Snipping Tool not Saving Screenshots - Windows 10/11

Snipping Tool is an included screenshot utility for Windows. Commonly, it enables you to capture the screen and automatically save the image to the clipboard or the screenshot folder. However, Snipping Tool auto-save feature sometimes doesn't work.

If you encounter Snipping Tool not saving screenshots issue, try the following solutions.

Solution 1. Turn on Snipping Tool notifications.

By default, Snipping Tool notifies you when a screenshot is taken by using the shortcut Win+Shift+S for quick access to the clipboard. If the notification is disabled, Snipping Tool couldn't save that image.

1. Click the Start button or press Windows key and select Settings.
2. Choose System > Notifications & actions.
3. Click on the Snipping Tool (Snip & Sketch for Windows 10).
4. Turn on Notifications and check "Show notification banners" and "Show notifications in notification center" options.

Solution 2. Change the default screenshot folder.

If Snipping Tool not saving to screenshot folder on Windows 11, try to enable “Automatically save the original quality” option and change the default location.

1. After you open Snipping Tool, click See more (the three dots) icon and select Settings.
2. Turn on Automatically save original screenshots.
3. Click change to update the location path.

Solution 3. Delete the Registry value {B7BEDE81-DF94-4682-A7D8-57A52620B86F}

Accidently, Snipping Tool can't detect the new patch if you have moved the default screenshot folder to another location. In that case, screenshot not saving error happens. Remove the registry value that contains the save location and then Snipping Tool will automatically save screenshots to the default folder again.

1. Search Registry Editor and open it.
2. Navigate to the path: Computer\HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\User Shell Folders
3. Find out {B7BEDE81-DF94-4682-A7D8-57A52620B86F}. Right click the value and select Delete.

Solution 4. Use Save As… to save screenshots manually.

If Snipping Tool not saving screenshots issue appears repeatedly, you’d better use Save As… to save important screenshots to a specified folder in case missing.

1. Search Snipping Tool and open it.
2. Click New to capture a screenshot.
3. Go to Save As… to save your screenshots.

Solution 5. Use a Snipping Tool alternative.

If you have a bad experience with Snipping Tool, you can try a third-party screenshot tool like iTop Screen Recorder.

iTop Screen Recorder is an all-in-one screen recording and screenshot program for Windows. It empowers you to take a screenshot of part of screen, full screen, a window and scrolling window that saves the whole page as an image. It offers a set of drawing tools to add shape, arrow, text etc., to highlight or annotate information with ease. You can easily save the screenshots to a folder with no error.

Download and install it on your PC. Then, take a screenshot with iTop Screen Recorder following the steps.

Free Screen Recorder for PC

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1. Go to screenshot and select a capture mode.
2. Click screenshot button.
3. Select the screenshot area and annotate it if needed.
4. Click Save to save your screenshot to a folder. Otherwise, click Copy to copy the screenshots to clipboard.

If you have reinstalled and updated Snipping Tool but still meet "not saving screenshots" issue, try the above mentioned solutions. Hope helpful.