Screenshots are a basic feature that users need almost daily. Owners of Xiaomi Redmi 8 Pro devices may have to save correspondence, an app error, or an interesting moment from the game. The standard MIUI operating system offers flexible tools to accomplish this task, going far beyond just clicking buttons.
Understanding all the available methods allows you to significantly speed up the work with the gadget and makes interaction with the interface more comfortable. Screenshots can be created even when hardware buttons are busy or unavailable. In this guide, we will discuss in detail each method that is relevant to your model.
Some methods require pre-activation in the settings menu, which we'll also mention. The system's readiness for different use cases is a hallmark of modern smartphones. Let's take a look at what tools your Redmi 8 Pro is hiding.
Standard Method Using Physical Buttons
The most common and versatile way to work on any Android device is a mechanical keyboard combination, which requires no tuning and is available immediately after the phone is turned on, and is ideal in situations where the system interface is not fully or partially responsive to touch.
To do this, you need to press and briefly hold the on and off buttons at the same time, and the volume down buttons are ergonomically designed to allow you to do the operation with one hand, although it may seem uncomfortable at first, and the main thing is to avoid clamping too long so as not to cause the switch-off menu or voice assistant.
The success of the operation is confirmed by the characteristic sound of the camera shutter and visual animation of the screen curling. In the upper right corner, a thumbnail will appear that can be immediately edited or sent. If the device is in lock mode, a screenshot can also be taken using the same combination, which is often useful for saving notifications.
⚠️ Warning: Do not hold the buttons too long. pressing longer 2-3 Seconds can trigger a voice assent or emergency call menu, which will interrupt the process of creating an image.
And it's important to note that the physical method works even in low battery life, where sensor control can be limited to energy saving, and it's a hardware layer of interaction that prioritizes software constraints, so you're guaranteed to get results in a critical situation.
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If the volume buttons are tight, try pressing them with your thumb pad rather than your nail to avoid accidentally slipping off and activating other features.
Use of the Additional Functions Menu (Three Points)
The second most popular method, often overlooked by new users, is the software interface, which includes a special quick access menu called by a swipe in the MIUI operating shell, a solution that is especially relevant if the physical buttons of the smartphone are damaged or filled with liquid.
To use this method, you need to swipe your finger from the top right or left corner of the screen down and slightly to the center. The exact activation area depends on your personal settings, but by default it is at the top of the display. In the menu that opens, you should find the icon with the image of the scissors, which is responsible for creating the picture.
The advantage of this method is that you can select a region, and when you click on the icon, the screen will darken, and you will see a frame that you can move and change in size, you can only highlight a specific piece of text or an image without taking up extra space, and this saves time on the subsequent framing in the gallery.
- 📱 Allows you to select an arbitrary area of the screen without third-party programs.
- ⚙️ It works even when physical volume buttons fail.
- 🎨 It is possible to add annotations or text before saving.
The Three Dots feature is part of the system’s Security app, so it’s always available in the background. However, if you’re using full-immersion apps (games or videos), the swipe may be blocked by the content developer, in which case it’s better to switch to other methods.
Configure and use the “Second Space” function and gestures
MIUI is famous for its customization, and gesture control is a prime example of this, so you can set your smartphone to make it a simple tap on the display or a three-finger swipe, which makes it as fast as possible and as invisible to others.
To activate gesture control, go to Settings, then select Additional and find Screenshot, and here you will be offered several activation options, the most convenient is to swipe three fingers from top to bottom in the center of the screen, which is intuitive and rarely conflicts with navigation in applications.
There's also a tapping feature available, so you can use two or three taps with your two fingers to create an image instantly, and it's recommended that you turn off this feature if you're wearing a phone without a cover or in a tight pocket.
☑️ Setting up screenshot gestures
Using gestures requires a certain skill. The movement must be confident and fast enough, but not sharp. If the system does not respond the first time, try changing the speed or angle of the fingers. After a few exercises, muscle memory will remember the correct movement.
Voice control via Google Assistant and Mi AI
In the age of smart assistants, voice control is becoming increasingly relevant. If your hands are busy or dirty, you can simply ask your phone to take a screenshot. The Xiaomi Redmi 8 Pro has Google Assistant preinstalled, and in some regions, its own Mi AI assent is available.
To activate, you just say "Ok Google" or press the corresponding button, and then say "Take a screenshot" (or "Make a screenshot" in English), the system recognizes the request and performs the action automatically, which is especially useful for people with motor disabilities or when working in hands-free mode.
