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How to take a screenshot in Windows Phone 8.1

Learning how to take a screenshot is one of the first things you should do with a new device.

Jason Cipriani
Jason Cipriani
Jason Cipriani Contributing Writer, ZDNet
Jason Cipriani is based out of beautiful Colorado and has been covering mobile technology news and reviewing the latest gadgets for the last six years. His work can also be found on sister site CNET in the How To section, as well as across several more online publications.
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Jason Cipriani
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Jason Cipriani/CNET

Taking a screenshot can be of tremendous help when trying to troubleshoot an issue, show off your tile layout, or mock a random post on Facebook. With Windows Phone 8.1, Microsoft has made the screenshot process simple and fast.

To take a screenshot on a Windows Phone device running 8.1, press the power button and volume-up key at the same time. If you're having trouble getting the timing just right, hold in the volume-up key, then press the power button. I found this alternative method to work for me without issue.

windowsphone8-1screenshots.jpg
Sample screenshot taken of Cortana Screenshot by Jason Cipriani/CNET

Your device will instantly take a screenshot, alerting you it was successful with a shutter sound, and save it to a specific screenshot album in your Photos hub. From there, you can share, edit, delete, or do whatever you'd like with the captured screen.

For those waiting for the 8.1 update, you can take a screenshot by pressing the start and power buttons at the same time. Unsure when you're going to see the update? Dan Graziano breaks it all down for you in this post.

There's plenty of new features in Windows Phone 8.1; this post details 11 of them.