Screenshots not sizing correctly

Hi Mgradie

Welcome to Microsoft Community.

Based on your description, I understand that you found that the buttons to zoom in, zoom out, or resize the screenshot in the snipping tool were at the bottom of the screen making them inaccessible to you, and that you were also unable to capture the changes in the edges of the image and take a screenshot of the bottom edge of the screen, and I do understand how you feel about this!

Here are some things that I suspect may be causing the problem.

1. The snipping tool window may have been accidentally moved off-screen (commonly seen when an external monitor is unplugged and the coordinates are left behind)
2. Windows 11's screen scaling is too high (e.g. 150% or more) which may cause the interface to overflow the screen.
3. The temporary configuration file of the snipping tool is corrupted, resulting in misplaced controls.
4. If you miss the old Print Screen key, you may not have enabled the related settings.

etc.

I will give you some suggestions and options to hopefully solve your problem or find out what is causing it! However, as this is a first reply with little information and the problem needs to be investigated in different ways, please understand and provide more information (pictures would be great!) in your reply. Thank you very much!

Option 1: Personally, like you, I prefer to use the “Print Screen” button, it's easier and more straightforward.

It's simple and straightforward, and you can capture the entire screen.

If you can't use this feature at the moment, I wonder if the problem might be due to the fact that the traditional Print Screen button is not enabled.

Open Settings with “WIN + i” -> Select “Accessibility” -> “Keyboard” on the left sidebar -> Make sure “Use the Print screen key to open screen capture” is enabled -> You should now be able to use the traditional Print Screen key

Option 2: Let's try to force reset the snipping tool window position manually.

1. Let's restart the graphics driver by pressing “WIN + Ctrl + Shift + B”, at this point the screen should blink once, don't worry, this is normal.
2. Then open the Snipping tool -> hold down “Alt + Spacebar” and press “M” -> drag the window back to the screen with the arrow keys to check if the problem still exists!

Option 3: Let's try to adjust the display scaling manually and then test if the snipping tool will restore the original scaling.

Right click on Desktop -> Display Settings -> Zoom -> Try to temporarily adjust the zoom to 100% (requires logging out and logging back in).

Option 4: We try to force a reset of the window position by modifying the registry.

“WIN + R” to open ‘Run’ -> navigate to “Computer\HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Shell\SnippingTool” and open it -> in the right pane, delete the file with the name “WindowPlacement” in the right pane -> restart your computer and test if the problem still exists.

Disclaimer: For further protection, back up the registry before you modify it. Then, you can restore the registry if a problem occurs. For more information about how to back up and restore the registry, click How to back up and restore the registry in Windows - Microsoft Support to view the article.

Option 5: We try to repair or reset the snipping tool to see if there is a possibility that the problem is caused by a corrupted snipping tool.

Open Settings with “WIN + i” -> Select “Apps” on the left sidebar -> “Installed apps” -> Search for “Snipping Tool” -> Click “...” on the right side. button on the right and select “Advanced options”.

Let's try to fix the problem by clicking “Repair”, and if the problem persists, we can also try to reset the Snipping Tool by clicking “Reset”.

Option 6: Sometimes the problem may occur due to corruption or loss of the user account profile we are currently using.

Let's try creating a new local administrator account from the command line and logging in to see if the problem persists. (Creating it in another way is also possible)

Click “Windows Logo Key” to open the search bar -> Type “cmd” in the search bar and open it with administrator privileges -> Please enter the following command

net user USERNAME PASSWORD /add

net localgroup administrators USERNAME /add

Please note: USERNAME PASSWORD can be replaced with your preferred account name and password, if you don't need a password you can leave out the PASSWORD.

Option 7: Sometimes the problem may occur due to the corruption or loss of some system files.

We try to repair the system completely in two ways to at least make sure that the problem is not due to system corruption.

1. Scan and repair the system from the command line.

Click “Windows Logo Key” to open the search bar -> Type “cmd” in the search bar and open it with administrator privileges -> Please enter the following commands

DISM /Online /Cleanup-Image /ScanHealth

DISM /Online /Cleanup-Image /CheckHealth

DISM /Online /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth

SFC /Scannow

Please note: The above commands need to be repeated 5~6 times to ensure the completeness of the scan!

2. Please try the non-destructive repair.

The steps are:

(1) First download the ISO image file of Windows 11 via the following link.

The link is: Download Windows 11

(2) After the ISO file is downloaded, double-click it to open and run “setup.exe”.

(3) Under the “Install Windows 11” screen, select “Change how the installer downloads updates”.

(4) Under the “Get Updates, Drivers, and Optional Features” screen, select “Not Now”.

(5) Follow the instructions to continue.

Please note: If you are prompted to enter a key, the downloaded ISO image file does not match the current system version.

(6) Under the “Select what to keep” screen, please make sure to select “Keep personal files and applications” so that the contents of your computer will not be affected or lost.

(7) Start the non-destructive repair.

Option 8: Please try to clean boot your computer.

Since clean boot uses only a limited set of files and drivers, it can help us to effectively troubleshoot the possibility of problems caused by third-party applications, driver conflicts, etc.

You can refer to Clean Boot for more information: How to perform a clean boot in Windows - Microsoft Support

After clean boot, please slide down the webpage after opening the link and find “How to determine what is causing the problem after you do a clean boot” This is a dichotomy that helps us pinpoint the service that is causing the problem and disable it.

Disclaimer: A “clean boot” starts Windows with a minimal set of drivers and startup programs. It helps to determine whether a background service is interfering with your game or program and to isolate the cause of a problem. These steps of "clean boot" might look complicated at first glance. However, to avoid any trouble for you, please follow them in order and step-by step so that it will help you get back on track.

Option 9: There are some special cases we need to be aware of.

1. Are you using the new version of the screenshot tool?

If not, we can try to bring up the new version of Screenshot Tool by using the shortcut key “WIN + Shift + S” to check if the problem still exists.

2. We can also try to use some third-party screenshot tools, such as Snipaste, to check if the same problem occurs.

These steps mainly help us to narrow down the problem and check if the problem occurs on all screenshot tools or only on a specific screenshot tool.

Due to community rules, I can't provide you with specific third-party tools, you can check the information and choose a reliable and safe third-party tool through Github, Reddit and other technical communities.

Other than that, I have a few more questions I'd like to check with you so I can get a deeper understanding of your situation.

1. Are you using the new version of Snipping tool or the old one?
2. What is your system version?

“WIN + R” to open ‘Run’ -> type ‘winver’ and open it.

Because Windows 11 22h2 and above optimized the layout of the screenshot tool.

3. Have you tried other screenshot tools or other ways to take screenshots, and is it working?

I sincerely hope that the above information and programs will help you! Please feel free to contact me (Photos related to the question would be great!).

I look forward to hearing back from you. 

Best Regards

Arthur Sheng | Microsoft Community Support Specialist