How to Save an Image from the Clipboard on Windows

Time needed: 5 minutes

To save an image copied to the clipboard (a screenshot, for example) to a file on disk using Microsoft Paint on Windows:

1. Open MS Paint.

   Here’s how: Press Windows for the Start menu, for instance, start typing paint and open the Paint app.
   Already open: If Paint is already open, save the current image and press Ctrl N to start with a fresh canvas for pasting the image.

2. Select Edit | Paste from the menu to insert the image data from the clipboard.

   Keyboard shortcut: You can also press Ctrl V, of course.
   The background: You need not worry about the original background, but you can remove it if you like (press Ctrl A and then Del).
   The size: Do not worry about the canvas size either; Paint will expand it to fit the clipboard image.
   Saving the clipboard: You can also pin an image to your Windows clipboard history for repeated pasting.

3. Click on the pasted image with the right mouse button.

   The selection: Paint has automatically selected the image data from the clipboard; you need not change the selection.

4. Select Crop from the context menu that has appeared.

   Paint keyboard shortcut: You can also press Ctrl Shift X to crop the selection instead of bringing up and using the context menu.
   

5. Select File | Save as | PNG picture from the menu.

   Image formats: PNG will save the image unaltered, but you can pick a different format, of course.

6. Choose a file name and location, then click Save to save the image from the clipboard to disk.