How do I make screenshots readable in a presentation?

Crop to one control and its surroundings, capture at full resolution, use thick marks in one colour, prefer the light theme, and put one idea on each slide.

Should training materials use screenshots or demos?

Screenshots for single screens in slides and handouts; an interactive demo for any procedure learners will perform themselves, since they can practise it and the trainer can see where they stall.

How many screenshots per slide?

One, with one mark. A second mark is a second slide.

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Screenshots for Teaching and Training: Slides, Handouts and the Point Where They Stop Working

September 25, 2026

Software training runs on screenshots: this menu, this dialog, this field. They are captured from a laptop and shown on a projector, which is where most of them become unreadable -- too much screen, too small a font, and an arrow nobody at the back can see.

Capture for the room, not the desk

Crop hard. One control and its immediate surroundings. A full screen in a slide is a grey rectangle from the back.
Capture at full resolution so it survives being scaled up to the projector.
Thick marks. Set the box and arrow thickness higher than you would for an email.
Light theme. Dark interfaces on a projector lose everything but the highlights.

One idea per slide

Each slide gets one screenshot with one mark. If the step needs two marks, it is two slides. Demorta’s screenshot tool makes the capture-box-download cycle quick enough that this is not a burden. Try the free screenshot tool.

Handouts

Printed or PDF handouts are read close up, so they can hold more per image, but the same rules apply: crop, one colour, labels that will not change. Number the steps in the text, not on the image, so the sequence can be edited later without reshooting.

Where a walkthrough teaches better

A slide deck of forty screenshots is a procedure nobody can practise. An interactive demo of the same procedure lets each learner click through the real screens at their own pace, before and after the session, and shows the trainer which step people stall on. For anything learners will have to do themselves, that is the format to hand out.

Frequently asked questions

How do I make screenshots readable in a presentation?: Crop to one control and its surroundings, capture at full resolution, use thick marks in one colour, prefer the light theme, and put one idea on each slide.
Should training materials use screenshots or demos?: Screenshots for single screens in slides and handouts; an interactive demo for any procedure learners will perform themselves, since they can practise it and the trainer can see where they stall.
How many screenshots per slide?: One, with one mark. A second mark is a second slide.

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