Forum Discussion
How can I prevent the screen from turning dark gray while using the Snipping Tool on Windows 11?
Hello there! I'm glad you got in touch. I'm Liz, a fellow enthusiast of all things Windows. It's great to connect with you! My timezone is UTC +8, so feel free to ask for assistance anytime during my working hours.
I see that you're facing an issue with a gray screen, but no need to fret - I'm here to lend a hand. To resolve this, you can try the following steps:
1. Open the Snipping Tool.
2. Click on Options.
3. Uncheck the box labeled "Show screen overlay when Snipping Tool is active."
4. Click OK to save the changes and exit the menu.
After completing these steps, recheck the screen to see if the issue has been resolved.
Please keep me updated on how it goes, and I hope this information proves helpful to you. Let me know if you need further assistance!
11 Replies
There is no "Options" option. There is only a "Settings", and there is no setting regarding screen overlays. Is this just an intentional MS 'feature' to prevent people from copying on-screen content?
The tool would be excellent if only there really was an option to turn off screen dimming / overlay. Every single screen snip I take now has a dark gray overlay and is generally unusable. We use screen snips / screenshots for customer service, developing training material, diagnosing incidents and software issues, creating presentations, etc. The lack of an option to turn off screen dimming makes snipping tool pretty much unusable in our environment. PLEASE bring back the option to disable this! - Jon
the option is not there anymore 🥲
Are you referring to the old Windows 10 Snipping Tool?
My New Windows 11 Snipping Tool (Version 11.2503.29.0) does not have an Options menu or a "Show screen overlay when Snipping Tool is active." box to uncheck.
There is a Setting menu, but no option to keep the lights on...
same i want that option don't know why they removed it
To add my complaint about the removal of the overlay settting. I have poor vision and the last thing I need is some useless screen special effect when a simple rectangle would suffice. Or why not just leave the setting in there for folks that need it? I have to now look for other options because I really can't stand additional eye strain. I am convinced that the software industry, now that apps have matured, is desperately looking for anything to keep justifying updates (Innovation I believe is the label they put on this). I recommend that the relevant staff at all major software houses read 'The Emperor's New Clothes'.
This solution no longer works after they seemingly removed the screen overlay options from the app. Now the screen overlay, and its accompanied dimming and color distortion are always on, for both screen captures and snipping.
The snip tool was the best thing about windows but now it's useless! My IT dept. say I should try the an alternative app instead. Not allowed to speak its name here. =(
I don't understand the taboo of mentioning a rival product. Maybe it would encourage improvements.
Yeah, My screen turns so dark when I activate the snip that it is very difficult to use. As my eyes get worse, I will have to find an alternate snipping tool. I use snip at least 1/week.
