A New Way to Share Metro Screenshots in Windows 8.1 Preview

If you’re using Windows 8.1 Preview on your Surface Pro like me, you may have noticed that there’s a new feature added to the Share charm that allows you yet another way to take screenshots from Metro apps.

Here’s how:

From your Metro app, use the Share charm and notice the dropdown arrow that gives you a couple more options, including a Screenshot option:

You can then Share to any of your Apps that allow Sharing. What you’ll notice missing from my list is SkyDrive. I’m not sure why – I heard rumors of Skydrive sharing in previous builds, but as of right now it seems to not be a feature. #fail

Share to OneNote MX as a Clipboard

It would also be nice if one of the options was a Share to the machine’s clipboard, so that you can paste it into another application, particularly on your Desktop. However, in lieu of this, I Share to my Metro OneNote MX application, and let the sync process (in my case, via SkyDrive) bring the screenshot to my Desktop, or any other device sharing my Notebook:

Use the new Screenshot feature to Share to OneNote MX

Your screenshot is pasted in OneNote MX

And, once Sync kicks in, your screenshot shows up in your Desktop OneNote, ready to be copy/paste’d, or to Save As

 

Other ways to share screenshots

The other more traditional ways to share screenshots from Metro include:

• Press-hold the Windows button and press the Volume-Down button tablet devices
• Win+PrintScreen keys when using a keyboard
• Win+S if you use OneNote Desktop
• For Windows 8.1, you need to re-map this shortcut until the fix is released later this year.