How to Take a Scrolling Screenshot on Windows: 6 Methods That Actually Work

A regular screenshot only grabs what fits on your screen. The moment you need the whole thing, a long article, a full chat thread, a settings page, or an entire invoice, you are stuck stitching pieces together in an editor. Learning how to take a scrolling screenshot on Windows fixes that in one step: the tool scrolls the page for you and saves everything as a single tall image.

Windows does not make this obvious: the Snipping Tool most people reach for first cannot scroll at all. But the capability hides in your browsers and in a handful of free tools. Here are six methods that work on Windows 10 and Windows 11, ordered from easiest to most powerful.

Method 1: Capture the Full Page in Microsoft Edge (No Install Needed)

Open the page you want to capture in Edge, then press Ctrl + Shift + S. A small toolbar appears at the top. Choose Capture full page: Edge scrolls the page automatically, captures every section, and opens a preview where you can draw, highlight, erase, or add text. Click the save icon to download it as a JPEG or PNG, or copy it straight to your clipboard.

Method 2: Use Firefox’s Built-In Full-Page Screenshot

Firefox has had a full-page screenshot feature for years, and most users never notice it. Right-click anywhere on the page background and choose Take Screenshot from the context menu. A toolbar slides in offering two choices: Save visible and Save full page. Click Save full page and Firefox captures the entire page from top to bottom as a PNG, then offers to download or copy it.

The Ctrl + Shift + S shortcut opens the same tool. It works on almost any page, including ones behind logins, since it captures what is already loaded in your tab.

Method 3: Chrome’s Hidden Full-Size Screenshot (DevTools Trick)

Chrome does not advertise this one, but it is built in. Press F12 (or Ctrl + Shift + I) to open Developer Tools, then press Ctrl + Shift + M to toggle the device toolbar. Now click the three-dot menu at the top of the device toolbar and select Capture full size screenshot. Chrome renders the entire page and saves a PNG to your Downloads folder.

If menus are not your thing, there is a faster route: with DevTools open, press Ctrl + Shift + P to open the command menu and start typing “capture full size screenshot.” Quality is excellent because Chrome re-renders the page at full height rather than stitching pieces together, so text stays crisp even on very long pages.

Method 4: ShareX Scrolling Capture for Anything on Screen

Browser tools only work inside the browser. When you need to capture a scrolling area somewhere else, a long Word document, a Windows Settings panel, a chat window in a desktop app, or a dashboard, you need ShareX. It is free, open source, and available from getsharex.com or the Microsoft Store.

After installing it, open ShareX, go to Capture > Scrolling capture, then click the window or region you want to capture. A dialog opens where you can review the capture area; click Start scrolling capture and ShareX scrolls through the content automatically and stitches the pieces into one image. You can preview the result, trim the edges, remove duplicate strips, and then save, copy, or upload it based on your after-capture settings.

ShareX takes a few minutes to learn because the interface is packed with options, but it is the most capable free capture tool on Windows, and you can assign it a hotkey so scrolling capture is one keystroke away.

Method 5: PicPick’s Auto-Scroll Capture

PicPick is a lighter alternative to ShareX that is free for personal use. After installing it, open the page or window you want to capture, then launch PicPick and choose the Scrolling Window option (or press its hotkey). Click the window, and PicPick auto-scrolls and assembles the full image, then drops it into its built-in editor where you can annotate, blur sensitive parts, and save.

The editor is the real selling point here: arrows, numbered callouts, and blur tools are all one click away, which makes PicPick a good pick if your screenshots end up in tutorials, bug reports, or documentation. It is not open source and the interface looks a little dated, but scrolling capture itself works reliably on both web pages and desktop windows.

Method 6: GoFullPage Extension for One-Click Captures

If you live in Chrome and want the absolute simplest option, the GoFullPage extension does one thing and does it well. Install it from the Chrome Web Store, open any page, click the extension icon, and it scrolls the page and downloads a full-page PNG. It can also export as a PDF, which is handy for saving receipts, articles, or reference pages in a shareable format.

GoFullPage is free and dead simple, but it has limits: it only works inside Chrome tabs, and it cannot run on restricted pages such as the Chrome Web Store itself or some banking pages. For everyday web pages, though, it is the lowest-friction option on this list.

Which Is the Best Way to Take a Scrolling Screenshot on Windows?

It depends on what you are capturing. For web pages, use what you already have: Edge’s Web Capture or Firefox’s full-page tool take seconds and need no install. Chrome users should learn the DevTools full-size capture or install GoFullPage. For anything outside a browser, a desktop app window, a settings panel, a PDF in a reader, ShareX is the answer, with PicPick as the simpler runner-up.

A quick rule of thumb: if it is a web page and you do it rarely, use your browser’s built-in tool. If you take scrolling screenshots weekly or need to capture desktop apps, install ShareX once and never think about it again.

Fixing Common Scrolling Screenshot Problems

Sticky headers repeat down the page. Many sites pin their navigation bar to the top of the screen, and stitching tools can paste it into the image multiple times. Browser full-page tools (Edge, Firefox, Chrome DevTools) handle this better than third-party stitchers because they re-render rather than stitch.

Infinite-scroll pages come out cut off. On feeds that load more content as you scroll, scroll to the bottom manually first so everything loads, then take the capture. The result is still one image, but nothing gets missed.

The image is enormous. A full capture of a very long page can be 10,000 pixels tall or more. That is normal. If you need to share it, convert to JPEG or use an image compressor; PNG keeps text sharp but the files get big fast.

Login walls and paywalls. Capture tools can only screenshot what your browser can display. If the content loads in your tab, the full-page capture works; if it is blocked, no screenshot tool will get around that.

FAQs

Does the Windows Snipping Tool do scrolling screenshots?

No. The Snipping Tool (Win + Shift + S) on Windows 10 and Windows 11 captures rectangles, windows, and full screens, but it has no scrolling capture mode. Some old guides claim otherwise, but they are describing third-party tools or wishful thinking. Use your browser’s built-in capture or ShareX instead. (If your keyboard lacks the key entirely, see our guide on how to screenshot on a laptop without a Print Screen button.)

What is the best free scrolling screenshot tool for Windows?

ShareX. It is free, open source, captures scrolling areas in any window (not just browsers), and includes annotation and automatic upload options. If you only need web pages, your browser’s built-in tool is even simpler and costs nothing.

Why does my scrolling screenshot look blurry or duplicated?

Blur usually comes from capturing at a zoomed-out browser level, so reset zoom to 100% first. Duplicated sections, especially repeated headers, happen when a stitching tool misjudges the scroll distance; browser full-page renders (Edge, Firefox, Chrome DevTools) avoid this by re-rendering the page instead of stitching.

Can I take a scrolling screenshot of a PDF or Word document?

Yes. Open the PDF in your browser and use the browser’s full-page capture, or open the document in its desktop app and use ShareX’s scrolling capture on the window. Both approaches produce one tall image of the whole document.

Conclusion

You do not need paid software to capture long pages on Windows. Your browser probably already has the feature: Edge and Firefox include full-page capture out of the box, and Chrome hides an excellent one inside DevTools. For desktop apps and everything else, ShareX handles scrolling capture for free. Pick the method that matches what you capture most, learn its shortcut, and you will never stitch screenshots together again. And if you want that capture on the big screen, our guide to casting your phone to a TV without WiFi covers it.