Xiaomi and Redmi smartphone owners often face the need to save long correspondence in the messenger, a browser article or transaction history in a banking application. A standard screenshot captures only the visible part, leaving important information outside the frame. Fortunately, the built-in functionality of the MIUI shell and the new HyperOS allows you to create composite images, automatically gluing several frames into one long file.
This feature works at the software level, so you don't need third-party apps or root rights. Scrolling happens automatically after you create a basic shot, which ensures that the boundaries match perfectly. In this guide, we'll look at all the nuances of creating such images, possible errors and how to solve them on current versions of firmware.
Many users are unaware that their device can take scrolling shots (as long screenshots are often called) out of the box. We will look at the standard methods that work on 99% of Redmi devices, as well as touch on the features of the work in various applications. Sometimes the system may restrict scrolling in protected DRM-content areas, but in most cases the process goes smoothly.
Basic method of creating a screenshot with scrolling
The simplest and most common way to create a long image does not require a deep dive into the settings. All the necessary tools are already active by default. To start the process, you first need to take a regular screenshot in any convenient way: simultaneously pressing down the Volume buttons and Power or swiping with three fingers, if this feature is enabled in the settings.
Immediately after the shutter clicks, a thumbnail of the screenshot will appear in the upper right (or left, depending on the topic) corner. That's where the key to success lies. Don't move your finger too quickly or swipe the notification right away. Within a few seconds, the toolbar will be available under the thumbnail, where the option is located.
Find a button with the icon of two arrows pointing down, or the words Scroll. Pressing on this element will trigger an automatic capture process. The screen will slowly move down, taking new pictures and stitching them together. The process will stop automatically when it reaches the end of the page, or you can interrupt it by pressing the button again.
- 📱 Take a regular screenshot of the desired area.
- 👇 Click on the appeared thumbnail or the "Scroll" button in the preview menu.
- 🔄 Wait for the automatic scroll to finish or stop it manually.
- 💾 Click "Ready" to save the result to the gallery.
It is important to note that automatic scrolling can behave differently depending on the content. If there is a lazy loading of content on the page (when new elements appear only when scrolling), the system may not capture them, as it expects a static image, in such cases it is better to use manual control or take several screenshots with a slight overlap.
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If the automatic scrolling stops ahead of time, press the button again to continue the capture.The system allows you to pause to download heavy content.
Using the editing menu for manual control
Sometimes the automatic mode doesn't work properly, especially in applications with floating interface elements or advertising, and in such situations, an extended editing menu that opens immediately after the image is created gives the user full control over which part of the screen will be added to the image.
After clicking on the scroll button, instead of starting instantly, you can see a menu with additional options. Here it is important to choose the right mode. In some versions of MIUI, the option is available to select an area that allows you to manually set the boundaries of the scroll. This is especially useful if you want to exclude the top of the application or the bottom navigation bar from the final file.
The manual process requires mindfulness. You set a starting point, and then the system will wait for your signal for each next step or scrolle at a very low speed. This is ideal for storing long tables or web pages with dynamic content that does not load when you scroll fast.
The maximum resolution of the final image is limited by the hardware of the image processing processor. If you try to take a screenshot of the entire tape of a social network with a length of several thousand pixels, the system may give an error or crop the file.
Screenshot settings in MIUI and HyperOS
Xiaomi’s deep customization allows you to flexibly customize the behavior of the screenshot function. To access these options, you need to go to the device’s settings menu. The path may vary slightly depending on the shell version, but the logic remains the same for all Redmi models.
Go to Settings, then select Additional Features (some firmware may call it Advanced Settings) and here you will find the Screenshots menu. This section contains the switches that activate the swipe with three fingers, display thumbnails, and most importantly, the behavior of the scroll button.
Within the settings menu, look for the Add Time Stamp option, and if you take long screenshots for legally relevant actions or correspondence, enabling this feature will add the date and time of the image creation directly to the image, which can be critical to proving the relevance of the information.
| Parameter | Description of function | Recommendation |
|---|---|---|
| Swipe 3 fingers | Creating a screenshot with a gesture | Insert for speed |
| Show the window after the photo | Miniature display | Definitely for long screenshots |
| Format of conservation | JPG or PNG | PNG for text (better quality) |
| Shutter sound | The audio signal from the photo | At your discretion. |
This section may also have a compression quality setting. The standard value is good for regular screenshots, but if you plan to take long panoramas with lots of fine text, you better choose the maximum quality so that when zooming, the letters don't turn into porridge, which is especially true for models with high-resolution screens like the Redmi Note Pro series.
