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German keyboard

How to Take a Screenshot on a German Keyboard (Windows and Mac)

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On a Windows German keyboard, press Windows + Druck (also labeled Drucken) to save a full-screen screenshot in Pictures > Screenshots. The same key may be labeled PrtSc, PrtScn or Print Screen on an English layout. If your keyboard has no dedicated Print Screen key, try Fn + Windows + Space. On a Mac, use Umschalt (Shift) + Befehl (Command) + 3, 4 or 5 depending on what you need to capture.

This guide covers Windows 10, Windows 11 and current macOS behavior. Compact keyboards, Fn layers, remapped keys, accessibility settings and individual apps can change what happens, so the troubleshooting sections explain what to try when a shortcut appears not to work.

Find the Print Screen key on a German keyboard

German keyboard layouts normally print Druck or Drucken on the key that English-language keyboards call Print Screen. Laptop and compact keyboards may combine it with another function, show a small camera or rectangle icon, or place it behind an Fn layer. The physical position is often near the upper-right area, but the label and placement vary by manufacturer.

German label English equivalent Typical purpose
Druck PrtSc, PrtScn, Print Screen Copy the screen or, with Windows, save a full capture
Drucken Print Screen Same Print Screen function; the wording differs by keyboard

Do not confuse Druck with the printer key or a browser print command. For screenshots, Windows treats it as the Print Screen function.

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Windows 10 and Windows 11: choose the result you want

Save the entire screen automatically

  1. Press Windows + Druck (or Windows + Drucken).
  2. The screen may briefly dim. Windows saves the image under Pictures > Screenshots in your user folder.
  3. Open File Explorer and select Pictures, then Screenshots. The file is ready to rename, edit or share.

This is the quickest option when you want a file rather than a clipboard image. If OneDrive is managing your Pictures folder, the actual path can instead be inside your OneDrive folder; search for the Screenshots subfolder if it is not in the local Pictures location.

Copy the whole screen to the clipboard

  1. Press Druck once.
  2. Open an image-capable app such as Paint, an email composer or a document editor.
  3. Press Ctrl + V to paste the image.

Pressing Druck alone does not necessarily create a visible file. It can place the capture in the clipboard, so pasting is the test that confirms it worked.

Copy only the active window

  1. Click the window you want so it is active.
  2. Press Alt + Druck.
  3. Paste with Ctrl + V into an image-capable application.

This excludes other windows and most of the desktop. Menus, dialog boxes and browser windows are captured as part of the selected active window.

Select a rectangular region

  1. Press Windows + Umschalt + S.
  2. When the screen-snipping overlay appears, choose rectangular, freeform, window or full-screen capture from its toolbar.
  3. Select the area. Windows places the result in the clipboard and displays a notification you can open for annotation and saving.

This shortcut is usually better than cropping a full-screen image because you select the useful area before copying it.

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Use the Print Screen key to open Snipping Tool

Windows can assign the Print Screen key directly to screen snipping. To check the assignment, open Settings > Accessibility > Keyboard and look for Use the Print Screen button to open screen snipping. Turn it on if you want Druck to launch the snipping overlay instead of copying the entire screen. The wording and available switches can differ slightly between Windows 10 and Windows 11 updates.

No dedicated Druck or PrtScn key

Microsoft documents Fn + Windows + Space as an alternative for devices without a PrtScn button. Hold all three keys together. On some laptops, the manufacturer assigns Print Screen to another key, so inspect the secondary legends or the keyboard manual if this combination does nothing.

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macOS with a German or non-Apple keyboard

Mac screenshots do not depend on a key labeled Druck. macOS uses the Command key, which Apple’s German documentation calls Befehl. On a third-party keyboard, use the key macOS maps to Command; its printed label may be Windows, Command or another symbol.

Capture the entire display

Press Umschalt + Befehl + 3. macOS saves the capture to the desktop by default.

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Capture a selected area

  1. Press Umschalt + Befehl + 4.
  2. Drag across the area you want.
  3. Release the pointer to take the shot.

Capture a window or menu

  1. Press Umschalt + Befehl + 4.
  2. Press Space so the pointer changes to a camera.
  3. Click the window or menu.

Open the screenshot and recording toolbar

Press Umschalt + Befehl + 5. Apple documents this toolbar for macOS Mojave 10.14 and newer. It provides controls for still screenshots, screen recordings, a timer, a destination and options such as showing the pointer.

Copy a Mac screenshot instead of saving it

Add Ctrl to the relevant shortcut. For example, Ctrl + Umschalt + Befehl + 3 copies the full-screen capture to the clipboard rather than saving it as a desktop file. Paste with Cmd + V in the destination app.

Some applications restrict screenshots for security or content-protection reasons. If a particular app remains blank in a capture while other apps work, the restriction may be intentional rather than a keyboard fault.

Which shortcut should you use?

