Have you taken a screenshot and nothing seems to happen? Find out here what to do when Snipping Tool does not show a preview when you take a screenshot on Windows, and how to find the screenshots you may have missed.
First, the Blues
Say the Human Interface Guidelines for The Apple Desktop Interface from 1987: “The most illegible color is light blue.”
The claim has been substantiated with supposed reasons over the years (displays afford little luminance for blue and the human eye’s visual acuity is comparably bad in the blue wavelengths) and refuted with plausible reasons as well.
In any event, use thin, light blue lines, the guidelines suggest, for things you want to be unobtrusive and blend into the background so as almost to disappear… like screenshot previews, for example?
Speaking of which, back on Microsoft Windows, you can have these return, even if they’re of light blue interface elements:
How to Fix Windows Snipping Tool Not Showing the Preview
Snipping Tool can show a preview window when you take a screenshot using Windows notifications. By default, the banner notification is disabled.
Time needed: 3 minutes
To change Windows settings to show you visible notifications when you take a screenshot in Snipping Tool:
- Open Settings in Windows.
Windows keyboard shortcut: Press Windows I to open the Settings app.
- Go to System section.
- Open Notifications.
- Now click Snipping Tool under Notifications from apps and other senders.
- Turn on Notifications.
- Check Show notification banners to have Snipping Tool show notifications with previews for new screenshots.
If you miss the banner: Typically, you will enable Show notifications in notification center as well, of course, to get permanent notifications for all screenshots in Windows Notification Center.
- Close the Windows Settings window.
Open a Screenshot from Snipping Tool Without a Preview Notification
To open a screenshot from Snipping Tool without a preview banner notification (provided Notification Center is enabled for Snipping Tool):
- Open Windows Notification Center.
Here’s how: Click the time in the Windows task bar.
Windows keyboard shortcut: You can also press Windows N to open Notification Center. - Find the Snipping Tool screenshot notification.
Opening: Click the notification, of course, to open the screenshot in Snipping Tool.
How to Fix Windows Snipping Tool Not Showing the Preview: FAQ
I got no preview and no notification in Notification Center either; how can I open the screenshot?
Without any notification, the screenshot is either saved to the default location or present in the clipboard:
- From the clipboard, you can save the screenshot image to a file using Paint or Paint 3D.
- In the default save location, you can, of course, find the screenshots.
(How to fix Windows Snipping Tool not showing the preview tested with Windows 11 Version 22H2 and Snipping Tool 11.2310; updated December 2023)