How can I take a screenshot that includes the mouse cursor?

Question

When taking screen shots for use in tutorials, it would be really helpful to include the mouse cursor in the picture, but I've found that most screenshot tools (including those that ship with Windows) hide the cursor from the screenshot.

How can I take a screenshot on Windows which includes the mouse cursor?

Why not just take a shot of the relevant pointer type from the control panel mouse window, and then you can paste it in where ever you like. Not an *ideal* solution, but it's probably what I'd do. — DMA57361, Sep 15 '10 at 07:26
I don't know of any offhand, but I wrote a basic screenshot app, it would just be deleting a line to make it not hide the cursor, its GPL'd, so anyone can make that change freely. Source can be found here: http://www.pulsarsoftware.net/Download/Source/SC_0.1_Source.zip — MaQleod, Sep 15 '10 at 07:49
@DMA57361, because I mostly need custom mouse icons which are not in the standard control panel. — Sam, Sep 15 '10 at 08:08
@MaQleod: Sounds great, thanks - but I don't have a compiler for au3 files. — Sam, Sep 15 '10 at 08:14
you can get a compiler for that for free here http://www.autoitscript.com/autoit3/downloads.shtml — MaQleod, Sep 15 '10 at 08:20
**Please reopen.** There is nothing in the question that requests product, service, or learning material recommendations. The OP asks how to accomplish a particular and reasonable task. — Jason S, Nov 09 '18 at 15:44

ccpizza · Answer 1 · 2018-03-07T17:51:26.110

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IrfanView has an option to include the cursor while taking screenshots. Press C to configure options and the hotkey. It is free for private, educational, and non-commercial use.

edited Mar 07 '18 at 17:51

answered Jul 28 '12 at 20:08

ccpizza

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IrfanView is a great image viewer and a decent basic editor; I had no idea it took screenshots too! The screenshot capture tool looks nice and very flexible. – Steven Noto Aug 06 '12 at 20:55
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This should be the best answer. I've been using Irfanview for ages and completely forgot about this functionality until now. – Jason Hanley Dec 09 '12 at 19:08
IrfanView is good on capture, it's free and has advanced capturing options, but I couldn't get it to capture mouse cursor with tooltip.. – rook Dec 06 '13 at 11:52
Upvoted. Thank you very much. Did you know how to enable/disable mouse cursor using command-line options? – john c. j. Feb 19 '18 at 18:05
And how to take a screenshot? – Black Dec 19 '18 at 14:28
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@Black: by typing shortcut keys defined in the _Capture method -> Hot key_ section (see the screenshot). – ccpizza Dec 19 '18 at 14:55
Note: the cursor in the screenshot will lose its shadow. – Anderson Jan 18 '19 at 09:18
Cursor appears in the wrong place!! It appears to be an ancient problem they never bothered to fix: https://irfanview-forum.de/archive/index.php/t-7694.html – Mark Jeronimus Aug 02 '19 at 09:56

score 17 · Answer 2 · answered Jul 28 '12 at 20:20

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I've been very happy with Greenshot - you can turn on/off if mouse is captured or not + it has nice capability of adding notes and lines/arrows diretcly on the image after taking the shot. Great if you're creating user manuals or similar stuff. It's also free and open source.

http://getgreenshot.org/

(I'm not in any way affiliated with this product or it's author - just a satisfied user).

answered Jul 28 '12 at 20:20

Nikica Tarandek

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As an FYI, this program does not capture the drop-shadow of the Aero mouse cursor. But it seems to do a decent job otherwise. – Jessica Brown Aug 18 '12 at 21:35
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This is the best of them ALL! Get it on GitHub: https://github.com/greenshot/greenshot/releases – user Mar 09 '19 at 23:03

score 14 · Answer 3 · answered Feb 28 '13 at 22:28

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In Windows 7 you can also search 'psr' in the Start Search:

http://pcsupport.about.com/od/toolsofthetrade/ht/problem-steps-recorder.htm

This produces a .mht and images you can use in a tutorial.

answered Feb 28 '13 at 22:28

sterlingalston

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The only con to this method is that the images that were captured will be compressed and saved in JPEG format. Nonetheless, this helped me get my presentation across to others. – tom_mai78101 Nov 14 '13 at 13:24
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Another con to this method is that it only captures an image when you click the mouse button. In my case i was trying to record a problem that happens when you hover over the `Close` button of an application. – Ian Boyd Jul 25 '15 at 19:15
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Exists in Windows 10 too. – Adám Jul 27 '17 at 10:01
Doesn't just screenshot. It adds basket balls under the cursor when it records an image. – Mark Jeronimus Aug 02 '19 at 09:34
"Records" only standard pointers, even if they are customized in fact – Serhii Kheilyk Oct 07 '19 at 05:01
psr = Windows built-in [Step Recorder](https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/record-steps-to-reproduce-a-problem-46582a9b-620f-2e36-00c9-04e25d784e47) – mins Apr 12 '22 at 10:31

score 4 · Accepted Answer · answered Sep 15 '10 at 10:48

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Hypersnap is another good one.

