How to Recover Deleted Screenshots on Windows 10?

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Nowadays, screenshots have become one of the easiest and most convenient ways to capture our screens and instantly share them with anyone. On Windows devices, you can take screenshots either by Print screen key (PrtScr) on your keyboard or by using the Windows in-built Snipping Tool.

When you capture screenshots on your Windows computer, it saves the screen content to the Clipboard. Then you can paste that image from Windows Clipboard into any image editor and save them in any image format.

Sometimes, instances may occur when your Screenshot gets deleted or lost from your device. This may occur either due to system corruption, formatting of the storage device where it was saved, or any other uncertain issues.

If you can’t find screenshots on Your Windows 10 device, don’t worry. Here, We are providing various methods to find out how to recover deleted screenshots on Windows devices.

Where do Screenshots Go on Windows?

Before you know the methods for how to recover deleted screenshot on Windows 10 PC, you must be familiar with the different methods available to capture screenshots.

There are many ways by which you can take screenshots. Depending on the method you have selected, the captured screenshot gets saved in varied locations on your device. Many people usually don’t know where the captured screenshot is saved on their devices.

To help you with this, we have mentioned some popular tools in this blog that you can use to capture screenshots.

These tools are free for use and by default installed on your device.

1: Snipping Tool

Windows Snipping Tool is one of the most widely-used tools to take screenshots. You can use this tool on your Windows 10/8/7 device and then save the captured image in any format, such as JPEG, PNG, GIF, etc.

If you want to know where screenshots go on your Windows device after capturing with this tool, it does not have any specific location. It allows you to select the location each time when you take a screenshot.

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2: Snip & Sketch

It is the latest tool in Windows 10 devices and mainly known for its amazing interface, easier functionality, and its features like cropping, ruler, etc. If you are capturing screenshots using this tool, it allows you to save captured images wherever you want to save them on your device.

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3: PrtScr Key

As mentioned above, you can press the both “Windows + Print Screen” keys at the same time on your keyboard to capture screenshots. This shortcut method automatically saves the captured screen images in the folder named “Screenshot” within “Pictures”.

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How to Recover Deleted Screenshots on Windows 10?

Have you captured the screenshots but can’t find them on a Windows 10 device? Don’t worry, if you have recently lost that saved screenshot, the chances for getting them back are high as it might be possible that the data has not been overwritten yet.

Go through the following recovery methods to recover those lost or deleted screenshots:

Method 01: Check Recycle Bin

When you find that the saved screenshot is not present at its original location, immediately check the Recycle Bin. It is the first place in any Windows device where your data goes temporarily after deletion.

The Recycle Bin stored the deleted files for some days, after which they will be permanently deleted from your computer.

Go through the following steps to know how to recover deleted screenshots from Recycle Bin:

  • First, open the Recycle Bin folder located on your desktop.

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  • Now, locate and select the file that you need to restore. Click the “Restore the selected items” button.

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Once you apply the above steps, the selected files will restore back to their original file location.

Method 02: Recover Screenshots from Windows 10 Backup

Windows Backup feature allows you to recover a file even if it is deleted from your computer. You can use the Windows File History backup option to get your files back.

To use this photo recovery method, you need to enable the File History option on your device. (as given below):

  • Type CP in the search box and then open the Control Panel.
  • Go to System Security and then select File History.
  • Tap the “Turn ON” button to turn the File History ON.

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Follow the below-given steps to recover lost screenshots using file history feature:

  • First, type “Restore your files with File History” in the start menu and press Enter key.
  • Locate the deleted screenshot that you want to restore and click the Restore button.

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  • Once done, your selected screenshots will be saved to their original location.

Method 03: Use a Professional Photo Recovery Tool

If the above-mentioned manual methods fail to recover your lost screenshots, you can use photo recovery software to get the deleted screenshots.

Stellar Photo Recovery is a proficient recovery software that you can install on your Windows PC to recover screenshots from it. This software recovers screenshots lost from any storage device within a few simple clicks. It allows you to restore images of multiple formats, including JPEG, PNG, GIF, RAW, etc.

The Stellar Photo Recovery software is compatible with Windows 11/10/8/7 devices. It can help you to recover screenshots deleted from HDD, SSD, SD Cards, and other storage devices.This recovery tool allows you to preview the recoverable items before saving them on your device.

Go through the following step-by-step tutorial to know how to recover deleted screenshots on Windows 10 using this amazing recovery tool:

  • First of all, you need to download and install the Stellar Photo Recovery software on your Windows device.
  • Install the downloaded software and from the “Select Location to Scan” window, select the location where your lost photos were originally saved. Click Scan to continue.

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  • Once the scanning process gets successfully completed, preview the recoverable items. If your desired result does not appear on the screen, you can use the Deep Scan feature located in the bottom for a thorough search.

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  • Select the photos that you need to recover and click the Recover button to save the recovered photos at the desired location.

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Tips for Better Recovering Deleted Screenshots in Windows 10

Though it is easy to recover deleted screenshots, it is also important to avoid such data loss scenarios at your end.

There are some important and quick tips that you should follow to avoid such issues on your device:

  • Always make a habit to create backups of your important screenshots on any storage device – be it the hard drive, SSD, or any other.
  • Avoid defragmentation of the storage device where your screenshots were saved. During defragmentation, almost all data are moved to a different physical place and the chances of their loss get high.
  • Make sure the version of the Operating system and software programs installed on your device is updated.
  • Also, try to save your important screenshot and other images at a location from where they are not easily accessible by anyone.
  • Virus or Malware can also be the reason for the loss of screenshots on your device. In such cases, it is important to have an updated version of Anti-virus software installed on your device.

Conclusion

In most cases, it is possible to recover screenshots on a Windows device. If you have lost the screenshot saved on your device, go through this post to know how to recover deleted screenshots on Windows 10.

When methods such as File History fail in restoring your deleted images, you can recover your screenshots using the Stellar Photo Recovery. This software is very helpful for you to recover the deleted screenshots.

We are influencers and brand affiliates.  This post contains affiliate links, most which go to Amazon and are Geo-Affiliate links to nearest Amazon store.