How to Capture Screenshots Without Shadows in Windows 11

The Problem: Large Shadows in Windows 11

Window shadows are much larger under Windows 11 than under Windows 10. This can be an issue if you need to take screenshots, but don’t want to waste so much space on shadows. Simply cropping the screenshots is not a very aesthetically pleasing solution.

Solution 1: Use Alt+PrintSc

To quickly capture a screenshot of your active window without the shadows, press and hold the ‘Alt’ key, then hit the ‘PrtScr’ (or ‘PrtSc’) key. This will immediately capture a shadow-free screenshot of the window and copy it to your clipboard.

Solution 2: Temporarily disable shadows under windows

The simple solution above does not work for more complex scenarios, such as multiple windows in a single screenshot, or when you want to include tooltips.

For these cases, you can disable shadows under windows temporarily.

1. In the start menu, start typing “view advanced system settings” and then click on the best match:

2. Click on Settings under Performance (in the Advanced tab):

3. Uncheck “show shadows under windows”.

If you’re looking to disable shadows for a brief period, click Apply. This will disable the shadows but keep the dialog box open for you to easily revert to the original settings:

If you want to keep the shadows disabled for a longer time, click OK.

You can now use PrintSc or Windows+Shift+S to capture a screenshot.