{"id":12232,"date":"2025-10-20T01:01:00","date_gmt":"2025-10-20T05:01:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.both.org\/?p=12232"},"modified":"2026-02-03T16:58:49","modified_gmt":"2026-02-03T21:58:49","slug":"3-easy-ways-to-make-screenshots-on-linux","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.both.org\/?p=12232","title":{"rendered":"3 easy ways to make screenshots on Linux"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\r\n \r\n <\/i>\r\n <\/a>\r\n <\/span>\r\n<\/div><\/div>\n

When writing about open source software, I prefer to show a few screenshots to help demonstrate what I’m talking about. As the old saying goes, “a picture is worth a thousand words.” If you can show a thing, that’s often better than merely trying to describe it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There are several ways you can take screenshots in Linux. Here are three methods I use to capture screenshots on Linux:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

GIMP<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The popular image editor, GIMP, makes it easy to take a screenshot. I like to use GIMP if I also need to modify the screenshot in some way, such as to add a highlight or to create a “drop shadow” for dramatic effect. To take a screenshot, go to the File<\/strong> menu and choose the Create<\/strong> submenu, and then choose Screenshot<\/strong>:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"The<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The dialog allows you to take a screenshot of a single window, the entire screen, or just a region. I like that this tool lets you set a delay: how long until you select the window, and how long after that to take the screenshot. I use this feature a lot when I want to grab a screenshot of a menu action, so I have enough time to go to the window and open the menu.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

GIMP opens the screenshot as a new image, which you can edit and save to your preferred location.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Firefox<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

If you need to take a screenshot of a website, try Firefox’s built-in screenshot utility. Right-click anywhere in the web page body, and select Take Screenshot<\/strong> from the menu:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"The<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Firefox switches to a modal display and prompts you to click or drag on the page to select a region, or use one of the icons to save a copy of the full page or just what’s visible in the browser.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As you move your mouse around the screen, you may notice that Firefox highlights certain areas. These are block elements on the page, such as a div<\/code> or another block element. Click on the element to take a screenshot of it. Firefox saves the screenshot to your Downloads folder, or wherever you have set as your “download” location.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Desktop<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Every Linux desktop has a built-in screenshot tool. I run Xfce for my Linux desktop, and Xfce also provides a great screenshot tool that you can call up at any time using the PrtScr<\/strong> key on your keyboard:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"The<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

I often use this tool to grab a screenshot of a region on the screen, which is an incredibly useful way to crop a screenshot as you make it. Just move the highlight box to where you need it, and use the “grab” corners to change the size. You can also add a delay before taking the screenshot.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Or select one of the other options to take a screenshot of the entire screen, or just a single window on your system. Click the Ok<\/strong> button to take the screenshot, which the tool saves in your Pictures folder.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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If you’re trying to document a process, a screenshot can save you a lot of time. Try using one of these methods to take a screenshot on Linux.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This article is adapted from 3 ways to take screenshots on Linux<\/a> by Jim Hall and is published with the author’s permission.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Here are three methods I use to capture screenshots on Linux.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":2952,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[77,503],"tags":[120,91],"class_list":["post-12232","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-desktop","category-linux-101","tag-desktop","tag-linux"],"modified_by":"David Both","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.both.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12232","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.both.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.both.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.both.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/33"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.both.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=12232"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.both.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12232\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12239,"href":"https:\/\/www.both.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12232\/revisions\/12239"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.both.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/2952"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.both.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=12232"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.both.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=12232"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.both.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=12232"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}