22/09/2026
One of the most understated productivity features in Windows:
Win + Shift + S
Most people know the Snipping Tool for taking screenshots, but it quietly does a lot more.
Text Extractor
This is particularly useful. It can recognise text from an image, PDF, website or almost anything on your screen and turn it into selectable, copyable text.
No retyping — just extract it and paste it straight into Excel, Outlook, Teams or wherever you need it. It can even Quick Redact detected email addresses and phone numbers before sharing.
Colour Picker / Eyedropper
Another great feature. Select a colour directly from your screen and get its exact HEX, RGB or HSL value — ideal for matching company branding, presentations, websites and graphics.
Then there are the screenshot tools themselves. Rectangle Snip captures a specific area, Window Snip grabs an entire application window, Full Screen captures everything displayed, and Freeform lets you draw around exactly what you want.
You can also use Perfect Screenshot to help identify and tighten the area you want to capture, or Screen Recording to quickly record a selected part of your screen and demonstrate a process.
All from one shortcut:
Win + Shift + S
The screenshot might be the obvious feature, but some of the less obvious tools are where the real time savings are.