How to Include the Cursor in Windows 10 Screenshots

Taking screenshots of your Windows 10 desktop can be very handy if you’re putting together presentations or writing how-to articles for a popular website. Neither the default print screen method nor the Snipping Tool in Windows 10 captures the cursor in the snapshot. How can we take a Windows 10 snapshot and have the cursor included? That’s something you can easily accomplish using a third-party application like Gadwin PrintScreen utility.

Here’s How to Use Gadwin PrintScreen to capture the cursor.

1. Download Gadwin PrintScreen for Windows 10 for free. Select Gadwin PrintScreen (not the ‘Professional’ version) from the software list to download the freeware version.
2. Click the software’s setup wizard in the zip file to install it.
   
3. Open the utility’s capture widget by hovering over its visible edge on the left side of your screen. The widget will slide out automatically.
   
4. Click Settings in the slide-out widget.
   
5. Optional: Change ‘PrtScn’ hotkey to something like ‘Alt + PrntScn’ to preserve original Windows ‘PrntScn’ functionality.
   
6. Press “Alt + PrtScn” (or whatever hotkey(s) you changed it to) to capture a snapshot of your complete desktop (with the cursor.)
   
7. Optional: You can capture a ‘movable/resizable’ rectangular area by pressing “Ctrl + PrtScn.”
   
8. Optional: You can capture a ‘specific’ rectangular area using “Shift + PrtScn.” The options available depend on what you are capturing.
   
9. After the image capture process, save your Gadwin snapshot by clicking the “Apply” button in the top left corner or by pressing the “F2” key.
   
10. Access the image from the “My Screenshots” folder (not “Screenshots”) that Gadwin created in your user folder. It won’t load or contain an icon or preview until you’ve hit the “Apply” button in the previous step.
    
11. The “Apply” button also copies the image to your clipboard. Paste the image into Paint, Inkscape, or whatever image software you use by pressing Ctrl + V.
    
12. Optional: The software also saves a history of your snapshots, which you can open by selecting “Show Capture History,” located in the slide-out widget menu.
    

You can also include alternative cursors in the snapshot by doing the following:

1. Select ‘Show Options’ on the slide-out circular menu to open the window below.
2. Click ‘Image’ and select the ‘Use a cursor from file’ checkbox.
3. Click ‘Cursor File’ and the ‘… button’ to choose an alternative cursor to incorporate into the image, and then press the ‘Open’ button. The snapshot will include the cursor selected, even if you captured it with the default one.

When using Gadwin PrintScreen, you can easily capture a variety of cursors within your snapshots. Use it to highlight software options and settings more effectively, or you can just use it to point something out in your screenshot.