Windows 11: Microsoft changes the function of the print button after 28 years

The vast majority of Windows users are generally not enthusiastic when changes are made to long-used and familiar features. So be prepared for some controversy if the behavior of the print button changes now.

The “Print” key, or the “PrtSc” print screen key, has ensured that the Windows operating system always behaves in the same way for 28 years now: A screenshot of the current display on the monitor is copied to the clipboard and this screenshot can then be viewed directly into any other software for further processing.

However, this is no longer the case in the latest Windows 11 beta preview builds with the identifiers 22621.1546 and 22624.1546. If you press the key in question there, the Windows Snipping Tool opens, which you could previously call up with the Windows key + Shift + S. That’s what colleagues reported windowslatest.

More features, but…

The new Snipping Tool, which combines features from the old Snipping Tool and Snip & Sketch, is pretty useful. The default rectangular mode allows users to capture a selected portion of the screen, meaning there is no need to crop a screenshot. There’s also a free-form capture mode, a windowed mode, and a full-screen mode. In addition, users can use the Snipping Tool to take scheduled screen captures and there is also a screen recorder for video capture.

In this respect, the Snipping Tool in Windows 11 offers significantly more than the previous function of the print button. But it is also a change to a function that many users have been using in the same way over and over again for decades. And getting used to it is correspondingly difficult here.

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