Chalk another post up for the Basics. This hint might seem quite rudimentary, but even an experienced techy friend recently was quite baffled when he found out his iPad could do this.

You’ll hopefully have noticed that I have quite a few screenshots on this blog of what is shown on my iPad. This process has come in super handy not only in the writing of this blog, but in quite a few other uses as well.

Here is how to take a screenshot on iPad, iPod touch and iPhone:

First, find whatever it is you want and properly fit it onto your screen. The zoom to enlarge functionality works great for this purpose. You can take a screenshot of ANYTHING that is on your iPad: a website, app, existing photo, etc.

Then, simply press the home and sleep buttons simultaneously. These are the two main buttons on your device. When you do this correctly, it will make a camera shutter sound and small white flash will appear. Try it now! Maybe take one of your home screen, to show off your apps to your family or colleagues:

Your photo is now ready for you in your Camera Roll. It is that easy. You can email or text any of your friends the image within seconds. You can make that image your screensaver or even print it if you have an Airprint printer:

Uses of screenshots:

1. Find a map of a country you are teaching and use an app like Skitch to annotate it.
2. Don’t have a gps or data plan? Take a screenshot of Google Maps for offline viewing of where you want to go, and have it for reference when you are near the area.
3. Create images in Keynote (to be discussed later) and use them in other applications, such as blogs, documents, and iPhoto.
4. See something you like on Twitter, google images or anything else for that matter, and want to share it on Instagram or Pinterest? Super easy once the images are on your Camera Roll.
5. See a great deal online and want to share it to your non-tech savvy friends? Screenshot it and email the photo to them.
6. Have a high score in your favorite game, like Words with Friends? Save the moment by grabbing that screenshot. This is embarassing to admit, but around a year and a half ago, I was having a great game, wanted to remember it, and actually took pictures of my game with a digital camera! Wow, looking back at that, how backwards.
7. If you have something very important, like a receipt for a large online purchase, or online bill payment, take a screenshot and send it directly to google docs, Dropbox, or Evernote. When I need to refer to them in the future, I just type in what I tagged them with. Once sent, those images are permanently there for safekeeping.

versus:

What a difference in the two photos above!

Of course I had to take a screenshot when I find myself while walking the dog on the iPhone/iPad magazine Zite, an app that I read religiously:

Thanks so much for reading! Any other quick uses for screenshots? Let us know in the comments!