# Is there a way to quickly take screen shots with the desktop app?

**URL:** <https://discourse.joplinapp.org/t/is-there-a-way-to-quickly-take-screen-shots-with-the-desktop-app/4137>\
**Category:** Features\
**Created:** [1 November 2019 08:54 UTC](https://discourse.joplinapp.org/t/is-there-a-way-to-quickly-take-screen-shots-with-the-desktop-app/4137 "2019-11-01T08:54:02Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 6\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![vb0](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex028/user_avatar/discourse.joplinapp.org/vb0/32/1299_2.png) [@vb0](https://discourse.joplinapp.org/u/vb0)\
**Post date:** [1 November 2019 08:54 UTC](https://discourse.joplinapp.org/t/is-there-a-way-to-quickly-take-screen-shots-with-the-desktop-app/4137/1 "2019-11-01T08:54:02Z")

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I am thinking about something similar to OneNote’s “take screen clipping” where you do a key combination (it used to be Win+Shift+S but Microsoft being Microsoft went and used the same for W10 built-in screenshot feature so you need to change the combination for onenote to something else via a registry key-doesn’t matter), you get the cross-hair, make your selection and you release the mouse **it just goes to some note** without you having to find the note, paste it there or anything. The workflow I have in Joplin is precisely the same, just Win+Shift+S, select with mouse and release, then **bring Joplin to foreground, find a note somewhere in Joplin, go there and paste it (then go back to the original app)**.

The question is how to skip/automatize the last part? New feature? Would something with Autohokey work?

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**Author:** ![laurent](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ce7236/32.png) [@laurent](https://discourse.joplinapp.org/u/laurent)\
**Post date:** [1 November 2019 09:26 UTC](https://discourse.joplinapp.org/t/is-there-a-way-to-quickly-take-screen-shots-with-the-desktop-app/4137/2 "2019-11-01T09:26:04Z")

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> [@vb0](#):
>
> Would something with Autohokey work?

There was talks about adding "hooks" to the app so that external scripts can be launched and modify notes. Maybe that's what we should do, then AutoHotKey or other tools can be used to interact with the system.

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**Author:** ![awbmilne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f6c823/32.png) [@awbmilne](https://discourse.joplinapp.org/u/awbmilne)\
**Post date:** [25 September 2020 03:31 UTC](https://discourse.joplinapp.org/t/is-there-a-way-to-quickly-take-screen-shots-with-the-desktop-app/4137/3 "2020-09-25T03:31:16Z")

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While it isnt through the app...

If you are using Windows, press `Win + Shift + S`. This will freeze the screen and allow you to select a region of the screen to Screenshot. After you have dragged and released your region, It is automatically saved to the Clipboard. You can then just `Ctrl + V` it into the Joplin note.

OR you can click the Notification with your screen shot to open it in an InkSpace. You can mark on it however you like, Then close it and paste the marked up image with `Ctrl + V`.

This is how I have been taking quick Screen-Grabs for my Notes for University. It works very consistently and once you get used to it, It becomes really fast. (I can grab and paste in \<2 seconds)

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**Author:** ![vb0](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex028/user_avatar/discourse.joplinapp.org/vb0/32/1299_2.png) [@vb0](https://discourse.joplinapp.org/u/vb0)\
**Post date:** [25 September 2020 03:50 UTC](https://discourse.joplinapp.org/t/is-there-a-way-to-quickly-take-screen-shots-with-the-desktop-app/4137/4 "2020-09-25T03:50:07Z")

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Thanks but this is PRECISELY the manual work I try to avoid. It can be done relatively quickly and it doesn't break your flow too much if you're already collecting and editing some note(s) in Joplin but otherwise it's a disaster.

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**Author:** ![JackGruber](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex028/user_avatar/discourse.joplinapp.org/jackgruber/32/3231_2.png) [@JackGruber](https://discourse.joplinapp.org/u/JackGruber)\
**Post date:** [25 September 2020 06:08 UTC](https://discourse.joplinapp.org/t/is-there-a-way-to-quickly-take-screen-shots-with-the-desktop-app/4137/5 "2020-09-25T06:08:27Z")

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You can create workflows on ShareX.

here is an example of how it can be integrated:

> [@Send screenshot to Joplin (Windows)](https://discourse.joplinapp.org/t/send-screenshot-to-joplin-windows/4918):
>
> Since Joplin doesn’t provide a way to take desktop screenshot and save it automatically, I thought to find a solution. This depending on 2 components: [ShareX](https://github.com/ShareX/ShareX), a free and open source program that lets you capture or record any area of your screen, [Powershell](https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/powershell/scripting/overview), a task-based command-line shell and scripting language built on .NET. First, create Powershell script to invoke API POST to Joplin: I named it post.ps1 and saved it to C:\Users\rami\Downloads\. Following the script content: # Joplin A…

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**Author:** ![awbmilne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f6c823/32.png) [@awbmilne](https://discourse.joplinapp.org/u/awbmilne)\
**Post date:** [25 September 2020 17:03 UTC](https://discourse.joplinapp.org/t/is-there-a-way-to-quickly-take-screen-shots-with-the-desktop-app/4137/6 "2020-09-25T17:03:11Z")

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Sorry, @vb0, I misinterpretted your question by reading it too quickly...

The comment of AutoHotkey is a good Idea. While it could be a bit kludgy using the Terminal Application, It could be done with Opening it as a hidden window and sending key-pressed to the Window ID.

Using "Hooks" as @laurent mentions would be a much cleaner and more reliable system (if/when those are implemented)