# [SOLVED] How to capture screen shot of drop down menus?



## cashcqshel (Jun 10, 2010)

I have been trying to use both the Snipping Tool and the Print Screen keys to capture an image of the drop down list (and sub drop down lists) that appear under Tools in Firefox.

But when I open the drop down menus, and click on either the Snipping Tool icon, or the Prt Scrn key, the opened drop down menus collapse back up into Tools.

How can I capture an image of what the drop down lists look like?


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## TheGift73 (Oct 17, 2006)

*Re: How to capture screen shot of drop down menus?*

Hi cashcqshel,

Hopefully this is what you mean?

When Firefox is first open, press *ALT* once and release. You should now see the toolbar appear at the top of the page. Click on *Tools* to show the sub-menu and move the mouse away from the area (without clicking) unless you wish to expand further menus within the sub-menu, so it's not shown in the screen capture. Now just hit *Prt Scr* and dump the image (CTRL+V) in to Paint (hit CTRL+V when Paint or PS is open) or PS and crop what you want out.

I was using Firefox v6.0.2


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## cashcqshel (Jun 10, 2010)

*Re: How to capture screen shot of drop down menus?*

When I open Firefox (I recently downloaded it, so presume I have the latest version), the Tools menu is already there.

I tried clicking once on ALT after Firefox is open, then clicked on Tools to get the first drop down menu. I wanted an image that shows both the initial drop down menu under Tools, as well as one additional drop down sub menu. 

With both the drop down menu and sub menu showing on the screen, I then moved the cursor outside the drop down menu and drop down sub menu boxes. With these two menu boxes showing on the screen, I hit the Print Screen, and then went to Paint, which I had previously opened, and clicked on Paste.

The image below shows the result in Paint. But it doesn't show the drop down menus. What could I be doing wrong?


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## TheGift73 (Oct 17, 2006)

*Re: How to capture screen shot of drop down menus?*

Hmm, not sure. When I do it, I hit ALT (to show Tools) as it's quicker for me, then click on Tools once and hover down to a sub-menu, then if neccesary, hover down to expand a further sub-menu. You can keep the mouse hovered over the sub-menus or move it away, should you wish to crop the shot without the mouse/cursor showing. Now just hit Prt Scr (without clicking away) which will store the screen dump in memory. Open Pain and CTRL+V.

Ignore the stuff on the far right as it's the other screen showing a bit.


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## cashcqshel (Jun 10, 2010)

*Re: How to capture screen shot of drop down menus?*

I have no trouble getting the menu and sub menu under tools to show up on the screen.

With these showing up on the screen, I am pushing the Prt Scrn key (this does NOT require using Shift or Alt or Control plus the Prt Scrn key, right?)

When I push the Prt Scrn key, I also have Paint open in a 1/2 screen format right beside the open Firefox screen. I have tried pressing Control + V (at the same time right?). Does the cursor have to be inside the Paint screen before doing this?

Also I am trying, after pressing the Prt Scrn key, going to Edit in Paint, to use the Paste command. On the last few attempts at this, the Edit menu shows Paste grayed out, so it is not even an option. Only Paste From shows up in dark print, but this doesn't help.

Also, why do you have a blue arrow pointing to the word You in the upper left hand corner in the screen shot? I do not see the word You on my screen. Is this a problem?

What does You mean here?

And does Control+V do the same thing as Paste????

Thanks,

Not sure why this is not working for me????


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## TheGift73 (Oct 17, 2006)

*Re: How to capture screen shot of drop down menus?*

Sorry, I headed out for the night as it was nearing 03:00AM my time



> With these showing up on the screen, I am pushing the Prt Scrn key (this does NOT require using Shift or Alt or Control plus the Prt Scrn key, right?)


Correct. Just the PrtScn button. I only use ALT+PrtScn when copying the active window only instead of the whole desktop.



> When I push the Prt Scrn key, I also have Paint open in a 1/2 screen format right beside the open Firefox screen. I have tried pressing Control + V (at the same time right?). Does the cursor have to be inside the Paint screen before doing this?


Just tried it exactly as you have described at work (use XP at work & 7 at home, also my version of FF is slightly older at work) and it seems to work OK. Yep, CTRL+P is exactly the same as Edit>Paste. You don't have to have a cursor in the Paint window to do the paste, just make sure that the Paint window is active by clicking anywhere on the blue bar at the top of the program.



> Also I am trying, after pressing the Prt Scrn key, going to Edit in Paint, to use the Paste command. On the last few attempts at this, the Edit menu shows Paste grayed out, so it is not even an option. Only Paste From shows up in dark print, but this doesn't help.


If it's greyed out, then nothing has been written to memory (screen capture) which is also why CTRL+V won't work either. Also, on some key boards you may have an F-Lock key next to the PrtScn key. Try switching this off and on by pressing it to see if that is interfering? (image courtesy of Sydney PCUG Blog via Google Images) Also, just to make sure that items are being copied to memory (clipboard), find some text (like the above) and CTRL+C (Copy) and CTRL+V (Paste) it in to Notepad or somewhere.



> Also, why do you have a blue arrow pointing to the word You in the upper left hand corner in the screen shot? I do not see the word You on my screen. Is this a problem?


Ignore that. It's just Google's new Home Page advertising (animation) Google+ as now being open to the public in BETA. It appears whether you are signed into your Gmail/ G+ account or not.



> And does Control+V do the same thing as Paste????


Yep, it's just a keyboard short cut.

When did you last reboot your system? This may also be a cause. Also, make sure no other programs are running (except Paint and FF etc) just in case they may be interfering.


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## spunk.funk (May 13, 2010)

*Re: How to capture screen shot of drop down menus?*

Once you have your drop down menu, press the *Prnt Scrn *key once. Put your pointer in the *Paint* window and_ click once_ and then press *CTRL+V *or go up to *Edit *and choose *Paste*.


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## cashcqshel (Jun 10, 2010)

*Re: How to capture screen shot of drop down menus?*

I am so disappointed, but none of this is working. I will take the laptop to a nearby computer repair store, although I realize this is NOT a repair issue.

They may be able to tell what is exactly the problem. I will let you know.

Thanks for you efforts to resolve the issue.


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## TheGift73 (Oct 17, 2006)

*Re: How to capture screen shot of drop down menus?*

No problem.

Do you ever eat over your keyboard or have ever split anything sticky (coke/ sweet tea etc) over it? It could be that the key itself is malfunctioning or unable to be fully depressed and make contact with its connector.

In this video, you can see that you should be able to just pop off the key (carefully) to check that it's not being blocked by something. (around the 1m mark)


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## cashcqshel (Jun 10, 2010)

*Re: How to capture screen shot of drop down menus?*

Thank you for the suggestion. Will try the key cleaning tonight, and let you know.

No, I never eat or drink over the keyboard. Once, long ago, I spilled a cup of hot tea with milk and sugar into the keyboard. Thankfully, it was not a laptop, and the key board was inexpensively replaced. BUT, I did learn the lesson!

, , , ,More later!. . . . .


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## cashcqshel (Jun 10, 2010)

*Re: How to capture screen shot of drop down menus?*

You were right! What was missing was the F key, and I actually found out where it is: between the Control key and the Windows key in the lower left hand side of the keyboard.

I have an HP notebook, and presume this is a quirk of this particular machine.

Thank you for your help in resolving this. It seems so easy, now that I know how to do it.

I am very grateful for your help!


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## TheGift73 (Oct 17, 2006)

Excellent. Glad you are good to go.


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