Tips & Tricks: Make Life Easier for Sending Email Screenshots

When working with my support clients I often request screenshots. I see many different variations in terms of what I receive. Some use clipper programs and some literally print the screen, highlight and then scan it back into the system.

PRO Tip: Add crop to your Quick Access toolbar in Outlook to make cropping easier.
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I’m guessing most people do not know that your computer actually has a screenshot button called “Print Screen.” If you go ahead and look at your keyboard, in the upper right side of your keyboard you will see it. Could be “PrntScrn” or “Print Screen” but it does the same function. It simply captures what is on screen into your computer clip board.

If you use something like Outlook then you are already set. Literally push the “Print Screen” button and then paste into an email message. If you want to only capture the program you are focused on then push CTRL + ALT + Print Screen and this will grab just what you are looking at. So in the case of SAP Business One it will just capture the window.

Once you have pasted the image into the email you can get even more fancy. Click the image in the email message and then along the top you will see the ribbon for “PICTURE TOOLS.” In the format ribbon you will see a couple of key items. Crop is my most used which lets me crop down what is shown, if say I only want to see one form or one piece of the screen.

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You can also use the “INSERT” ribbon and select shapes and here you can add arrows or boxes to focus attention to specific things. You can click on the shapes to resize and format them as needed. Creating a red outline box or an arrow pointing towards something.

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When you are sending a support request, we need to know what the issue is, but we also need details. Saying X doesn’t work is useless to us, we can’t determine the actual issue. Give details and examples of when the error happens, what you were doing, screenshots of the exact error message and what you have tried to resolve the issue.

This helps immensely when troubleshooting an issue and will save you time and money.

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