How to take full-page screenshots in Chrome on any device…

Want to capture a scrolling screenshot of a web page in Chrome? Here’s how to quickly take one on a desktop or your phone.

ZDNET's recommendations are based on many hours of testing, research, and comparison shopping. We gather data from the best available sources, including vendor and retailer listings as well as other relevant and independent reviews sites. And we pore over customer reviews to find out what matters to real people who already own and use the products and services we’re assessing. When you click through from our site to a retailer and buy a product or service, we may earn affiliate commissions.

This helps support our work, but does not affect what we cover or how, and it does not affect the price you pay. Neither ZDNET nor the author are compensated for these independent reviews. Indeed, we follow strict guidelines that ensure our editorial content is never influenced by advertisers. ZDNET's editorial team writes on behalf of you, our reader. Our goal is to deliver the most accurate information and the most knowledgeable advice possible in order to help you make smarter buying decisions on tech gear and a wide array of products and services.

Our editors thoroughly review and fact-check every article to ensure that our content meets the highest standards. If we have made an error or published misleading information, we will correct or clarify the article. If you see inaccuracies in our content, please report the mistake via this form. If you take screenshots constantly, as I do, you've probably noticed that a typical screenshot only captures what is visible on your screen at that moment, including in Chrome.

Sometimes, though, you need the full web page. Don't take multiple screenshots and try to stitch them together in a photo editor. There's a much easier way to capture everything. Whether you are using Chrome on a desktop or on your iPhone or Android phone, you can take a full-page screenshot, also known as a long screenshot, scrolling screenshot, or extended capture. Whatever you happen to call it, they all mean the same thing: one single screenshot that shows the entire web page, even the parts you have to scroll to see.

Some third-party tools let you do this and may ask you to pay, but don't bother with them. You can do it for free using Chrome or your system's built-in tools. Here's how. In Chrome on your Mac, Windows, or Linux PC, you have two options. Sort of. The second option creates a PDF document rather than a single scrolling image. Still, I figured it's worth mentioning in case that's what you need. Chrome on desktop includes a free, built-in tool that can capture an entire webpage as a single image.

You can find it in Developer Tools. If you prefer a document instead of a PNG image, such as for sharing, printing, or archiving, Chrome can save the entire page as a PDF via the Print menu. This still counts as a full-page capture, but you will end up with multiple pages, and the site layout may look a little odd if it includes many images, ads, or repeated menu or footer links. On a Mac, you can open the PDF in the Preview app, then go to File > Export and save the format as a PNG or JPEG if you want to later convert the entire document into multiple images.

Chrome doesn't have a built-in option on iPhone for taking full-page screenshots, but Apple's iOS system does, thankfully. Although it saves the capture as a PDF, you get a very clean result, with no visible page breaks or odd formatting. It's essentially a single scrolling document, which you can later convert into an image. To convert the PDF into an image, open the document in Files > tap the down arrow next to its title > choose Export > and save as a PNG or JPEG.

You'll get a single scrolling image rather than a PDF document. Like on desktop, you can use Chrome's Print menu on your iPhone to save a web page as a PDF. Again, this is technically a full-page capture, but you will end up with a multi-page document, not a single scrolling image. Unfortunately, you can't later open the PDF in Files, zoom out to see the entire document in full, and then export the entire thing as a single scrolling image.

It'll just save the first page of your PDF document as an image. Android offers better support for scrolling screenshots, with Chrome integrating it directly. Newer versions of Chrome on Android include a long screenshot option directly in the browser. If you don't see the Long screenshot option, your device or Chrome version may not support it. Newer Android phones also include a system-level scrolling screenshot option, which lets you capture full-page screenshots in any app, not just Chrome.

Yes. They are different names for the same thing: one capture that includes the entire web page beyond the visible screen. Infinite scrolling, image-heavy layouts, ads, repeated menu or footer links, sticky headers, pop-ups, and embedded content can all look garbled when saved as a PDF. This usually happens because the browser is forcing the page into letter-size print layouts, adding page breaks, and trying to format content for printing rather than for on-screen scrolling.

One browser extension I don't mind and have tried is GoFullPage. It lets you quickly save full-page screenshots as images and is free, though it offers very limited customization. If you want a more professional tool, TechSmith Snagit costs $39 per year and adds advanced capture options, timers, cursor capture, and multiple output formats. But the free, built-in options work best, in my opinion.

Summary

This report covers the latest developments in iphone. The information presented highlights key changes and updates that are relevant to those following this topic.

---