Modern smartphone users face the daily need to capture a moment, save correspondence or fix an error in the system. For owners of the popular Xiaomi Redmi Note 4 model (also known as Nikel or Mido), this process can be implemented in several ways, each of which has its own characteristics. Understanding all available methods allows you to significantly improve the efficiency of your device and quickly respond to any events on the screen.
In the Android-based MIUI operating system, developers have developed flexible tools to capture images, not just a button, but an ecosystem of features that includes long page scrolling and editing snapshots, and if you’ve just purchased a device or upgraded to a new firmware version, it’s good to know the nuances to feel confident.
Standard Method Through Physical Buttons
The most common and common way that Android users have known for many years is to use a combination of hardware keys. On the Xiaomi Redmi Note 4, this method works at the core level of the system and is available even in safe mode.
The key here is synchronicity of pressing, and if you press one button first and then another, the system will perceive this as a normal action, such as changing the volume or locking the screen, instantaneously and briefly pressing both buttons simultaneously will cause the characteristic sound of the camera shutter and a flash of the screen, which signals the successful creation of the picture.
⚠️ Warning: Don't keep buttons pinched too long.Long-term holding of button combinations on some firmware versions MIUI Can run the device shutdown menu or Fastboot fast boot mode.
This method remains the most reliable in situations where the touch screen is temporarily unresponsive or is running with delays.The physical buttons on the Redmi Note 4 are well-strengthed and rated for tens of thousands of taps, so using them is safe for smartphone design.
Use of control panel and menu
For those who prefer interface control, the MIUI shell features a convenient notification curtain call, especially if the physical volume button is inconvenient or is occupied by a finger, and to use this method, you need to unlock the device and swipe from top to bottom to open the Control Panel.
In the quick action list (Wi-Fi icons, Bluetooth, etc.), you need to find an icon that resembles a scissor. If you don't see it on the first page, swipe left to open additional widgets. Pressing this icon instantly creates a screenshot of the current image on the display.
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If the scissors icon is not in the curtain, click on the edit button (usually a pencil or gear) in the corner of the Quick Settings menu and drag the Screenshot icon to the active area.
The advantage of this method is that it's visual feedback, where you see a thumbnail of the image you've taken in the corner of the screen, which you can quickly edit or send to the messenger, and it eliminates the need to open the gallery to find the file you want.
Customization of gestures and triple touch
MIUI is famous for its advanced personalization features, and one of the most convenient is to create a screenshot with triple tapping on the screen.This feature is not activated by default on some global versions of firmware, so it needs to be enabled in the settings. The path to the function is: Settings → Additional Features → Screenshots.
In the menu that opens, you need to activate the switch opposite the "Three fingers" option, and then a light touch of the screen with three fingers at the same time will result in the capture of the image, which is especially useful when the smartphone is lying on the table or when the second hand is occupied.
Note that the sensitivity of the Xiaomi Redmi Note 4 sensor makes it easy to recognize this gesture. However, users who have put on thick protective glass may need to make a little more effort or repeat the gesture twice. In the same settings menu, you can change the scope of the gesture or turn it off if it interferes with casual touches.
Extended screenshot function (scroll)
One of the most popular features in modern smartphones is the ability to create long screenshots, an indispensable tool for saving correspondence in messengers, web pages or long contact lists. On the Redmi Note 4, this feature is built directly into the screenshot processing mechanism.
So right after you take a normal screenshot of any of the ways I described above, you'll see a thumbnail at the top of the screen, and there'll be a few control buttons on it, and you're interested in an icon that looks like a scroll or a piece of paper with an arrow down, which is the Advanced Screenshot button.
Once you press this button, the system will automatically scroll down the screen, capturing new areas of the image. The process continues until you touch the screen or reach the end of the page, resulting in a single vertical image file containing all the information.
⚠️ Note: When creating a long screenshot, try not to touch the controls on the screen, otherwise the system may consider this as a stop scroll command, and the shot will be cropped.
Gallery work and editing
Once an image is created, it is automatically saved in the Gallery's system app, in the Screenshots album. However, the basic functionality of MIUI offers much more than just storage. Immediately after capture, you can click on the edit button to crop off the extra, add text, drawings or bloat sensitive data.
The editor allows you to mark up directly on top of the image, making it a powerful tool for creating instructions or reports. You can use different colors, types of lines, and even add ready-made stickers. All changes are saved in the new file, while the original remains unchanged.
☑️ Check before sending a screenshot
For users working with large volumes of images, the batch editing feature is useful, so you can select several screenshots at the same time and apply the same filters to them or send them to the recipient with a single message, which saves time.
Table of methods and their characteristics
For ease of comparison of all the described methods, below is a summary table that will help you quickly navigate which method is best to use in a particular situation, given your current actions and the state of the device.
| Method | Speed. | Convenience | Features |
|---|---|---|---|
| Buttons (Power + Vol-) | Tall. | Average. | It works always, even when the interface is stuck. |
| Notification curtain | Medium | High. | Requires two hands or fixing the phone |
| Three-finger gesture | Tall. | Very high. | Requires pre-activation in settings |
| Voice commands | Low. | Specific | Useful when hands are busy or dirty |
As you can see from the table, each method has its own advantages: buttons remain a universal solution, while gestures provide maximum comfort in everyday use.
Voice control and assistants
In the age of artificial intelligence, voice control is becoming increasingly relevant: Xiaomi devices have Mi AI voice assistant built in (depending on the region and firmware version), or you can use the standard Google Assistant, which allows you to take screenshots without touching the screen with your hands.
So what you do is you just say an activating phrase like, "OK, Google," or you click the assistant button, and then you say, "Take a screenshot." The system recognizes the voice request and performs an action, which is especially useful when the user's hands are dirty, wet, or busy with other things.
Why can’t the voice assistant work?
Despite its apparent simplicity, this method requires a stable internet connection to process voice on servers, so in poor communication conditions it may work with a delay or not work at all.
Troubleshooting and troubleshooting
Sometimes users are faced with a situation where the screenshot is not created, this can be caused by a software failure, a lack of memory or the limitations of a particular application, for example, in banking applications or incognito browsers, the creation of screenshots is blocked for security reasons, and the screen will simply flash black.
If the problem is systemic, the first thing to do is to restart the device, often clearing temporary clipboards and restoring system services, and checking if there is free space in the internal memory of the Xiaomi Redmi Note 4 is worth checking, as new files cannot be saved when it is overflowing.
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If screenshots are no longer created in all apps at once, check for system updates in the About Phone section, as this may be a known bug of the current version of MIUI.
In rare cases, resetting special features or clearing the cache of the system application Screenshot through the application management menu helps. If nothing helps, you may need to deeper intervention in settings or flashing the device.