Overview
Capturing what's on your screen is one of the most useful everyday skills, whether you're saving a confirmation, grabbing a long chat, or recording a short how-to. Most phones offer both a button combo and a gesture, plus scrolling capture and a full screen recorder. Here is how to set each one up and use it cleanly.
Symptoms you might see
- You don't know the button combo to take a screenshot.
- Screenshots cut off a long page or chat you wanted in full.
- You need to record a short video of your screen but can't find the recorder.
- Your screen recording has no sound, or captures the wrong audio.
Possible causes
- The palm-swipe or gesture capture option is turned off.
- You're pressing the button combo too slowly or not together.
- Scrolling screenshot only appears on pages that can actually scroll.
- The screen recorder's audio source is set to none or to the wrong input.
Step-by-step troubleshooting
Work through these in order — the earliest steps are the safest and fix the most cases.
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Take a screenshot with buttons
Press and release the power button and the volume-down button at the same time. A brief flash and a thumbnail confirm the capture. If it doesn't work, try holding both for a half-second rather than tapping.
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Turn on gesture capture
In Settings, search 'screenshot' and look for a palm-swipe or three-finger gesture option. Enable it, then swipe the edge of your hand across the screen (or drag three fingers down) to capture without buttons.
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Capture a long, scrolling page
Take a normal screenshot, then tap 'Capture more', 'Scroll' or the expand icon in the preview toolbar. The phone scrolls and stitches the page into one tall image. It only appears when the content can scroll.
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Edit and share from the preview
Use the floating thumbnail to crop, draw, highlight or share straight away. If you miss it, every capture is saved to your Photos/Gallery in a Screenshots album.
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Start a screen recording
Open the quick-settings panel and tap the 'Screen record' tile (add it via the edit icon if it's missing). Choose whether to record device audio, microphone audio, or both, then start. A timer or dot shows it's recording.
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Stop and find the recording
Tap the recording notification or the floating stop control to finish. The video saves to your Gallery alongside photos. Trim it in the Gallery editor if you only need part of the clip.
Before you go further: back up your device to a cloud backup or a computer whenever possible. Steps that could affect your data are clearly flagged — and for suspected hardware faults, a qualified repair professional is the safest next step.
Prevention tips
- Add the Screen record tile to your quick-settings panel so it's always one swipe away.
- Decide your audio source before recording to avoid silent clips.
- Use scrolling capture for receipts and long threads instead of several separate shots.
- Clear old screenshots periodically — they add up and fill storage.
- Check for a screenshot sound/flash setting if captures feel like they didn't register.
Frequently asked questions
Why is my screen recording silent?
The recorder's audio source is probably set to 'No audio'. Before you start, choose 'Device audio' to capture app sound or 'Microphone' to narrate — or both together.
The button combo isn't working — what else can I try?
Enable the palm-swipe or three-finger gesture in screenshot settings, or add a screenshot tile to quick settings. Some phones also offer a floating assistive button that includes capture.
Can I screenshot a whole webpage at once?
Yes. Take a standard screenshot, then tap 'Capture more' or the scroll/expand button in the preview to stitch the full scrollable page into one long image.
Related guides
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