You no longer need to manually save the snips you captured with the Snipping tool in Windows 11. In addition to being copied to the clipboard, they’ll be automatically saved in PNG format in the Screenshots folder under My Pictures from app version 11.2209.2.0 onwards. Here is how you can enable or disable this behavior.
Snipping Tool in Windows 11
Till now with the Snipping tool, when you use the shortcut Win+Shift+S and capture a snip.
It will be automatically copied to the clipboard where you can paste it into Paint or other image editors or you can open the Snipping Tool to do the markup and share.
But, the app seriously lacks an auto-save feature.
Users need to click on the notification to open the snipping tool, then need to select the save button in-app Settings and browse for a folder to save screenshots.
Upon request from users, Microsoft now added the ability to auto-save screenshots for Snipping Tool in Windows 11.
Snipping Tool gets auto save feature
Microsoft has introduced the feature in Windows 11 22H2 insider build 25211.
After installing this build, you need to open Microsoft Store and update Snipping Tool if it hasn’t.
The effective Snipping Tool version that has an auto screenshot save feature is 11.2209.2.0
When you use the Win+Shift+S keyboard shortcut, the options appear over the top with the ability to draw and select a region of the screen.
Once you did that, you receive a notification that the screenshot was copied to the clipboard and saved.
You can find the saved snips in the Screenshots folder in My Pictures
How to disable Snipping Tool’s automatic screenshot saving
- Press the Win key to open Start
- Type snip, open the Snipping tool
- Click on the three-dots icon and select Settings
- Toggle “Automatically save screenshots” setting to off to disable the feature.
Note: The feature is enabled by default.
Micorsoft has updated Snipping Tool settings, it’s worth taking note of what’s changed from the old.
Comparing old and new Snipping tool Settings
| Old Snipping Tool Settings | New Snipping Tool Settings |
| Automatically copy to clipboard | Automatically copy changes |
| Ask to save snips | Automatically save Screenshots |
| Ask to save edited screenshots | |
| Multiple windows | Multiple Windows |
| Snip outline | Add a border to each screenshot |
It may take a while for the feature to ship to the Stable Windows 11 build. Meanwhile, you can save screenshots directly and permanently to the screenshots folder when you use the Winkey +Print Screen shortcut.
Final words:
If you don’t use a third-party screen capture program on Windows 11, Microsoft updated Snipping Tool on the new OS with the ability to auto-save snips to screenshots in the My Pictures folder.
Have you found Snipping Tool’s new change useful? Let us know in the comments below.
More on Windows 11:
How to enable Modern System Tray in Windows 11
What is Suggested Actions in Windows 11? How to enable or disable it?
How to enable hidden Taskbar Overflow on Windows 11 22H2
How to get Notifications in Windows 11 when apps add to Startup list in Settings
