Screenshot or Screenshotted: Which Is Correct?
Use “screenshot” as a noun or base-form verb, and “screenshotted” for the ordinary past tense and past participle.
Use screenshot as a noun and as the base form of the verb. Use screenshotted for the ordinary past tense and past participle.
Examples:
- Noun: “I saved a screenshot of the error.”
- Base-form verb: “I screenshot pages for reference.”
- Past tense: “I screenshotted the page yesterday.”
- Past participle: “The page was screenshotted before it changed.”
Why “screenshotted” is the standard past form
Screenshot is an established noun for an image of what appears on a screen. It is also a verb meaning to make an image of what is shown on a computer screen so it can be copied or saved. Cambridge Dictionary lists both roles and gives an example using the past form “screenshotted.” Dictionary.com lists the verb forms screenshot, screenshotted and screenshotting.
The verb is formed from the noun screenshot, so its regular past-tense ending is -ed:
| Form | Use | Example |
|---|---|---|
| screenshot | Noun or base-form verb | “Send me a screenshot.” / “I screenshot the page.” |
| screenshots | Plural noun or third-person singular present | “She keeps screenshots.” / “She screenshots each change.” |
| screenshotted | Past tense or past participle | “She screenshotted the message.” / “The message was screenshotted.” |
| screenshotting | Present participle or gerund | “He is screenshotting the workflow.” |
When to use each form
Use “screenshot” as a noun
Use screenshot when you mean the saved image itself.
- “Attach a screenshot to the bug report.”
- “The tutorial includes three screenshots.”
- “That screenshot shows the incorrect setting.”
Use “screenshot” as the base-form verb
The base form follows to, modal verbs and commands. It also appears in the present tense with I, you, we and they.
- “I need to screenshot this dialog.”
- “You can screenshot the result.”
- “Screenshot the page before refreshing.”
- “They screenshot every release.”
Use “screenshots” for a plural noun or third-person present
- Plural noun: “The folder contains old screenshots.”
- Third-person present: “The monitor screenshots the dashboard every hour.”
Use “screenshotted” for a completed action
Use screenshotted when the capture happened in the past or when the image has already been captured.
- “She screenshotted the message before it disappeared.”
- “We screenshotted the checkout flow during the incident.”
- “The page was screenshotted at 09:00 UTC.”
- “Have you screenshotted the failing state?”
Use “screenshotting” for an action in progress
- “The test is screenshotting each viewport.”
- “Screenshotting every frame creates large files.”
Common mistakes and quick fixes
| Less suitable in edited prose | Recommended edit | Reason |
|---|---|---|
| “I screenshot the page yesterday.” | “I screenshotted the page yesterday.” | The action is completed and in the past. |
| “The page was screenshot yesterday.” | “The page was screenshotted yesterday.” | A past participle is needed after was. |
| “I have screenshot the page.” | “I have screenshotted the page.” | Have takes the past participle. |
| “I screenshotted pages every day.” | “I screenshot pages every day.” | The habitual present uses the base form with I. |
What about “screenshot” as an uninflected past tense?
You may encounter sentences such as “I screenshot the page yesterday,” especially in informal writing or technical conversations. Readers usually understand them, but screenshotted is the safer choice in edited documentation, reports and articles when you mean a completed past action. The dictionary evidence used here supports screenshotted; it does not establish how common the uninflected alternative is by region or register.
Style guidance for documentation and publications
Choose one form based on the grammatical job the word performs, then keep the choice consistent within a paragraph or interface.
- Ask whether you mean the image. If yes, use the noun screenshot.
- Ask whether the action is happening now, is habitual, or follows to. Use the base form screenshot.
- Ask whether the action finished in the past or follows has, have, had, was or were. Use screenshotted.
- For an action in progress or a gerund, use screenshotting.
If your publication has a house dictionary, follow it. The Associated Press Stylebook says Merriam-Webster is its first reference for spelling, style and usage, and explains that its editors use Merriam-Webster’s digital content in its dictionary guidance.
Practical examples by sentence pattern
| Pattern | Correct example |
|---|---|
| After “to” | “Click the button to screenshot the chart.” |
| Modal verb | “The agent can screenshot the page.” |
| Simple past | “The test screenshotted the page after the redirect.” |
| Present perfect | “We have screenshotted all supported browsers.” |
| Past perfect | “The job had screenshotted the page before the deploy.” |
| Passive voice | “The error state was screenshotted for the ticket.” |
| Progressive | “The runner is screenshotting each breakpoint.” |
Or skip the browser setup
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See the ScreenshotNeo API documentation for all options.
cURL
curl -G "https://api.screenshotneo.com/v1/shot" -d access_key=YOUR_API_KEY --data-urlencode url=https://stripe.com -o shot.webpPython
import requests
r = requests.get("https://api.screenshotneo.com/v1/shot", params={"access_key": "YOUR_API_KEY", "url": "https://stripe.com"}, timeout=90)
open("shot.webp", "wb").write(r.content)Node.js
const q = new URLSearchParams({ access_key: 'YOUR_API_KEY', url: 'https://stripe.com' });
const res = await fetch(`https://api.screenshotneo.com/v1/shot?${q}`);You can also set a viewport or device preset, capture a full page or one CSS-selected element, enable dark mode, wait for a selector, delay or network idle, provide cookies or custom headers, block selected resources, use custom CSS or JavaScript, choose PDF paper and margins, resize images, cache with a chosen TTL, create signed image links, submit asynchronous jobs with signed webhooks, capture up to 100 URLs per bulk call and read usage through the usage API.
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Troubleshooting the wording
- Unsure whether it is a noun: Replace the word with “image.” If the sentence still works, use screenshot as a noun.
- Unsure whether it is past tense: Add “yesterday” or “already.” If the action is complete, use screenshotted.
- After “has,” “have,” “had,” “was” or “were”: Use screenshotted in standard edited prose.
- After “to,” “can,” “will” or “should”: Use the base form screenshot.
FAQ
Is “screenshotted” a real word?
Yes. Dictionary.com lists screenshotted as the past-tense and past-participle form of the verb screenshot.
Is “screenshoted” correct?
Use screenshotted in edited prose. It preserves the established spelling of screenshot before adding the regular -ed ending.
Should I write “a screenshot” or “a screenshotted”?
Write “a screenshot” when you mean the image. Screenshotted is a verb form and needs a subject or passive construction, such as “The page was screenshotted.”
Does the rule change in code or product labels?
Software labels may use any naming convention chosen by their authors. In explanatory prose, use screenshot, screenshotted and screenshotting according to their grammatical role.
