How to Take a Scrolling Screenshot on Any Device

A normal screenshot captures only what is visible on your screen at one moment. A scrolling screenshot, also called a long screenshot or a full page capture, captures a whole web page, a long chat, or a long document in one tall image. It is useful when you want to save a full article, share a long conversation, keep a receipt that runs past one screen, or send a complete set of instructions without splitting them into five separate images. This guide gives the exact steps for Android, iPhone, Windows, and Mac, explains where each saved image goes, and covers what to do when the scrolling option does not appear. It focuses only on scrolling and full page capture. For a normal single screen capture, see the regular screenshot guide on this site.

Before You Start: What Works and What Does Not

A scrolling capture works best on content that scrolls smoothly in one direction, such as a web page, a long article, or a long chat thread. It works less well, or not at all, on screens that cannot scroll, on video playback, on maps that move in all directions, and on some secure screens, such as banking apps, that block screenshots for security. Knowing this in advance saves frustration: if the scrolling button never appears, the screen itself may be the reason, not your phone.

• Works well: web pages, long articles, long chats, long settings lists, and long documents.
• Often fails: home screens, app screens that do not scroll, video players, and secure screens that block capture.
• Check the result: always open the saved long image and scroll through it before you share it, because a capture can cut off in the middle if the page changed while it was scrolling.
• File size: a long screenshot is much larger than a normal screenshot, so it may take longer to send and may be reduced in quality by some messaging apps.

Android: Scrolling Screenshot Step by Step

Most modern Android phones from Samsung, Google Pixel, Xiaomi, Oppo, Vivo, and other makers include a scrolling capture feature, although the button name and position vary slightly. The general method is the same on almost every Android phone.

1. Open the page you want to capture. Open a long web page, article, or chat that scrolls downwards.
2. Take a normal screenshot. Press the Power button and the Volume Down button together, or use the gesture or button combination your phone uses for screenshots.
3. Look at the preview bar. A small preview and a toolbar appear at the bottom of the screen for a few seconds. Do not dismiss it.
4. Tap the scrolling button. Tap the button labelled Scroll, Capture more, Scroll capture, or shown as a down arrow icon. On Samsung phones it is shown as two down arrows. On Pixel phones, tap Capture more.
5. Let the phone scroll. The screen scrolls down automatically and extends the capture. A preview shows the growing long image.
6. Stop when you have enough. Tap Stop or Done when the capture reaches the part you want, or let it continue to the bottom of the page.
7. Save from the preview. Tap Save or the tick mark on the preview screen. The image is saved to your gallery.

On Samsung phones, you can also turn on the scrolling capture toolbar in Settings, under Advanced features, then Screenshots and screen recorder, where the option is called Show toolbar after capturing. If the toolbar is off, the scrolling button will not appear after a screenshot. On Pixel phones, the Capture more button appears only when the app supports scrolling capture, which is why it shows on web pages and long lists but not on every screen.

Where Android saves the scrolling screenshot

The saved long image goes to the same place as a normal screenshot: the Screenshots album in Google Photos or in your gallery app, and in the Pictures and then Screenshots folder in the Files app. Open the gallery, open the Screenshots album, and the newest image will be at the top. If you edited the image in the preview, the edited version is the one that is saved.

iPhone: Full Page Screenshot Step by Step

On iPhone, the built-in full page capture works in Safari, and it saves the result as a PDF document rather than a photo. That difference surprises many users, because they look for the result in Photos and cannot find it. Follow these steps carefully.

1. Open the page in Safari. Open the full web page you want to save. Full page capture is a Safari feature, so it does not work in every app.
2. Take a normal screenshot. On iPhones with Face ID, press the Side button and the Volume Up button together. On iPhones with a Home button, press the Home button and the Side button together.
3. Tap the preview thumbnail. A small thumbnail appears in the bottom left corner for a few seconds. Tap it before it disappears.
4. Choose Full Page. At the top of the editing screen, tap Full Page instead of Screen. A long preview of the whole page appears on the right side.
5. Check the length. Drag the preview to scroll through the full page and confirm that the whole page was captured. Use the crop tool if you want to shorten it.
6. Tap Done, then Save PDF to Files. Choose a folder in the Files app, such as Downloads or a folder you created for saved pages, and tap Save.

