How to take a scrolling screenshot (2026)

If you've tried to take a scrolling screenshot of a long page and ended up with just the top of the screen, you're not doing anything wrong. None of the major OS-level screenshot shortcuts can scroll. They can't, because they only see pixels that are currently on your display. They're not lazy, they're just literal.

To capture content below the fold, you need a tool that scrolls the page for you and stitches the result. That's a browser feature, an extension, or a system-wide app depending on what you're capturing. This post is the cross-platform map: which method to use on Windows, Android, iPhone, or any Chromium browser, and where to read the Mac deep dive when you need it.

The short answer

If you're capturing a webpage, a Chrome extension is the fastest scrolling screenshot tool on any operating system. Full Page Hero does it in about three seconds. If you can't install an extension (managed work device, locked-down browser), use Microsoft Edge's Web Capture on Windows or the built-in browser tool on Mac.

If you're capturing a desktop app (a spreadsheet, a chat window, a PDF viewer), no browser tool will help. Use ShareX on Windows or Shottr on Mac.

OS-level shortcuts (Cmd+Shift+5 on Mac, the Snipping Tool on Windows) do not scroll. Skip those for anything taller than your screen.

What "scrolling screenshot" actually means

A scrolling screenshot is one continuous image of a page that's taller (or sometimes wider) than your screen. The tool scrolls the content programmatically, captures each viewport, and stitches them into one file.

The term started on mobile (Samsung introduced "Capture more" in 2017, the rest of Android followed). On desktop, the same concept is usually called a "full-page screenshot" when it's a webpage and a "scrolling capture" when it's a desktop app. Same trick, three names.

Pick your method

If you only want the answer for your setup, here it is.

The rest of the post walks through each of these.

Method 1: Full Page Hero (any OS, fastest)

This is our extension, so full disclosure up front. We built Full Page Hero because every other screenshot tool we tried either truncated long pages, captured the sticky header eight times, or lazy-loaded half the content as gray placeholders. The trade-off is honest: install one Chrome extension, and after that, every scrolling screenshot takes about three seconds, on whichever operating system Chrome is running.

1. Install Full Page Hero from the Chrome Web Store

   Free. No account. Pin the icon to your Chrome toolbar so the next capture is one click.

2. Click the icon and choose Capture Full Page

   The extension scrolls through the page in viewport-sized steps, hides repeating sticky headers after the first viewport, and stitches the result into one image. A results tab opens automatically.

3. Copy, download, or annotate

   From the results view, copy to clipboard, drag to your desktop, or export as PNG, JPEG, WebP, PDF, or Markdown. Open the annotation editor for arrows, blur, and labels.

Same install, same flow, on Mac, Windows, Linux, and Chromebook. The OS becomes irrelevant once Chrome is running.

Method 2: Chrome DevTools (any OS, free, with one big catch)

Chrome has a built-in scrolling screenshot inside Developer Tools. It's free, ships with the browser, and works on any OS that runs Chrome. It also silently truncates anything past 16,000 pixels tall, which is most long blog posts and any dashboard export.

The trigger is the same idea on every OS, the shortcut just changes:

1. Open DevTools: Cmd+Option+I on Mac, Ctrl+Shift+I or F12 on Windows / Linux.
2. Open the Command Menu: Cmd+Shift+P on Mac, Ctrl+Shift+P on Windows / Linux.
3. Type "screenshot" and choose Capture full size screenshot.

Chrome scrolls through the page, captures it, and drops a PNG into your Downloads folder.

For a one-off capture of a short page, this is fine. For anything serious, it's the wrong tool.

Method 3: Microsoft Edge Web Capture (the easiest Windows built-in)

Edge has the cleanest built-in scrolling screenshot of any browser. If you're on Windows and can't install extensions, this is the lowest-friction way to capture a long webpage.

1. Open the page in Edge

   Navigate to the page you want to capture.

2. Open Web Capture

   Press Ctrl+Shift+S, or right-click anywhere on the page and choose Web capture. A small toolbar appears at the top.

3. Click Capture full page

   Edge scrolls through the page, captures it, and opens the result in a preview panel. From there you can mark it up with a pen and highlighter or save it directly as a PNG.

The catch: Edge's annotation tools are weak compared to a Chrome extension, there's no PDF export, and like every browser built-in, it doesn't handle inner scroll regions or pre-scroll to trigger lazy-loaded content (which is what produced the blanks above). For "I need a screenshot of this article right now" on a locked-down Windows machine, it's still the best option.

Method 4: ShareX (Windows, system-wide, free)

If you need to capture something that isn't a webpage (a desktop spreadsheet, an Outlook thread, a chat client, a PDF inside a viewer), no browser tool will help. ShareX is the free, open-source standard on Windows for capturing inside any app.

1. Install ShareX

   Download from getsharex.com. Free and open source.

2. Open the app you want to capture

   ShareX captures the active window, so put the right thing in front before you start.

