How to Annotate a Screenshot on Windows 11

To annotate a screenshot on Windows 11, take it with Windows logo key + Shift + S, select the notification to open it in Snipping Tool, and mark it up with Pen, Highlighter and Shapes. Then press Ctrl+C to copy the marked-up image or Ctrl+S to save it. Microsoft doesn't list a text tool among Snipping Tool's markup options, so to add labels, blur or numbered steps, open the snip in Paint (Edit > Edit with Paint) or use a capture tool with a fuller editor, such as ShareX.

Annotate a screenshot in Snipping Tool

1. Press Windows logo key + Shift + S and select the area to capture.
2. Select the notification to open the snip in the Snipping Tool window.
3. Mark it up with the tools in the toolbar (listed below).
4. Press Ctrl+C to put the marked-up image on the clipboard, ready to paste into a chat or document.
5. Select Save as to save it as a file under a new name.

The markup tools Microsoft documents are:

• Pen, to circle or underline something.
• Highlighter, to mark text.
• Shapes, to add shapes or emojis, for example a box around a broken button.
• Eraser, to remove a mark, plus Undo and Redo.
• Image crop, to cut away the parts nobody needs to see.

Saving under a new name keeps a clean copy and an annotated copy side by side. The clean one is what you'll want when the next build changes and the arrows no longer point at the right thing.

Add text, arrows and blur

Snipping Tool covers circles and highlights. For anything more, use one of these.

Paint

1. In Snipping Tool, select Edit > Edit with Paint.
2. Use Paint's text tool to add a label, and its shapes to add arrows or boxes.
3. Resize, rotate or recolour if needed, then save with File > Save as.

To annotate an image that's already a file, right-click it in File Explorer and select Open with > Paint.

ShareX

ShareX is a free, open-source capture tool with a full annotation editor. Its tools include Arrow, Text, Speech Balloon, Step (numbered markers), Highlight, Blur, Pixelate, Spotlight and Crop.

To have every capture open in the editor, turn on Open in image editor in After capture tasks. Inside the editor:

• Ctrl+Shift+C copies the edited image to the clipboard.
• Ctrl+S saves it, and Ctrl+Shift+S saves it under a new name.
• Enter applies your changes and runs the rest of the after-capture tasks; Esc cancels.

Greenshot, another free open-source capture tool for Windows, has an editor for annotating, highlighting and obscuring parts of a capture if you prefer something lighter. Pairing ShareX after-capture tasks with a clipboard shelf covers how to set up save-and-copy in one step.

Redact before you share

Annotation and redaction aren't the same job. Before a screenshot leaves your PC:

• Crop first. Removing a second monitor, a browser tab bar or the clock is safer than covering them.
• Use pixelate or a solid filled shape for names, emails, tokens and faces. A thin pen scribble can leave letters readable.
• Use Quick redact for emails and phone numbers. In Snipping Tool, select Text actions > Quick redact to hide the email addresses and phone numbers it recognises. It won't catch names, IDs or faces, so check the result. How to use Snipping Tool Text actions covers it in full.
• Clear the unredacted copy from your clipboard history. If history is on, the original snip may still be in Win+V; delete it with See more (...) > Delete.

Sometimes it's better to annotate in the destination

Marking up the image itself isn't always the best option. Leaving the PNG clean and adding notes where it's used keeps the original reusable. If the image will be published, write its alt text now and keep it with the file; keeping alt text with the image in handoff explains how:

If the same marked-up image has to go to several places, annotate it once, save it as a file and attach that file everywhere. Pasting it into chat, downloading it and pasting it again lowers the quality each time. Collecting client feedback screenshots in one place covers review rounds with many marked-up shots.

Tips for annotations people can read

• Keep it to one or two marks. A single box or arrow is clearer than five.
• Use one colour for problems and, if needed, a second for new or changed items. Explain the colours once in the message, not in tiny text on the image.
• Don't rely on colour alone. A red box on a red error banner disappears. Use a thick, high-contrast outline or a numbered marker outside the element.
• Don't cover what the reader needs to see. Box the area around a label, not the label itself.
• Annotate at the size people will view it. Marks drawn on a large capture that's later shrunk can become hard to read.

FAQ

Can you add text in Snipping Tool?

Microsoft's Snipping Tool guide lists Pen, Highlighter, Shapes, Eraser and Image crop as the markup tools, with no text tool. Select Edit > Edit with Paint to add text in Paint instead.

Does Text actions add labels to a screenshot?

No. Text actions reads the text that's already in the image so you can copy it. It doesn't add new text.

Will the annotated version replace the saved screenshot?

Use Save as with a new file name and you'll keep both. Open the files afterwards to check which one is clean and which is marked up before deleting anything.

How do you keep a series of annotated screenshots organised?

Save them as files with descriptive names in one folder. How to keep your last ten screenshots handy covers the Screenshots folder workflow.

Related reading

• How to Collect Client Feedback Screenshots in One Place
• How to Use Snipping Tool Text Actions (OCR) on Windows 11
• ShareX vs Snipping Tool: Which Screenshot Tool to Use?
• How to Compare Two Screenshots Side by Side

Sources

• Use Snipping Tool to capture screenshots (Microsoft Support) — Pen, Highlighter, Shapes, Eraser, Image crop, Edit with Paint, Text actions and Quick redact, Ctrl+C, Ctrl+S and Save as.
• ShareX image editor — annotation tools and Ctrl+Shift+C, Ctrl+S, Enter and Esc shortcuts.
• ShareX — Open in image editor after-capture task; free and open source.
• Greenshot (GitHub) — open-source capture tool that can annotate, highlight and obfuscate captures.
• Using the clipboard (Microsoft Support) — deleting an item from clipboard history.

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