answered Sep 15 '10 at 10:48

CGA

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The trial version adds ugly ads to the screenshot, but it worked for me so this is my answer. – Sam Sep 16 '10 at 05:29
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Irfanview is far better, free + no ads (see next answer) -- I always copy-and-paste screenshots into Ifranview for cropping anyway, so the capture feature makes it one step. – Jason Hanley Dec 09 '12 at 19:10
[Solid Capture](http://www.solidcapture.com/) - ten bucks cheapier, easier to use and trial without dirt on the screenshot. (It captures mouse cursor with tooltip, in contrast to [IrfanView](http://www.irfanview.com/)) – rook Dec 06 '13 at 12:00

score 3 · Answer 5 · answered Mar 20 '14 at 12:04

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ShareX is a good free tool to capture screen with cursor

answered Mar 20 '14 at 12:04

Olga

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score 2 · Answer 6 · edited Dec 08 '22 at 04:39

On windows 7 through 11, you can use the built in "Steps Recorder" application. This application shows the cursor as it is, and doesnt require installing a program (which may require admin access). The big disadvantage is resolution.

Unfortunately, you cannot copy the taken screenshots directly, but you can either use Win + Shift + S to then take a screenshot of that screenshot, or use this tutorial to extract the images.

Here are a couple of examples:

The screenshot of steps recorder that I got my target image from:

A couple of screenshots taken this way:

The resolution problem can be partially mitigated by enlarging the screen if the area required is small, example:

score 1 · Answer 7 · answered May 14 '21 at 18:34

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You can use Steps Recorder.

Press Start Record when you have it open, do what you have to, then press Stop Record.

answered May 14 '21 at 18:34

oofman

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I dont know why this was downvoted, it works well as a built in tool, even if it is slightly lower resolution – Anas Malas Dec 07 '22 at 16:18

Stef · Answer 8 · 2022-11-25T10:37:43.410

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XnView is another option. Go to Tools | Capture screen... and select Include mouse cursor:

XnView is provided as FREEWARE (NO Adware, NO Spyware) for private or educational use (including non-profit organizations).

edited Nov 25 '22 at 10:37

answered Nov 25 '22 at 09:22

Stef

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score 1 · Answer 9 · edited Nov 07 '11 at 15:13

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Snagit has the option includes the mouse cursor. Plus it includes a REALLY good editor for screenshots. If you are not a computer expert, it is the best tool.

edited Nov 07 '11 at 15:13

Drew Noakes

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answered Sep 15 '10 at 09:50

DMeister

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SnagIt is good and I have used both version 10 and 11. But somehow, it never captures the mouse for me on my Windows 7-64 bit machine. What's the trick there? I have used full screen, hot keys, timer but none of them work to capture the mouse cursor. I have to manually insert it by their excellent Stamp feature. – user173399 Sep 26 '14 at 05:39

score 1 · Answer 10 · answered Sep 15 '10 at 12:41

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Screenshot Captor has the option to capture the cursor. It's my screenshot tool of choice.

answered Sep 15 '10 at 12:41

pbr

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I’ve just checked it. It's really worth having a look at. And it shows (if wanted) the mouse pointer. (Windows 10 64 Bit) – Juergen Schulze Jan 11 '22 at 10:43

score 0 · Answer 11 · answered Sep 15 '10 at 08:35

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Screen Hunter should do the trick.

answered Sep 15 '10 at 08:35

Draco

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It does show the mouse pointer, but in a slightly misplaced location, and it messes up the background behind the mouse pointer :( – Sam Sep 15 '10 at 09:57

score 0 · Answer 12 · answered Feb 28 '13 at 22:36

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PicPick...

http://www.picpick.org/en/

great tool -- plus has little utilities that the rest of the suggestions don't.

answered Feb 28 '13 at 22:36

kflo411

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Please refer to this [meta post](http://meta.superuser.com/questions/5329/how-do-i-recommend-software-in-my-answers/5330#5330) on how to give answers that may require recommending software. – James Mertz Feb 28 '13 at 23:56

score -1 · Answer 13 · answered Jun 12 '22 at 15:35

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When the mouse pointer is enlarged (large mouse pointer) on Windows 10, the only screen capture app I find can capture it is ScreenHunter 7. It has a free version.

answered Jun 12 '22 at 15:35

Jostava Lasovich

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As it’s currently written, your answer is unclear. Please [edit] to add additional details that will help others understand how this addresses the question asked. You can find more information on how to write good answers [in the help center](/help/how-to-answer). – Community Jun 12 '22 at 15:43

How can I take a screenshot that includes the mouse cursor?

13 Answers13

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