How to take a long screenshot
A long screenshot is one picture of something taller than your screen: the whole of a web page, a chat, an article. Phones have a button for it; computers do not, and that is where most of the questions come from. This guide gives the way to do it on a Windows PC and a Mac first, then on iPhone and Android, and explains why long screenshots so often come out with repeated headers and missing images.
What a long screenshot is
The tool scrolls the content, photographs each screen and stitches the pieces into one tall image. The same thing is called a scrolling screenshot, a full page screenshot, an extended screenshot, Capture more on a Pixel and Scroll capture on a Samsung. On a computer the content is almost always a web page, and the browser, not the operating system, is where the tools are.
On a Windows PC or a Mac, in the browser
Neither Windows nor macOS has a long screenshot shortcut; Win+Shift+S and Shift+Cmd+4 stop at the screen. The quickest route in Chrome, Edge, Brave or Arc is an extension. These steps are for FullPage Capture, a free long screenshot extension for Chrome, which we make.
Install FullPage Capture in Chrome or Edge. From the Chrome Web Store or Edge Add-ons. Free, no account, no watermark. Works on Windows, macOS, Linux and ChromeOS.
Open the page and click the icon. Or press Alt+Shift+K. The page scrolls by itself, screen by screen; sticky headers are kept once, images that load on scroll are waited for, panels that scroll inside the page are unrolled.
One long image. Copy it, annotate it, or save PNG, JPEG or a PDF, as one long page or in paper sizes with page breaks between lines.
Try it on this page. Free, no account, nothing is uploaded.
Add to Chrome
Without an extension: Edge has Web Capture (Ctrl+Shift+S, Capture full page); Chrome has Capture full size screenshot in DevTools (F12, Cmd/Ctrl+Shift+P); Firefox has right-click, Take Screenshot, Save full page; Safari on a Mac has File → Export as PDF. All four are fine for a plain article and stop at web apps and sticky headers. The browser-by-browser guide has each in detail.
Any window, not just the browser
To take a long screenshot of a chat app, a settings screen or a document viewer you need an app that scrolls the window itself: ShareX or PicPick (free) on Windows, Shottr (free) or CleanShot X (paid) on a Mac, Snagit (paid) on both. They stitch screen frames, so a header fixed inside the window can repeat; for web pages the extension gives a cleaner result because it works from inside the page.
On an iPhone or iPad
Take a screenshot in Safari (Side button and Volume up), tap the preview, choose Full Page at the top, then Done. It saves to Files as a PDF; recent iOS versions also offer Save to Photos as an image. It works in Safari and in some Apple apps such as Mail and Notes, not in third-party browsers. There is no scrolling capture of arbitrary apps on iOS.
On Android
Take a screenshot (Power and Volume down), then tap Capture more on a Pixel, or Scroll capture in the toolbar on a Samsung, and drag or tap until the capture reaches the end. Other makers put a similar option in the screenshot preview; a few do not have one. Chrome for Android also offers a long screenshot from Share → Screenshot on recent versions. Extensions do not run in mobile Chrome.
Why long screenshots come out wrong, and the fixes
- The header repeats down the image. Stitching tools photograph a fixed header on every screen. The extension captures it once and hides it for the rest; on a phone, scroll the header away before starting.
- Images are blank or grey. They load as you scroll and the capture was faster. The extension waits for each screen; with built-in tools, scroll to the bottom once first.
- The capture stops after one screen. The page does not scroll, a panel inside it does (Gmail, Notion, dashboards). The extension finds the real scroller; built-in tools do not.
- The image is huge or blurry. High-DPI screens capture at 2x; that is the sharp original. Export JPEG or downscale if the file is too large.
- The page is too long. Phones stop after a few screens; Chrome caps an image at 28,800 pixels a side, and the extension saves numbered parts beyond that.
Questions
Is a long screenshot the same as a scrolling or full page screenshot?
Yes. Phones say long or scrolling screenshot, Samsung says scroll capture, Pixel says capture more, desktop tools say full page screenshot. All of them mean one image of content taller than the screen.
How do I take a long screenshot on a laptop or PC?
Windows and macOS have no built-in long screenshot. In the browser use the built-in full page command (Edge: Ctrl+Shift+S; Chrome: DevTools) or an extension such as FullPage Capture; for other windows use ShareX or PicPick on Windows, Shottr or CleanShot X on a Mac. The Windows guide
How do I take a long screenshot on a Mac?
Safari: File, Export as PDF. Chrome or Edge: the extension, or the built-in DevTools and Web Capture commands. Any other window: Shottr or CleanShot X. Shift+Cmd+4 captures the screen only. The Mac guide
Why is there no long screenshot option on my Android phone?
It depends on the maker and the Android version. Pixel phones show Capture more after a screenshot from Android 12; Samsung shows Scroll capture in the toolbar; some other makers put it in the screenshot preview or lack it. Chrome for Android has a long screenshot in its Share menu Screenshot tool on recent versions.
Why does my iPhone save the long screenshot as a PDF?
Full Page in Safari saves to Files as a PDF by default, because the page is a document. Recent iOS versions offer Save to Photos as an image as well; otherwise open the PDF and share it as an image, or take the screenshot on a computer.
How long can a long screenshot be?
Phones cap it at a few screens. In Chrome the limit is the canvas, 28,800 pixels a side; the extension saves numbered parts beyond that, and its PDF export has no such limit in paper sizes.
Try it on the page you are reading. Free, no account, no watermark. Nothing is uploaded.
Add to Chrome