Using Edge Chromium to Screen Capture a Web Page

Over the years, I have needed to capture a screenshot of a web page that I am visiting. Either I need to make some notes about the appearance or possibly save them for reference later if the site changes. Whatever the reason, taking a screenshot hasn't usually been too tricky. I can use Windows built-in Snipping tool or a third-party app like Snagit. These options, though, require using something outside of the browser I am using. Edge Chromium has changed this, however. Now it is possible to take screenshots without leaving Edge. Referred to as Web Capture, the Edge feature allows you to take a screenshot of a portion of the web page or the entire web page. There are two methods to enable this feature.

Activate Web Capture by Right-Clicking

To activate a Web Capture using your mouse, you need to load the web page you wish to capture. Then, follow these steps:

1. 1. Right-click anywhere on the web page. Edge opens a Context menu.
2. Click on the Web Capture option, towards the bottom of the Context menu. This displays a small pop-up at the top of the browser with three options: Capture Area, Capture Full Page, or a Close button. (I'll go over the difference between the first two options in just a bit.)
3. Choose the capture option you desire by clicking on it.
4. When done, you can either copy the Web Capture to the Clipboard or save the screen capture.

Activate Web Capture with a Keyboard Shortcut

Taking a Web Capture with a keyboard shortcut is similar to right-clicking. However, instead of right-clicking your mouse, pressÊCtrl+Shift+S. This method opens the same pop-up mentioned in step 2 above. Then follow the remaining two steps.

Types of Web Captures

Edge allows for two main types of Web Captures, as mentioned in step 2 above. The first is Capture Area and the second is Capture Full Page. Let's take a look at the differences.

Capture Area

With Capture Area, you are only capturing a portion of the web page. This is good if you only want to focus on a small amount of the page. After selecting Capture Area in step 3, your browser window will dim slightly. After it has dimmed, click and drag a box around the area you wish to capture. When you release your mouse, a box is shown along with a small pop-up with two options: Copy (which copies the image to your Clipboard) or Markup Capture (which opens the picture in a small window allowing you to mark it up and then save, add to collections, or copy).

A few tips: This box can be resized or repositioned before you choose Copy or Markup Capture. If you scroll down on the page while the box is showing, you can capture more of the page that wasn't on the screen when you started drawing your capture window.

Capture Full Page

By choosing Capture Full Page, Edge will automatically capture the entire web page. Edge then opens the capture in the previously mentioned markup window.

If you save a Web Capture, Edge saves the file into your downloads folder. If you copy the capture, it will only be stored in your Clipboard until it is then pasted somewhere.

Web Captures, taken with Edge Chromium, can be helpful and quickly taken to help get you moving quicker. They allow you to focus on the area of a web page you want.

 This tip (13891) applies to Windows 10.