3. Start Scrolling Capture and draw the area

   Right-click the ShareX icon in the system tray and choose Capture > Scrolling capture. Click and drag a selection over the scrollable area inside the window. ShareX scrolls a configurable amount per step, captures each one, and stitches the result.

ShareX can be fussy about apps with non-standard scroll handlers (some Electron apps, some games' menus). For ordinary documents and most web-style native apps, it works.

On Mac: see the dedicated guide

Mac has more options than Windows. Firefox's Take Screenshot, Safari's Web Inspector, Chrome DevTools, and the Shottr app for non-browser content all work today. Rather than repeat the walkthroughs here, we cover each method in detail (with the failure modes, screenshots, and Mac-specific shortcuts) in our full-page screenshot on Mac guide.

The short version, so you know what's there:

• Firefox Take Screenshot. Easiest no-install option. Right-click, Take Screenshot, Save full page.
• Safari Web Inspector. Works once you enable the developer menu in settings. Right-click the <html> element in the inspector and choose Capture Screenshot.
• Chrome DevTools. Same Cmd+Option+I, Cmd+Shift+P, "Capture full size screenshot" flow described above. Same 16,000-pixel truncation issue.
• Shottr. Menu-bar app for system-wide scrolling capture. Mac equivalent of ShareX. Free with an optional $8 license.

If you arrived here looking for the Mac answer specifically, head straight to that guide.

On Android

Most modern Android phones have a built-in scrolling screenshot. The exact button depends on the manufacturer.

Pixel and stock Android 12+

1. Take a normal screenshot

   Press Power + Volume Down. A preview thumbnail appears in the bottom corner.

2. Tap Capture more

   Inside the preview, tap the Capture more button (it has a downward arrows icon).

3. Adjust the crop and save

   Drag the bottom edge of the selection down to include more of the page. Tap the Save icon at the top when you're done.

Samsung One UI

1. Take a normal screenshot

   Press Power + Volume Down. The Scroll Capture toolbar appears at the bottom of the screen.

2. Tap the double-arrow button

   A small icon with two downward arrows appears in the toolbar. Tap it. The phone scrolls down one viewport and adds it to the capture.

3. Keep tapping until you reach the bottom

   Each tap scrolls one viewport further. When you've captured everything, tap anywhere outside the toolbar. The result saves to Gallery.

On iPhone

iPhone has scrolling screenshots built in, but only for Safari webpages.

1. Take a normal screenshot (side button plus volume up on Face ID iPhones, side button plus home button on older models).
2. Tap the preview thumbnail in the bottom corner before it disappears.
3. At the top of the editor, choose Full Page instead of Screen.
4. Crop if you need to, then save. The output is a multi-page PDF saved to Files.

For any other iOS app there's no built-in scrolling screenshot, and third-party tools are limited because iOS sandboxes them from reading another app's scroll content.

Side-by-side comparison

Common problems and how to fix them

These hit on every platform; the fix is usually the same.

The bottom of the screenshot is cut off

You're using Chrome DevTools on a page taller than 16,000 pixels. Switch to a tool that tiles (Full Page Hero, Edge Web Capture, or any of the Mac browser tools).

The header repeats on every section

Sticky elements (navbar, cookie banner, floating sidebar) stay pinned during a naive scroll. Full Page Hero hides them after the first viewport. With browser built-ins, your option is to open DevTools first, right-click the sticky in the Elements panel, and delete it before you capture.

Images come out blank or half-loaded

The page is lazy-loading. Scroll top-to-bottom once and wait a few seconds before you start the capture. Full Page Hero pre-scrolls and waits for network idle automatically.

A scrollable section inside the page doesn't scroll

The page has an inner scroll region (Gmail thread, chat sidebar, data table). Most tools only follow the main page scroll. Full Page Hero supports element-level capture for this case. With browser built-ins, the fallback is the print dialog (Ctrl+P or Cmd+P, Save as PDF), which sometimes captures the full inner content because the print stylesheet expands it.

The screenshot tool refuses to capture the app

On Android and iOS, some apps mark their windows as secure to block screenshots (banks, password managers, DRM video). There's no workaround at the OS level.

Which one should you actually use?

• You take scrolling screenshots of webpages often -> Install Full Page Hero. Three seconds, every site, handles every edge case above.
• You're on Windows and can't install browser extensions -> Use Edge Web Capture (Ctrl+Shift+S). Best built-in on the platform.
• You're on Windows and need to capture a desktop app -> Use ShareX. No browser tool will help here.
• You're on a Mac -> Start with the full Mac guide. It covers the built-ins, Shottr, and the Mac-only Cmd+P print-to-PDF trick.
• You're on Android -> Use the built-in Capture more (Pixel) or double-arrow (Samsung). It's already on your phone.
• You're on iPhone capturing a webpage -> Use Safari's Full Page option in the screenshot editor.

If you've been hitting the same walls with built-in tools (truncated pages, repeated headers, missed inner scroll), install Full Page Hero free from the Chrome Web Store and try the same capture. You'll probably have a "wait, that's it?" moment the first time.