Show, don't tell: screenshots straight into Copilot chat

Some questions are quicker to show than to describe: an error message, a layout that’s gone askew, a table that doesn’t look the way you expected. Copilot can now capture that part of your screen itself. You’ll find it in the plus menu next to the message box, under Take screenshot with a choice between Freeform Snip and Capture Screen. Whatever you grab lands in the chat, ready for your question. Microsoft documented the feature in its Windows release notes at the end of July. Here’s how it works and what to watch out for.

 

Info Benefit: Visual context, no detour
UseCase UseCase: Asking Copilot questions
Zeit Reading time:
2 minutes
Schwierigkeit Difficulty: Easy

The value shows up in one very specific moment: you have a question about something that’s on your screen right now, and you can simply ask it without leaving the chat. Capturing and asking happen in the same window.

That clears away several small interruptions at once. There’s no keyboard shortcut to remember, and no saved file to track down afterwards, because the snippet lands directly in the chat. Best of all, you keep your train of thought instead of bouncing between two programs.

Because the feature sits in the plus menu rather than as a button in the chat itself, it’s easy to walk straight past. Once you’ve found it, though, it quickly becomes second nature.

  1. In Copilot chat, open the plus menu next to the message box.
  2. Choose Take screenshot, then Freeform Snip from the submenu.
  3. Drag to select the area you want. The snippet drops straight into the chat.
  4. Add your question about the image and send the prompt.

  • Selection or full screen: Freeform Snip captures only the area you mark, while Capture Screen grabs the whole screen. The selection is usually the better choice, because it keeps anything that doesn’t belong from ending up in the chat: open mailboxes, names in the taskbar, documents sitting in the background.
  • The image goes to Copilot: your screenshot is sent to Copilot for processing. Treat it like any other upload and take a second to check whether anything personal or confidential is in frame.
  • Nothing runs in the background: only what you trigger gets captured. There is no continuous recording of your screen.
  • Windows first: Microsoft lists the feature in its release notes for Windows. On other platforms, you’ll still need the usual screenshot-and-upload routine.

Showing is often faster than explaining, and this makes the showing part easier. No switching tools, no shortcut to remember, no file to hunt down later. The next time you catch yourself typing out an error message, try the plus menu instead.