Saving an Image



1789 receiptYou are searching on the Internet, doing research relating to your family history. You come across a photo, document, record, postcard, something that you would like in digital format. If you are not already familiar there are a couple methods to keep a copy of what you just found.

First thing is to make a note of site you found the item. Was it a person’s own web site, a governmental site, on FamilySearch.com, or some other, then write down the information. This way you are giving credit to your source plus if you need to you can find the item in the future, you have the location.

One method is to do a ‘right-click’ using your mouse. You will get a box to ‘save image as’, so you will need to know ahead of time where you want this image to go on the computer. Also you will need to rename the image so you are more familiar with it.

If there is the full screen on a web site with printing and images you want then you can do a ‘screenshot’. This is also known as ‘screen capture’ or ‘screen grab’. If you want the entire screen including all open windows just press the key on your keyboard labeled ‘print scr’ – usually on the right upper side. If you need just the main forward screen press ‘Alt’ and the ‘print scr’ keys at the same time.

Now it is on the computer’s clipboard and can be pasted in several different locations. You can paste into the body of an email. It can go directly onto a blank word document page or in an image page. Once in a word document program that can be named and saved as well as when it is in a image software program.
This is especially helpful when you locate a web site with written information that you would like just as it was presented. If you only need a paragraph or a couple lines place the cursor at the beginning of the sentence or paragraph on the screen, then go to the end of the selection to highlight the desired passage. Click copy from the toolbar or hold down the keys ‘ctrl’ (in the lower left of the keyboard) and the key ‘c’ and the highlighted words are on the clipboard and then can be pasted in an email or document.

These are just a couple of the easy methods to save an image you locate.

Photo:  Saved image of a 1789 handwritten receipt for a wagon.

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