How to take, share, and delete Xbox One screenshots

How-to
By Jez Corden
published

The Xbox One has the ability to take screenshots of your favorite games, either for storing, saving, or sharing on Xbox Live and other social networks.

Xbox One S
Xbox One S (Image credit: Windows Central)

Here's how to take and manage screenshots on your Xbox console!

How to take a screenshot on Xbox One

First, need to have a game running. And you can't take screenshots of the dashboard or other apps, such as Netflix. You can take screenshots of your entire console, but you'll need a capture card like the Elgato HD 60. Here goes:

  1. When you're in a game and have found a scene you want to screenshot, press the Xbox button on your controller to open the guide menu.

  1. From the menu, press the Y button on your controller to take a screenshot of your current screen.
    • Don't worry if opening the guide initiates the game's pause menu, it should still capture the in-game scene you wanted.
  2. Your screenshot will now be saved to your console!

How to share screenshots on Xbox One

Once you have taken your screenshot, there are a number of ways you can get share it. The Xbox One comes with a few gigabytes of free cloud storage just for keeping Xbox Game DVR captures and screenshots, but you can also export it either to your PC, or to your personal OneDrive cloud storage for safe keeping. Xbox Live clips and screenshots will upload automaticaly to the cloud, until your storage is full.

Here are a few ways to share and manage screenshots and clips on your console.

Saving and sharing your screenshots via your Xbox

  1. Press the Xbox button on your controller to open the guide menu.
  2. Press the View button (to the bottom left of the Xbox button) to open "Capture options."

  1. Navigate down using the left joystick to Manage captures and press the A button. (This will open the Manage captures menu.)
  2. Find a screenshot you want to upload to OneDrive, and select it with the A button. (This will open the screenshot in full.)
  3. Select the Share icon with the A button.
  4. From here, you can share the clip to the following locations:
    • Your Xbox Live activity feed, which friends can see (depending on your privacy settings).
    • A private message.
    • To an Xbox Club you're a member of.
    • Aa Twitter link.
    • To OneDrive.

  1. If you are signed in to your Microsoft Account on a PC or via OneDrive.com, you will be able to find the screenshot under OneDrive\Pictures\Xbox Screenshots.

Deleting a screenshot from your Xbox One

  1. Press the Xbox button on your controller to open the guide menu.
  2. Press the Home button using A on your controller.
  3. Open the guide menu again, and hit the View button (to the bottom left of the Xbox button) to open "Recent captures."

  1. Navigate to a recent clip, and select it with the A button.
  2. From here, you can select delete to remove it from your console, from Xbox Live, or both.

  1. If you can't find your clip, navigate to See all at the bottom. (This will open the Manage captures menu.)
  2. Find a screenshot you want to delete, and select it with the A button. (This will open the screenshot in full.)
  3. Select the trash can icon with the A button to remove it.

Save, delete, or share Xbox screen shots via a Windows 10 PC

If you're using a Windows 10 PC signed in with the same account as your Xbox Live, you can access and download your screenshots quickly and easily using the pre-installed Xbox app. Here's how:

  1. Press the Start Menu and type "Xbox."
  2. Click to open the Xbox app.
  3. If you haven't used it before, you'll be prompted to sign in using your Microsoft Account. After you open it up, it should look something like this, with a hamburger menu on the left side.

  1. Open the hamburger menu in the op left corner with a mouse click.
  2. Select Game DVR.
  3. Click on On Xbox Live to see your captures saved to the internet.
  4. Select a preferred screenshot from the download list, and hit Download to save it, delete to remove it, or share to share it.

  1. You can then click on On this PC to see the clips and screenshots you have downloaded, and hit Open folder to find the file. By default, files save to C:\Users\UserName\Videos\Captures.

Other notes

If you have a 4K Xbox One X you can lower the resolution of captures using this method. Sometimes it might be worth lowering the resolution if you plan to share the clips and screenshots on social media, particularly Twitter, since it doesn't support 4K.

You can check the upload status of clips from the Manage clips page by selecting Upload Status from the filter. If you have issues finding your recently uploaded captures, it might still be in the upload queue.

The Xbox One doesn't have an infinite amount of cloud storage and can fill up quickly, particularly if you're recording at 4K. So be sure to store and manage clips frequently.

When not in a game, you can access and manage clips directly from the Xbox guide menu, by hitting the Xbox button on your controller, and then pressing the View key to see recent captures.

More Xbox help

For more tips and guides for Xbox One, take a look at the links below. If you have any questions, drop them in the comments!

Jez Corden
Jez Corden
Co-Managing Editor

Jez Corden is a Managing Editor at Windows Central, focusing primarily on all things Xbox and gaming. Jez is known for breaking exclusive news and analysis as relates to the Microsoft ecosystem while being powered by tea. Follow on Twitter @JezCorden and listen to his XB2 Podcast, all about, you guessed it, Xbox!