How to take a screenshot on the Galaxy Note 5

Taking a screenshot on your phone is one of its most basic functions, but the Galaxy Note 5 has a trick up its sleeve that helps it go well beyond a standard one-screen capture. Though you still have two simple ways to take a regular full-screen screenshot to share or keep for yourself, there's also a new option called "scrolling capture" that lets you automatically stitch together multiple screenshots into a full scrollable and editable image. Here's how it works.

The regular one-screen screenshot

There's no shortage of situations where taking a simple screenshot is useful, whether you're showing something to a friend, saving a quick piece of information or troubleshooting an issue. There are two ways on the Note 5 to take a standard screenshot.

With a key combination:

  1. Open the content you wish to screenshot.
  2. At the same time, press and hold both the power button and home button for two seconds.
  3. You'll see the screen briefly flash, and a notification appear.
  4. Check your notifications, where you'll see the screenshot and an option to share, edit or delete it.

With a palm swipe:

  1. Open the content you wish to screenshot.
  2. Place your hand vertically along the left or right edge of your Note 5, and swipe in from that edge with your hand touching the screen.
  3. You'll see the screen briefly flash, and a notification appear.
  4. Check your notifications, where you'll see the screenshot and an option to share, edit or delete it.
  5. (Optional) If this method doesn't work, check Settings > Motion and gestures to enable it.

Scrolling screenshot with Screen Write

The Note 5 also has an additional screenshot method, and while it takes a little more work it's extremely useful if what you need to capture doesn't fit on a single screen. The so-called "scrolling capture" is part of the Screen Write feature, and lets you take one continuous screenshot of content that would otherwise require you to scroll and manually take multiple screenshots. The end result is one long image that you can scroll through and manipulate as you wish.

To take a scrolling screenshot on the Note 5:

  1. Open the content you wish to take a scrolling screenshot of.
  2. Take out the S Pen to launch Air Command, tap on Screen Write.
  3. The screen will flash and capture a single screenshot, then press Scroll capture in the bottom-left corner.
  4. The screen will scroll, and you can select Capture more to keep going, or Done to stop.
  5. Once you've captured everything, tap Share, Save in Gallery or Save in Scrapbook at the bottom of the screen.
Andrew Martonik

Andrew was an Executive Editor, U.S. at Android Central between 2012 and 2020.