How to Enable the Screenshot Tool in Google Chrome

You can enable the Screenshot tool in Google Chrome. It will appear under the "Share" menu in the address bar. The tool allows capturing a user-defined area of the open website in the current tab.

The Screenshot tool in Chrome is something that must be already familiar to Edge users. The latter includes "Web Capture", also a built-in screenshoter. However, in Chrome, the tool is hidden and is not available by default as of this writing.

Feature-wise it is very basic, as it is a work-in-progress. It only allows selecting an area to capture. It will put it directly to the clipboard without a warning or notification. Also, you can save the capture as a PNG image. There's also a basic editor/annotator, but currently it is a UI mockup that does nothing.

If you decided to give it a try, here's how to add it to the "Share" page menu.

Enable Chrome Screenshot Tool

To enable the Screenshot Tool in Google Chrome, do the following.

1. Open a new tab in Google Chrome.
2. Type or copy-paste chrome://flags/#sharing-desktop-screenshots into the address bar.
3. Now, selected "Enabled" from the drop-down menu to the right of the Desktop Screenshots option.
4. To enable the annotation option (screenshot editor), turn on the chrome://flags/#sharing-desktop-screenshots-edit flag called Desktop Screenshots Edit Mode.
5. Relaunch the Chrome browser using the button below the option list.

You are done. You have successfully enabled the Screenshots feature. Here's how you can use it.

Using the Screenshot tool

Open any website in a tab. Now, click the "Share" button that appears next to the URL in the address bar. See the screenshot below.

In the menu, you will see a new entry "Screenshot". Clicking it will start the area selection tool. Once you select an area on the page, it will instantly copied to the clipboard, and then appear as a preview thumbnail at the top right corner of the Chrome window.

There, you will also find the "Download" button that saves your screenshot as a PNG image.

Keep in mind that the Screenshot Tool in Google Chrome is a work in progress, so it may change over time and get extra features. Eventually it will become accessible by default, so you won't need to enable it with a flag.

The screenshot tool is not the only feature Google is working on. There is a new download indicator that will soon hit the stable branch of the browser.