To share the saved PDF, open the Files app, find the PDF, tap and hold it, and choose Share. You can send it by message, email, or any app that accepts PDF files. If you need the full page as a photo instead of a PDF, open the PDF in Files, take screenshots of the sections you need, or use a third party app that converts a web page to a long image. Note that in apps other than Safari, such as a chat app, iPhone does not offer a built-in scrolling capture, so you may need to take several normal screenshots or use a stitching app that joins them together.

Where iPhone saves the full page capture

A full page capture from Safari is saved as a PDF in the Files app, in the folder you chose when you tapped Save. A normal screen capture, by contrast, is saved as a photo in the Photos app. If you cannot find a full page capture, check Files first, not Photos.

Windows: Full Page Capture Step by Step

Windows does not include a built-in scrolling screenshot tool that captures a whole web page in one image. The reliable methods use the browser you already have. Both methods below capture a web page, not the whole Windows desktop, which is the correct tool for saving articles, receipts, and long pages.

Method 1: Microsoft Edge web capture

1. Open the web page in Microsoft Edge.
2. Press Ctrl, Shift, and S together, or right click the page and choose Web capture.
3. Choose Capture full page.
4. Wait while Edge captures the whole page, then use the editing tools if you want to mark or crop it.
5. Choose Save or Copy, and save the image to a folder you can find again, such as Pictures or Downloads.

Method 2: Google Chrome full size screenshot

1. Open the web page in Google Chrome.
2. Press F12 to open Developer Tools, or press Ctrl, Shift, and I together.
3. Press Ctrl, Shift, and P together to open the command menu.
4. Type screenshot, then choose Capture full size screenshot from the list.
5. Chrome downloads the full page as a PNG image file. Check the Downloads folder for the saved file.
6. Close Developer Tools by pressing F12 again when you are finished.

If you need to capture a scrolling window inside an app rather than a web page, use a screenshot app that supports scrolling capture, such as ShareX or PicPick. Install the app from its official site, open the app, choose the scrolling capture option, select the window, and scroll as directed by the app. Always download such tools only from their official sites.

Where Windows saves the full page capture

Edge web capture saves to the location you choose in the save dialog. Chrome full size screenshot saves automatically to the Downloads folder as a PNG file. If you used a screenshot app, check the save folder set in that app, which is usually shown in its settings.

Mac: Full Page Capture Step by Step

Mac also has no single built-in button for a whole screen scrolling capture, but browsers on Mac offer full page capture, and Safari offers a full page export as PDF. Choose the method that matches the format you need: image or PDF.

Method 1: Safari full page as PDF

1. Open the web page in Safari.
2. Choose File, then Export as PDF, or choose File, then Print, and then Save as PDF.
3. Choose a folder, give the file a clear name, and save it.
4. Open the saved PDF to confirm that the full page was included.

Method 2: Firefox or Chrome full page as image

1. Open the web page in Firefox or Chrome.
2. In Firefox, right click the page and choose Take Screenshot, then choose Save full page.
3. In Chrome, open Developer Tools with Command, Option, and I together, open the command menu with Command, Shift, and P together, type screenshot, and choose Capture full size screenshot.
4. Save the image to Downloads or another folder, then open it and scroll through it to confirm the full length.

For a portion of the screen rather than a full web page, use the Mac screenshot toolbar: press Command, Shift, and 5 together, choose the capture area option, drag to select the area, and click Capture. The result is saved to the desktop by default, or to the folder set in the screenshot options. This method captures only the selected area, not a scrolling page, so use the browser method when you need the full length of a page.

Where Mac saves the full page capture

Safari PDF exports save to the folder you choose in the save dialog. Firefox and Chrome full page images save to the Downloads folder by default. Screenshot toolbar captures save to the desktop by default unless you changed the save location in the toolbar options.

Method Comparison at a Glance

Editing and Sharing a Scrolling Screenshot

After capture, open the long image before you share it. Check the top and bottom for cut off text, check the middle for blank gaps where the page loaded slowly, and crop the ends if the capture included extra content you do not need. On Android, use the edit tools in the preview or in Google Photos. On iPhone, a full page PDF can be marked up in Files with the markup tools, or converted to images first if you need photo editing. On Windows and Mac, open the saved image in Photos or Preview and crop it there.

