Ubuntu 18.04 Desktop – How to printscreen direct to clipboard

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In Ubuntu 18.04 when the print screen key is pressed a PNG file is automatically saved to the Pictures folder.

These steps show how to change this so it is instead saved to the clipboard – ready to be pasted into a document or image editor.

  1. Click on the arrow at the top right of the screen
  2. Click on the ‘Settings’ icon
  4. Using the left hand menu, open ‘Devices’ then ‘Keyboard’
  5. Scroll down until ‘Screenshots’
  6. Click on ‘Copy a screenshot to clipboard’
  8. Press the Print Screen button on your keyboard
  9. Press the ‘Replace’ button at the top right of the window to save the changes
  11. Restart the computer
  12. The Print Screen key will now automatically save screenshots to the clipboard.

The OLD Ubuntu 16.04 way …

By default in Ubuntu 16.04, when the printscreen key is pressed the gnome-screenshot window loads – which gives you the option to either copy to the clipboard or save as a picture.

The steps below show how to make the printscreen key automatically copy to the clipboard.

  1. Click on the ‘System Settings’ icon in the launcher
  3. Click on the ‘Keyboard’ icon
  5. Click on the ‘Shortcuts’ tab at the top of the window
  6. In the left hand menu, click on ‘Screenshots’
  7. In the list of options, select ‘Copy a screenshot to the clipboard’ then press the printscreen (PrtScr) button on the keyboard
  8. Click ‘Reassign’ to confirm the changes