Assign Keyboard Shortcut Sequence to Quickly Run Vista Snipping Tool

Snipping Tool is a free screen capture utility that comes built-in with Windows Vista. Unfortunately, there is no keyboard shortcut or accelerator key press sequence been associated or assigned by default. Thus, users unable to quickly run the Snipping Tool when needed by just pressing keyboard keys without opening Start Menu or desktop.

However, by using feature in Windows Vista operating system, it’s possible to assign or associate a keyboard shortcut to instantly launch Snipping Tool. In fact, there are two ways to do it.

First method is by setting the shortcut key for Snipping Tool in the properties of the Snipping Tool shortcut or icon in Start Menu, Desktop or any other place. To do so, right click on Snipping Tool icon on desktop or Snipping Tool shortcut in Start Menu (inside Accessories, and select “Properties”. In the “Shortcut” pane, there is a field named “Shortcut key”. Click on the text field after the “Shortcut key”, but you can’t type in text there. Simply press the keyboard accelerator keys that you want to use as the keyboard shortcut for Snipping Tool, and the shortcut keys will automatically appear in the text field. Note that only certain combination of keys can be used.

Second alternative is to use keyboard shortcuts default on Quick Launch bar. To use this method, place a Snipping Tool shortcut in the Quick Launch bar (Snipping Tool will probably prompt you to display icon in Quick Launch bar on first run, else you can set the preference in Snipping Tool options. Once Snipping Tool icon appears in Quick Launch bar, count its position from the left, and press “Alt + (location number of Snipping Tool icon in Quick Launch bar)” will run Snipping Tool instantly.

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This entry was posted on Friday, February 15th, 2008 at 3:32 am and is filed under Windows Vista. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.