How to Take and Insert Screenshots in OneNote on Windows 11

OneNote‘s screen clipping tools are one of those things that caught my eye once I realized there are three genuinely different ways to capture and drop a screenshot straight into a page. Which method you want depends on whether you’re already inside OneNote or you’re mid-task in another app when you spot something worth saving.

Method #1: Insert → Screen Clipping

The cleanest option. The clipping lands directly on your OneNote page, no clipboard, no manual paste step.

1. Open OneNote and navigate to the page where you want the screenshot.
2. Click to position your cursor where the image should appear.
3. On the ribbon, click Insert > Screen Clipping.

4. OneNote minimizes. Bring the window or web page you want to capture into view if it isn’t already visible.
5. Click and drag a rectangle around the area you want.
6. Release the mouse.

The captured region drops onto your page as an image exactly where your cursor was. No extra steps. It actually works as well as advertised, nicely done.

Method #2: Windows + Shift + S, then paste

Windows + Shift + S is an OS-level snipping shortcut that works from any running app. The catch: the result goes to your clipboard, not directly into OneNote, so you paste it in yourself.

1. Navigate to whatever you want to capture.
2. Press Windows + Shift + S.
3. The screen dims and a snipping overlay appears at the top. Choose a snip mode, Rectangular snip is the default, and drag to select the area.
4. The clipping is now on your clipboard.
5. Switch to OneNote and click where you want the image.
6. Press Ctrl + V to paste.

The extra paste step takes a few seconds, but the overlay is smooth and supports four capture modes: rectangular, freeform, window, and full-screen. If you’re deep in another app when you spot something worth keeping, this is the fastest path in.

Method #3: Send to OneNote tray icon

The purple scissors icon in your system tray lets you capture and send a screenshot to a OneNote page with a single click. It’s a clever bit of integration built right into Windows. Configure it once and it’s hard to go back.

1. Click the up arrow on the right side of the taskbar to open the hidden icons area.
2. Locate the purple scissors icon, that’s the Send to OneNote tool.

3. Drag the icon from the hidden area onto the visible portion of your taskbar.
4. Right-click the icon.
5. Expand OneNote icon defaults and select Take screen clipping.

6. Click the icon whenever you need a clipping. Draw a rectangle; OneNote captures the area and asks you to choose a destination notebook and page.

If the icon is missing entirely: Right-click the taskbar and choose Taskbar settings. Scroll to Notification Area and click Select which icons appear on the taskbar.

Scroll down to Send to OneNote Tool and switch it on.

OneNote for the Web

OneNote for the web runs entirely in your browser, so screen capture relies on OS tools rather than an in-app button. The workflow:

1. Bring whatever you want to capture into view.
2. Press Windows + Shift + S and drag to select the area.
3. The clipping copies to the clipboard.
4. Switch back to OneNote in your browser, click on the page, and press Ctrl + V.

OneNote for Mac

On Mac, OneNote relies on macOS screenshot shortcuts rather than a built-in capture command.

1. Press Command + Shift + 4 to capture a selected region, the cursor becomes a crosshair. Or press Command + Shift + 3 for the full screen.
2. macOS saves the screenshot as a file on your desktop by default.
3. In OneNote for Mac, click to position your cursor on the page.
4. Go to Insert > Picture and select the screenshot file. To skip the save-to-desktop step, hold Control while pressing the capture shortcut, that sends the screenshot to the clipboard instead, and you can paste it with Command + V.

Troubleshooting

Screen Clipping isn’t in the ribbon. Look under Insert > Screen Clipping in the Windows desktop app. OneNote for the web and OneNote for Mac don’t include this button, those platforms use the OS screenshot tools covered above.

Windows + Shift + S captures the screen but nothing arrives in OneNote. Expected. This shortcut sends the clipping to the clipboard; switch to OneNote and press Ctrl + V to paste. To skip the paste step entirely, use Insert → Screen Clipping from inside OneNote or configure the tray icon (Method #3).

The Send to OneNote tray icon vanished after a Windows update. Re-enable it under Taskbar settings > Select which icons appear on the taskbar > Send to OneNote Tool.

Captured with Windows + Shift + S but the image never made it in. The clipboard was probably overwritten before you pasted. Redo the capture and switch to OneNote immediately.

Method #1 (Insert → Screen Clipping) is the everyday go-to: it’s fast, stays inside OneNote, and requires zero extra steps. If you clip frequently, the Send to OneNote tray icon is a genuine gem: a 30-second setup that turns it into a one-click action. For anyone on a Microsoft 365 subscription who lives in OneNote all day, that tray icon setup is worth bookmarking.