Free Snipping Tool for Windows

Overview of the Free Snipping Tool

Free Snipping Tool is a desktop utility for capturing any portion of your screen. While Windows includes its own basic snipping feature, this app adds powerful sharing and storage options so you can save and distribute screenshots more easily. It can upload captures to cloud drives, send files to FTP servers, and even perform WebRequest calls — all while remaining free to use without feature limitations.

Taking a screenshot

• Press the PrtSc (Print Screen) key to begin a capture.
• Use the program’s system-tray icon and choose the snip command.
• Launch the app via its desktop shortcut and select the capture option.

A rectangular selection box lets you choose the exact area to capture. After saving, the image opens inside the main program window for editing or sharing.

Markup and basic editing

• Add geometric overlays such as arrows, rectangles, circles and varied-width lines to call out details.
• Use freehand tools — a pen or highlighter — to draw directly on the image.

These simple editing tools make it easy to annotate screenshots before exporting or sharing them.

Sharing and storage choices

• Upload screenshots directly to an FTP server.
• Save to Dropbox for quick access and sync.
• Store images on Google Drive for easy sharing and long-term backup.
• Send the capture as a WebRequest to a URL or web endpoint.

When you save a screenshot, the tool can automatically generate a shareable link that others can open in a web browser for previewing the image.

Why use this instead of the built-in tool?

Free Snipping Tool expands on the default Windows utility by offering a richer annotation set and far more ways to distribute your captures. Its added cloud- and server-based export options make it a convenient choice for anyone who needs to share screenshots frequently or keep them organized across services.