How to Take a Screenshot on the Pixel 2 and Pixel 2 XL

You can follow these easy steps below if you want to take a full screenshot on the new Google Pixel 2 and the Pixel 2 XL.

Most Android OEMs keep this feature the same, but there are a number of them out there that change things up. Because of this reason, and because there are likely a number of iOS users out there trying Android for the first time, I decided to whip up this article. The process to take and capture a screenshot is incredibly easy and it only takes a few seconds to do.

While you could definitely grab a 3rd-party application from the Play Store to help with this, it isn’t necessary. Any time that I can do something on Android without using a 3rd-party application then I definitely take advantage of it.

There are times in which a 3rd-party application will add in additional features for a task. In this case there are some that would let you write a note or draw on top of the screenshot after it has been captured. For me personally though, I generally just use a screenshot to show someone part of my screen and usually don’t need anything else.

So this is how it’s done.

Pixel 2 Take Screenshot

1. Press and hold the Power and Volume Down buttons at the same time
2. Continue holding these two buttons down until you see the screenshot captured
3. Let go of these two buttons and preview the screenshot from the notification panel

Explanation

As you can see, there is really only one step to this guide but when I create a tutorial I like to break things down into as many steps as possible so things are clear. The gesture we’re doing here is pressing and holding two buttons at the same time. The buttons that you want to press here on the Pixel 2 or the Pixel 2 XL is the Power button and the Volume Down button. Be sure that these two buttons are pressed at the same time so the gesture is triggered.

After 1-3 seconds of holding these two buttons down, you should see the contents of whatever is on your screen be ‘captured’ with an animation and a preview image. As soon as you see this happen, you can then let go of the Power and Volume Down buttons since the process is complete. Now on Samsung and some other devices, you’ll be given an immediate option to share a screenshot, write on it, or do something else with it but that doesn’t happen on the Pixel 2 or the Pixel 2 XL.

Instead, the Pixel 2 screenshot is captured and then a notification is created. So from here, you will want to expand the notification panel by swiping down from the top of the screen. This will show you all of the notifications and if the screenshot is the only notification then you’ll instantly see a small preview of it with two actions (Share and Delete). If the notification is collapsed then you can do a swipe down gesture directly on the notification itself and that will expand the preview.

So from here, you can either tap the Share or Delete button right from the notification itself, or you can tap on it and preview the screenshot in your default image viewer (which is likely to be Google Photos). From here you can modify it if you’d like, share it, delete it, or simply keep it stored in the cloud for later access.