Email a screenshot in Windows 7: as file attachment or inline

Once you take a screenshot in Windows 7, you can either paste it in a document of your choice, save the screenshot on your computer, or email the screenshot to someone else: this short tutorial explains two ways in which you can send someone a screenshot by email: you can email it as a regular file attachment, the first method, or email it "inline" - which means that the screenshot will appear inside the body (content) of the email message, sparing the recipients from having to double-click on a file attachment to see the image contained in the screenshot.

Send a screenshot picture as email attachment

There are several approaches to emailing a screenshot as attachment, and we'll show you the two most convenient ones.

Go to the email program or webmail service you use to send messages: then, click on "Attach a file" (or something approaching), and navigate to the location on your PC where you saved the screenshot. The image below shows how to attach a file to a message using Hotmail:

Send a screenshot as email attachment

The other method, perhaps more practical, assumes (1) that you have an email program installed on your computer, and (2) that you have configured your default email client for Windows 7 (this is automatically done when one or more email programs are installed on your PC, but you can change this setting at any time). Right-click on the saved screenshot file, choose "Send To", and pick "Mail Recipient", as shown below:

Right-click to send a screenshot with your email program
A new window will open in your default email client: just pick a sender, optionally type a message, and click "Send"!

Email a screenshot "inline"

In some cases, the easiest (for both you and the email recipient) is to send the screenshot "inline", or inside the content of the message itself: to see if your email program supports pasting images from the Windows 7 clipboard, just hit Ctrl+V while inside the email body. If it doesn't work, you'll need to send the screenshot as email attachment. (Emailing screenshots inline works with Microsoft Outlook, for example.)

Return to our Windows 7 tutorial