Platform What you want Shortcut Output
Windows Full screen saved as a file Windows + Druck Pictures > Screenshots
Windows Full screen copied Druck Clipboard; paste with Ctrl + V
Windows Active window copied Alt + Druck Clipboard; paste with Ctrl + V
Windows Area, window or menu selected Windows + Umschalt + S Snipping overlay and clipboard
macOS Full screen Umschalt + Befehl + 3 Desktop by default
macOS Selected area Umschalt + Befehl + 4 Desktop by default
macOS Toolbar and recording controls Umschalt + Befehl + 5 Screenshot toolbar

Troubleshoot a German-keyboard screenshot

Druck appears to do nothing

  • Press Druck, open Paint or another image editor, and try Ctrl + V. The image may be on the clipboard without any on-screen confirmation.
  • Hold Fn while pressing the key if your keyboard uses an Fn layer.
  • Try Windows + Umschalt + S; this bypasses uncertainty about the Print Screen key.
  • Check Settings > Accessibility > Keyboard and review the Print Screen screen-snipping switch.

There is no Druck key

Try Fn + Windows + Space. If that fails, look for a secondary PrtSc symbol on another key, consult the laptop maker’s keyboard map, or use Snipping Tool from the Windows Start menu.

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The wrong window is captured

For Alt + Druck, click the target window immediately before pressing the shortcut. For a precise area, use Windows + Umschalt + S instead.

The file cannot be found

Windows saves Windows + Druck captures in Pictures > Screenshots, but folder redirection or OneDrive can change the visible path. Search File Explorer for Screenshots and sort by date. A plain Druck capture is clipboard-only until you paste and save it.

The shortcut behaves differently on a compact keyboard

Compact layouts may require Fn, may swap the Windows and Command keys, or may expose Print Screen only through a firmware layer. Test the shortcut in a simple desktop window first. If other keys also produce unexpected symbols, check the active keyboard layout in Windows or the keyboard’s configuration utility.

A Mac app blocks the capture

Try capturing the desktop or another application. If those work but one protected app does not, macOS or the app may intentionally prevent screenshots. Use the app’s own export or sharing command where available.

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When you need an automated website screenshot

The keyboard shortcuts above capture what is visible on your own computer. For a repeatable screenshot of a public web page, an API is more suitable than opening a browser manually. ScreenshotNeo is a website screenshot API and MCP server for developers: it accepts one GET request and returns a PNG, JPEG, WebP or PDF.

Or skip the browser setup

With an access key, the following request captures https://stripe.com. The complete parameter reference is in the ScreenshotNeo documentation.

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curl -G "https://api.screenshotneo.com/v1/shot" -d access_key=YOUR_API_KEY --data-urlencode url=https://stripe.com -o shot.webp
import requests
r = requests.get("https://api.screenshotneo.com/v1/shot", params={"access_key": "YOUR_API_KEY", "url": "https://stripe.com"}, timeout=90)
open("shot.webp", "wb").write(r.content)
const q = new URLSearchParams({ access_key: 'YOUR_API_KEY', url: 'https://stripe.com' });
const res = await fetch(`https://api.screenshotneo.com/v1/shot?${q}`);

ScreenshotNeo accepts consent banners before capture and removes more than 60 known consent platforms, newsletter popups and chat widgets; each cleanup step can be disabled. Bot checks or CAPTCHAs, blank pages, timeouts, failed loads and cache hits are not billed, and response headers identify the page verdict and whether the request was billed. Its MCP server provides take_screenshot, get_page_info and capture_pdf tools to Claude, Cursor and other MCP clients.

You can set full-page capture with lazy-image loading, CSS-selector element capture, dark mode, device presets, custom viewports, retina scale, PDF paper and page options, custom CSS or JavaScript, clicks, waits, blocked resources, headers, cookies, user agents, authorization, timezone, geolocation, transparent backgrounds, resizing, chosen cache TTLs, signed image links, asynchronous webhooks and bulk capture of up to 100 URLs per call. Every plan includes these features. The free plan includes 1,000 screenshots each month without a card; paid plans start at $5 for 3,000 shots, with yearly billing providing two months free.

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Create a free ScreenshotNeo account to use the monthly allowance without entering a card.

What not to assume

  • The Windows combinations in this guide are not Linux instructions; behavior on Linux depends on the desktop environment and distribution.
  • A German key label does not guarantee identical behavior across every keyboard firmware, Fn layer or Windows setting.
  • A screenshot shortcut may copy an image without saving a file. Always distinguish clipboard output from a saved capture.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I change where Windows saves screenshots?

Yes. Windows and cloud-sync tools can redirect the Pictures folder, so the effective Screenshots location may differ from the default. Check the Pictures folder properties or your sync client’s folder settings before changing it.

Why does my external keyboard use Command instead of Befehl on a Mac?

macOS assigns modifier functions independently of the legends printed on a third-party keyboard. Check the keyboard settings in macOS to see which physical key is mapped to Command, then use that key with the Umschalt screenshot shortcuts.

Can a website prevent a screenshot?

A browser page can show bot checks, consent dialogs or other overlays that affect an automated capture. ScreenshotNeo reports these page outcomes in response headers and does not bill bot checks, blank pages or failed loads.

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The Bottom Line

For Windows, start with Windows + Druck for a saved full-screen image, Druck or Alt + Druck for clipboard captures, and Windows + Umschalt + S for a selected area. On macOS, use Umschalt + Befehl + 3, 4 or 5.

Quick Recap

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