How to take a full page screenshot in Chrome

Method 1: Chrome DevTools, no extension

Built into every copy of Chrome. Free, no install, and the right first thing to try.

1. 1

   Open DevTools

   Press F12, or Ctrl+Shift+I on Windows and Linux, or Command+Option+I on macOS.

2. 2

   Open the command menu

   Press Ctrl+Shift+P, or Command+Shift+P on macOS. A search box appears at the top of the DevTools panel.

3. 3

   Run the capture

   Type capture full size screenshot and press Enter. Chrome saves a PNG of the whole page to your downloads folder.

4. 4

   Check the result

   Look at the top of the image for a repeated navigation bar, and at any images below the fold for grey placeholders. Those are the two failures this method has.

When DevTools capture fails

Worth knowing before you conclude that full page screenshots are broken generally.

The page uses a sticky header

DevTools does not neutralise fixed positioning, so on many sites the navigation bar is baked into the top of the image, or repeats.

Images load as you scroll

The capture does not wait for lazy content, so anything not already decoded comes out blank.

The content is in a scrolling panel

DevTools captures the document. If the real scroller is an inner element, you get one screenful.

The page is very tall

Past the browser's image size limit the output is silently truncated rather than split. See long page captures.

Method 2: an extension

The right choice when method 1 produced something wrong.

1. 1

   Install and pin it

   After installing, click the puzzle-piece icon in the toolbar and pin the extension so it is one click away.

2. 2

   Open the page and let it settle

   Dismiss cookie banners and modals first — anything on screen is part of the page.

3. 3

   Start the capture

   Click the icon, or press Alt+Shift+P on Windows and Linux, Option+Shift+P on macOS. Keep the tab visible: Chrome only allows an extension to photograph the tab you are looking at.

4. 4

   Edit and save

   The result opens in a new tab. Crop, annotate, blur anything private, then save as PNG, JPG or PDF.

Method 3: the print dialog

Press Ctrl+P, choose "Save as PDF", and you get the whole page as a document. This is genuinely the best option when you want selectable, searchable text and do not care about visual fidelity.

It re-renders the page through its print stylesheet, so backgrounds, dark themes and interactive components usually change or disappear. The comparison of the two approaches covers when each is right.

Quick reference

DevTools capture

F12 → Ctrl+Shift+P → "capture full size screenshot"

Print to PDF

Ctrl+P → Save as PDF

Full Page Screenshot shortcut (Windows/Linux)

Alt + Shift + P

Full Page Screenshot shortcut (macOS)

Option + Shift + P

Pages no extension can capture

chrome://, Web Store, extension pages