Saving/Manipulating Images from External Sources (i.e. Web Pages, Documents, etc.)
These steps are primarily meant for Windows XP, but might also be valid (with some slight differences) for Windows 2000, Windows Vista, and Windows 7
Locate the image you want to work with (i.e. find it on the web page, within the word document, etc.)
Determine if you simply want to save this image to your computer for later use (Steps 3 to 5 below), or you want to manipulate this image right now (Steps 6 to 14 below).
If you want to simply save this image to your computer for later use, right-click on the image and select:
- Internet Explorer: "Save Picture As..."
- Mozilla Firefox: "Save Image As..."
- Other Applications: You will first have to copy this image into the Microsoft Paint application - follow the instructions starting at step 6 below
In the "Save Picture" Dialog box that appears, locate the appropriate folder that you want to save the image in (i.e. it should default to your "My Pictures" folder), type in the file name that you want to use for this image (it should default to whatever the file is named in its current location that you are pulling from), and ensure that the "Save as type" is correct (you generally want to use JPEG/JPG files, although GIF, BMP, PNG, and TIF/TIFF files are also relatively standard). Then click the "Save" button.
The picture has now been saved to your computer. You can later open this picture to view or edit, upload it elsewhere, email it to others, or do many more things with it. Be aware that many pictures that you capture in this manner might be copyrighted and subject to copyright laws and guidelines.
If you want to manipulate this image, or if you are attempting to save an image from an application other than your web browser, first launch Microsoft Paint by going to your Start Menu, and then browsing to All Programs -> Accessories -> Paint (or by clicking the Windows Logo Key and the "R" button at the same time to bring up the "Run" command box, and then entering "mspaint" and clicking the "OK" button)
Within the Microsoft Paint application, select the "Image" menu at the top, and then select "Attributes..." (or you can just hit CTRL+E within the Microsoft Paint program)
Set the "Width" attribute to "1" and the "Height" attribute to "1" and click the "OK" button
Now go back to where the image you want to capture/manipulate is located, right-click on the image, and select:
- Internet Explorer: "Copy"
- Mozilla Firefox: "Copy Image"
- Other Applications: You will have to determine the appropriate copy command
Once you do this, the image is copied to a Virtual Clipboard within the computer (where it is stored until you copy something else in which case the current image is overwritten). While that image is stored in the Virtual Clipboard on your computer, you can paste it into other applications, such as Microsoft Paint.
Now switch back to Microsoft Paint - select the "Edit" menu at the top, and then select "Paste" (or you can just hit CTRL+V within the Microsoft Paint program)
At this point, if you were simply following these instructions in order to capture and save an image from an application (Step 3 above) then you should select the "File" menu at the top, then select "Save" and then save the image on to your computer (for more help navigating the "Save As" dialog box, refer to step 4 above.
Now that the image is within Microsoft Paint, you can manipulate it. Microsoft Paint is a basic image editing application, so the amount of manipulation you can do is limited. However, you can follow these steps and paste the image into another image editing application (i.e. Adobe Photoshop Elements, etc.) if you have one installed in order to do more advanced editing.
In order to resize the image within Microsoft Paint, select the "Image" menu at the top, and then select "Stretch/Skew..." (or you can just hit CTRL+W within the Microsoft Paint program)
Within this dialog box, you can adjust the "Stretch" properties to a smaller or larger percentage to decrease or increase the size of the image (Note: when increasing the size of the image, the larger you increase the more distorted/pixelated the image will look)
If you make a mistake while working within Microsoft Paint, or just want to undo the last action that you did, you can select the "Edit" menu at the top and then select "Undo" (or you can just hit CTRL+Z within the Microsoft Paint program)
When you are finished manipulating your image and want to save it, select the "File" menu at the top, then select "Save" and then save the image on to your computer (for more help navigating the "Save As" dialog box, refer to step 4 above).
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