It's worth considering that voice assistants require an active Internet connection to work, and the request is processed on the company's servers, so if the network signal is bad, the command may fail or be executed with a delay, and in noisy rooms, speech recognition may not work properly.
| Method | Internet is required | Reaction rate | Convenience |
|---|---|---|---|
| Buttons | No. | Instantly. | High. |
| Menu (3 points) | No. | Quickly. | Average. |
| Gestures | No. | Instantly. | High. |
| Voice. | Yes. | Medium | Low (into noise) |
Voice control opens up new frontiers for automation, so you can combine commands, like taking a screenshot and sending it to the messenger, even though that already requires more complex scenarios, and for basic tasks, a simple voice command is enough.
Long screenshot: Creating scrollable images
One of the most popular features in modern smartphones is the ability to create long screenshots, an indispensable tool for saving long correspondence in messengers, articles in the browser or lists in applications. On Redmi 8 Pro, this feature is built into the standard mechanism of taking pictures.
Immediately after you've taken a normal screenshot (in any of the ways described above), a thumbnail appears in the upper right corner, and there are some icons underneath, and you need a button with two arrows pointing down, or an icon that says "Scroll" and clicking on it triggers scroll mode.
The system will automatically start scrolling down the screen, capturing new areas and gluing them into a single image, which will stop when you touch the screen, reach the end of the page, or when the technical limit of the image length is reached, which is usually around 10-15 regular screens.
⚠️ Warning: When taking a long screenshot, avoid touching the screen and making sudden movements with the phone. Any interference with the scrolling process may interrupt the recording or cause artifacts to appear at the joints.
The resulting image is saved as a single file in the gallery. However, it is worth remembering that such files can have a high weight and high resolution. When sent through some messengers (for example, WhatsApp or Telegram without compression), the quality can be degraded by compression algorithms. For documents, it is better to use the PDF format if the source application supports export, or send a screenshot as a file.
Technical Limitations of Long Screenshots
Where to find and how to edit saved screenshots
Once you have created an image, it’s important to know where to find it and how to fix it. All screenshots on Xiaomi Redmi 8 Pro are automatically sorted into the standard Gallery app, and a separate folder for them is created by the system and is called Screenshots (or Screenshots).
Inside the gallery, you can do basic editing. Click on the image and select the "Change" button. There's a set of tools available: cropping, overlaying, hand-drawing, adding stickers and blurring sensitive information. The "Blurr" tool is especially useful for hiding passwords or personal data before publishing.
The Android file system also allows you to find these files through a Explorer. The path to the folder usually looks like Internal. Storage/MIUI/screenshot internal Storage/Pictures/Screenshots, depending on the version MIUI. Knowing the path is useful if you want to connect your phone to your computer and pick up files through USB-cable.
- 📂 Screenshot folder is at the root of internal memory.
- ✂️ Built-in editor allows you to hide personal data with a marker.
- 📤 From the gallery you can immediately share the file through any installed messenger.
Regularly cleaning the folder with screenshots helps to free up space. Often we take snapshots for one-time use (like copying the confirmation code), and after a week they become digital garbage. Use the Cleanup feature in the Security app to remove duplicates and old files.
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Automatically sorting screenshots into a separate folder makes it easier to manage files and quickly find the right information among thousands of photos.
Solution: Why screenshots are not saved
Sometimes users are faced with a situation where a screenshot is not created or saved, the most common reason is the security policy of Android. applications that work with sensitive data (bank clients, incognito mode in the browser, some messengers) block the ability to take screenshots.
In such cases, instead of an image, you might see a black screen or an error message, which is not a malfunction of your Redmi 8 Pro, but a data breach protection, which is not something that can be avoided by standard means, and using third-party software can be considered an attempt to hack.
Another reason may be a lack of free memory: if the internal storage is full, the system will not be able to write a new file. Check the free space in the Settings → About phone → Memory. Also, the problem can occur when the system cache overflows, which is solved by restarting the device.
⚠️ Warning: Attempts to take a screenshot in banking applications can result in the bank's security system blocking access to the account.Be careful and use official statements to save financial information.
If screenshots are no longer saved in all apps at once, try resetting the Gallery or Security settings. Go to Settings → Apps → All apps, find what you want and select Clear Cache. This will not delete your personal photos, but update your system configuration files.