The Steam Deck has a built-in screenshot tool for Gaming Mode but we’ll need to use a 3rd-party application while in Desktop Mode.

Today, I’ll be showing you two different methods for capturing the image on your screen with one working while you’re in Gaming Mode and the other method being used in Desktop Mode.

Valve knew that folks would want an easy way to save a Steam Deck screenshot so they built a button combination feature directly into SteamOS. This button combination will only work while you’re in Gaming Mode, and it works by. . .

Pressing the Steam button and R1 button at the same time.
You’ll see a toast message appear to confirm the image has been saved.
And you can do this no matter what screen you’re in while the Steam Deck is in Gaming Mode.
Even while you’re currently playing a game.

You can also tap the toast message after it appears.

Now, if you’re in Desktop Mode then this button combination will not work on your Steam Deck. At least it doesn’t as of recording this video. I could see Valve adding this in the future if there’s enough demand, but I don’t see it happening anytime soon.

Instead, when your Steam Deck is in Desktop Mode, we need to use a 3rd-party tool to capture a screenshot. But thankfully there’s a pre-installed program that can do this quite easily for us.

It’s called Spectacle, and it can be found by clicking the Steam Deck start menu button and looking in the Utilities section.

Once open, we can use Spectacle to capture an image of a very specific point of the screen.
We can use it to capture a full screen image.
Or we can use it to save a screenshot of just a specific window.
Whether that be the Active Window or the one under the cursor.

From there, we can edit the screenshot, add some markup to it, delete it altogether, or save it to the local storage, a microSD card, or even a network storage device.

There are plenty of other Linux apps that can be used to save a screenshot while in Desktop Mode. So if you have a favorite then you may want to check if it can be installed via the Discover app. Or possibly if you can just install it manually. I’ve seen OBS recommended quite often as you can assign its screenshot feature to a physical button on the Steam Deck, like one of the back paddles.

So those are the two main ways that I save a screenshot on my Steam Deck, but I would be interested in hearing how you all do this on your device. So if you use a method that I didn’t mentioned here in this video, then please share it with us down in the comments section below.

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