate edition. If I knew, I'd say which one. Anyway, this should be interesting and this is how to do it if you have it of course.

A brief note about the Snipping Tool is that it allows you to take screenshots for a particular region or the entire display screen. Basically, you can take as much or as little as a screenshot as you possibly would want and could serve better with that than the Print Screen button on your keyboard. The best feature of snipping tool is that the image can be saved in a format that occupies less space.

Like things in life, there's always a catch. There is no hotkey but if you read below, you'll learn how to take care of that little minor annoyance.

Before going on any further, see if you have it. Go into All Programs and then click on Accessories. If you don't have it, then it's either not installed or it didn't come with your Vista. Chances are 50/50 on that front and that's about it. Look below at the screenshot and it should be a great indicator whether or not you have it.

Anyway, just right-click and check on its properties. You should key a shortcut box for it as directed below.

You can give it a shortcut key by default. Pick a value that you shall remember and that should do the trick. There is really nothing else to it. If you have this program, try it out and if you don't, then I don't know what to tell you. Maybe try to pick up a version with it if you are interested in this Snipping Tool program but that's about it.

The snipping window looks the like the one shown below. You can choose either free-form snip, rectangular snip, window snip or full-screen snip.

Free-form snip allows you to draw any shape around the object.
Rectangular snip allows you to draw rectangular around an object to take the screenshot.
Window snip allows you to select the dialog box or window of an application.
Full window snip allows you to take the screenshots of the entire screen.