Xiaomi, Redmi and POCO smartphone owners often face the challenge of saving an image of the current screen, whether it’s a checkout screen, a route map, or a funny moment from the game. The standard MIUI shell and its modern HyperOS offer a host of flexible screen imaging tools that go far beyond just pressing two buttons.
Many users have been using the basic method for years without even knowing the existence of Scrollingshot or automatic long page capture. In this article, we will take a look at all the available ways to create screenshots, from the classic combination of buttons to advanced gesture settings.
You will learn how to automatically save thumbnails to the gallery, use voice control and adjust the timer for the perfect shot. Understanding these mechanisms will allow you to work with your Android device much more efficiently.
Classical Method: A Combination of Physical Buttons
The fastest and most versatile way, which works on 99% of Android smartphones, including all Xiaomi models. The mechanics are simple: you need to press and release the Volume Down and Power buttons at the same time. The important thing is simultaneous pressing: if you press the power button too early, you may see a turn off menu, not a screenshot.
The success of the operation is confirmed by the characteristic sound of the camera shutter (if the sound is on) and vibration. The screen will instantly appear a smaller copy of the image taken in the upper right or left corner, depending on the firmware version.
Sometimes users complain that the screenshot doesn't work the first time, and the problem is often the speed of the reaction or the sticking of the buttons, and if you have thick side covers, they can interfere with a clear press.
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To avoid accidentally calling the off menu, work out pressing the Volume Down and Power buttons with your finger pads rather than their edges, ensuring touch synchrony.
This method is ideal for one-off shots, where you need to capture information quickly, but for serial or one-handed work, it may be less convenient than software alternatives.
Control through notification curtain and sidebar
If you find physical buttons uncomfortable or one of them malfunctioning, the MIUI offers a great software alternative. You can just swipe down to open the control center, and there's a separate icon that usually looks like a scissor or a rectangle.
For even greater convenience, there is a Sidebar, which is a floating menu that can be swiped from the edge of the screen in any app. To activate this feature, go to the settings, select "Advanced" and find "Floating windows" where you want to turn on "Sidebar".
- 📱 Open any application where you need to take a picture.
- 👈 Swipe from the side of the screen (left or right, depending on the settings).
- ✂️ Click on the screenshot icon in the menu that appears.
- 🖼️ The image will be saved and the thumbnail will open for editing.
The use of curtains and sidebars is especially important when the smartphone screen is dirty or wet fingers are difficult to get on small physical buttons.
Three finger gestures: the fastest way for advanced
One of the most popular features of Xiaomi’s shell is the ability to take screenshots simply by swiping three fingers across the screen, which is not active by default, so you need to enable it manually in your system settings.
To activate, go to Settings → Additional Features → Screenshots (or Settings → Special Features → Screenshots in new versions). There, you need to switch the Three-Finger Swipe switch to the active position, and then you can take pictures at any time, just swipe three fingers from top to bottom on the display.
☑️ Tweaking the gesture with three fingers
And there's an important setting that's available in the same menu that not everyone knows about: "Show the menu after you've taken a screenshot." If you turn it on, you'll see a toolbar on the screen after you swipe it, where you can immediately select Scrollenshot mode or edit it without opening the gallery.
⚠️ Note: A three-finger gesture may conflict with controls in some games or drawing applications that use multi-touch gestures. If screenshots are no longer created or false positives occur, temporarily disable this feature.
Mastering this gesture makes it much faster, so you don't have to reach for the buttons on the case or open the curtain, which is especially convenient when reading long articles or texting in messengers.
Long screenshot: how to capture the entire page
Often, a single screen is not enough to save the context of a correspondence, an article in a browser or a check in a banking application. For such cases, Xiaomi has a feature called “Long Screenshot”, which allows you to automatically scroll down the page and glue several images into one long tape.
You can start this process right after you've created a normal screenshot, and when you have a thumbnail in the corner, press down or the "More" → "Scroll" icon on it, and the device will start to automatically scrolle the content, and to stop the recording, tap the screen or wait for the end of the page.