☑️ Checking settings before creating a screenshot
Working with long screenshots in the Gallery
Once you've created a long image, it's saved to a standard Screenshots folder in internal memory. But working with those files in the Xiaomi gallery has its own peculiarities. When you view a long screenshot, the system automatically scales it to fit across the screen width, making the text appear small.
To learn content in detail, you need to use zoom gestures. Double tap or pinch with two fingers will zoom in on a specific area. New versions of MIUI and HyperOS implement smart scrolling inside the viewer: if the image is longer than the screen, with a vertical swipe, you can scroll through the content without leaving viewing mode.
The gallery editing feature also supports panoramic images, so you can cut the edges, draw arrows, or add text over the image, but be careful: some editing tools can work slowly with high-resolution files (more than 10,000 pixels in height) as they require significant RAM resources.
⚠️ Note: When sending long screenshots via messengers (WhatsApp, Telegram, Viber), make sure you choose to send as File or Photo in full quality. Otherwise, the compression algorithms of the messenger can greatly impair the readability of text, turning clear letters into blurred artifacts.
If you plan to work with these images often, it is recommended to regularly clean the folder of screenshots from failed attempts. Long screenshots weigh much more than usual, and a dozen such files can cover hundreds of megabytes of space, which is critical for models with 64 or 128 GB of memory.
Problem Solving: Scrolling is not working or is cut off
Despite the system’s fine-tuning, users may find themselves in a situation where the scroll button does not appear or becomes inactive (grey), most often due to security restrictions on specific applications. Banking programs, incognito browsers or corporate messengers can block the creation of screenshots at the Android level.
In these cases, the standard method won't work. You'll have to resort to alternative solutions. One option is to use Screen Recording, you record video of the page being scrolled, and then either send the video or use third-party software to extract the frames, although it's less convenient.
Another common problem is the "steps" or breaks at the site of the gluing frames, which occurs if you touch the screen during automatic scrolling, or if the content on the page loaded with a delay. To avoid this, keep the phone still and do not touch the display until the process is complete.
What if the scroll button disappears too quickly?
If the problem is system-specific and not related to a particular application, try restarting the device. Often the background processes responsible for processing graphics can freeze, and a simple restart returns the system functionality to working condition. Also check for firmware updates, as Xiaomi regularly releases patches that fix interface bugs.
Third-party applications for complex cases
When built-in tools are scarce, specialized apps from the Google Play Store come to the rescue, programs like Stitch & Share or LongShot offer more advanced gluing algorithms, allowing you to manually select pairing points, which ensures perfect docking even in complex backgrounds.
The main advantage of third-party software is that you can glue together pre-made screenshots. You can take a series of regular screenshots with a slight overlap (about 20-30%) and then upload them to the application. The algorithm itself finds common areas and creates a single image. This is the only working way for applications where the scrolling function is completely blocked.
But it has its drawbacks: it takes longer to process, and the quality of the final file can depend on the compression of the source code, and by giving a third-party application access to your entire gallery, you potentially reduce digital security, and use proven programs with a good reputation and minimal permissions.
- 🛠 LongShot – a powerful tool for manual and automatic gluing.
- 🧵 Stitch & Share – Simple interface and fast work.
- 📐 Tailor – Automatic determination of gluing places (less accurate for the MIUI).
⚠️ Note: When using third-party apps to glue screenshots containing sensitive information (passwords, card numbers), make sure the application does not send data to its servers for processing.
Optimization of storage and transfer of files
Long screenshots, especially in PNG format without loss of quality, can take up a significant amount of memory. One file can weigh from 2 to 10 MB or more, depending on the amount of information on the screen. For users who actively use this feature, it is recommended to set up automatic synchronization with the cloud.
Google Photos or Xiaomi Cloud can automatically upload the contents of the Screenshots folder, not only will it protect data from loss when your phone breaks, but it will also free up space on your device. You can enable the "Free Space" option in the gallery settings, which will delete local copies of files already uploaded to the cloud.
When transferring such files, it is important to consider the format. PNG provides better text clarity, but weighs more. JPG weighs less, but with strong compression, the text can become unreadable. If you send a screenshot to a colleague or to support, you better choose a balance between quality and size, or use archiving for large files.
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Regularly cleaning the folder of screenshots and setting up cloud synchronization is the key to order in the memory of the smartphone when actively using long shots.
In conclusion, the ability to quickly and efficiently take long screenshots significantly increases productivity with a smartphone, whether it is saving important instructions, correspondence with evidence or just an interesting article – this skill is indispensable for the modern user of Xiaomi.