• Crop extra content: remove blank space at the top or bottom, and remove any part of the page you do not want to share.
• Hide private details: blur or cover names, numbers, addresses, and account details before sharing a chat or a receipt.
• Check file size: a very long image can be several megabytes. Compress it or send it as a document if a messaging app reduces its quality too much.
• Send as a file when quality matters: sending a long image as a document file keeps it sharper than sending it as a compressed photo in some apps.
• Keep the original: keep the unedited capture until the other person confirms they received a clear copy, in case you need to crop it differently.

Fixes When the Option Is Missing

If the scrolling button does not appear, work through these checks in order. Most cases are explained by one of them, and only the last steps need an extra app.

1. Check that the screen scrolls. Open a long web page that clearly scrolls. If the screen does not scroll, there is nothing for the capture to extend.
2. Tap the preview quickly. On Android and iPhone, the preview and its buttons disappear after a few seconds. Take the screenshot and tap the scrolling option at once.
3. Try a different app. On Android, try a web page in Chrome. On iPhone, try a page in Safari, because full page capture is a Safari feature.
4. Update the phone software. Install the latest system update, because scrolling capture was added in newer versions on many phones and may be missing on very old software.
5. Check the toolbar setting. On Samsung phones, confirm that the screenshot toolbar is turned on in Settings, under Advanced features, then Screenshots and screen recorder.
6. Check for a blocked screen. Banking apps, payment screens, and some private content block screenshots completely. In that case no scrolling option will appear, and that block cannot be bypassed by a normal setting.
7. Use a stitching app. If your phone has no scrolling feature, take several normal screenshots with overlapping content and use a stitching app to join them into one long image. Check the joined result carefully for repeated or missing sections.
8. Use a browser capture on a computer. If phone methods fail, open the same page on a computer and use the browser full page capture described above.

One final tip: if a page loads more content as you scroll, such as an endless feed, the capture may never reach a bottom, because new content keeps appearing. In that case, stop the capture manually when you have the section you need, rather than waiting for it to finish on its own.

Frequently asked questions

How do I take a scrolling screenshot on Android?

On most Android phones, take a normal screenshot first, then tap the scrolling capture or scroll button that appears in the preview bar at the bottom of the screen. The phone then scrolls down the page automatically and captures the full length into one long image. Tap the stop button when you have captured enough, or let the capture finish at the bottom of the page, then save the image from the preview screen.

How do I take a full page screenshot on iPhone?

On iPhone, take a screenshot in Safari, then tap the preview thumbnail and choose Full Page at the top of the editing screen. You can drag the side preview to check the full length of the page, crop it if needed, and then save it. Note that a full page capture from Safari is saved as a PDF document, not as a photo, so you will find it in the Files app rather than in the Photos app.

How do I capture a scrolling screenshot on Windows?

Windows does not include a built-in scrolling screenshot tool for the whole screen, so use the capture tool in your browser or a screenshot app. In Microsoft Edge, open the page, open the web capture tool, choose Capture full page, and save the result. In Google Chrome, open Developer Tools, open the command menu, and choose Capture full size screenshot, which saves the full page as an image file in your Downloads folder.

How do I capture a full page on Mac?

On Mac, the easiest full page capture is in Safari or another browser. In Safari, use the Develop menu or an export to PDF option to save the whole page, or use the screenshot toolbar for a selected portion of the screen. For a full web page as an image, open the page in Firefox or Chrome and use the browser capture command to save the full page, then open the saved file to check that the full length was captured.

Why is the scrolling screenshot option missing on my phone?

The scrolling screenshot option is missing when the app or page cannot be scrolled as one continuous view, when the phone maker has not included the feature, or when the screen shows a video, a secure banking screen, or content that blocks screenshots. It also does not appear on screens that do not scroll, such as a home screen. Try the method inside a long web page or a long chat, update the phone software, and if the option still does not appear, use a browser full page capture or a screenshot app instead.