An alternative and often more convenient way is to use the Scrollenshot widget in the notification curtain, which, unlike the standard screenshot, immediately starts grabbing with scrolling, saving time.
| Launch method | How to activate | Features |
|---|---|---|
| Through miniature | Press the "Scroll" button on the preview | Convenient for short pages |
| Curtain menu | Select the Scrollingshot icon | Fastest start ever. |
| Sidebar. | Select "Scrollshot" in the sidebar | Available in any app |
Files with long screenshots are saved in the same PNG format, but have elongated proportions. When sent to messengers (for example, in Telegram or WhatsApp), they can be compressed, losing the readability of small text, so it is better for documents to send them as a file.
Why can a long screenshot be cut off?
Voice control and timer
Today's Xiaomi smartphones can listen to user commands. If you have Google Assistant enabled or you have MI AI built-in voice assistant enabled, you can just say, "OK, Google, take a screenshot." The system recognizes the command and executes the action.
This is especially useful in situations where hands are busy or dirty.Voice controls work even on a locked screen (if allowed in the settings), but to create a screenshot, the screen must be active and unlocked.
Another interesting feature is the screenshot timer, which is in the screenshot menu in the curtain or through the sidebar, and you can set the delay to 3 or 5 seconds, which is the time you give to open the menu, to fold the keyboard or to remove your finger from the screen so that you don't overlap important content.
- 🗣️ Say the command to the voice assistant.
- ⏱️ Or select a timer in the screenshot menu.
- 👐 Remove your hands from the screen during the countdown.
- 📸 Smartphone will take a clean picture without extra fingers.
Using a timer is a professional technique for creating screenshots of instructions or tutorials, where it is important to show the interface without foreign objects.
Where to look and how to edit pictures
Once created, the image is automatically saved to the gallery. The path to the file usually looks like this: Gallery → Albums → Screenshots. In the file manager (Conductor), they can be found along the way: Internal Memory → DCIM → Screenshots.
The built-in image editor in MIUI and HyperOS allows you to quickly process the image. Immediately after you create (or open the photo in the gallery), click "Change".
Cutting is a way to remove edges, text is to add arrows or letters, blurring is a critical function for hiding sensitive data (passwords, card numbers, addresses) before sending a screenshot.
⚠️ WARNING: When sending screenshots to public chats or forums, always use the Blurring or Marker tool to hide your personal information. ID device, IP-address or account details that may be visible in the status bar or URL-The editor also supports batch processing, so you can select multiple screenshots in the gallery and compress them, resize them, or send them to a single messenger, which saves time when working with documentation. 💡Xiaomi's built-in editor allows you to hide sensitive data right in the image before sending, which is an important element of digital hygiene.Frequent problems and their solution Sometimes users are faced with the fact that screenshots are no longer created or saved in black. This is most often related to protection. DRM in apps like Netflix, Kinopoisk or banking apps. In such cases, the system blocks the capture of the contents of the screen for the security of rights holders. If the screenshots do not work anywhere, check if the memory of the device is full. Also try to reboot your smartphone – this resets temporary errors of the screenshot system process. In rare cases, cleaning the Screenshot app cache through the Apps menu can help» → «All applications» → «Screenshots» → «Clear the cache. Don't be afraid, your saved images won't be deleted. FAQ: Frequently Asked Questions Why does screenshot turn black in some apps? This is a copy protection for content (DRM). This is how streaming services (movies, music) and banking apps work, and you can't get around this with standard tools, you can take a screenshot on another phone. What format are screenshots saved on Xiaomi? The default format is PNG, because it provides high quality lossless. Some system menus or settings may use JPG. Can you change the folder where screenshots are saved? System means can not change the way you save. However, you can configure Screenshots folder sync with the cloud (Google Photo, Mi Cloud) for automatic backup. How to take a screenshot if the screen is broken or buttons are not working? Use the "Three Flipswiree" function (if the touchscreen is partially running) or you can find the Google Assistant from the deleted images there. They are then permanently erased if they are not synchronized with the cloud.