How to record part of your screen on Windows

Short answer: on Windows 11 you can record a screen region with the built-in Snipping Tool (Win + Shift + R), but it's basic, no audio control, no editing, no effects. For anything you'll show other people, use a recorder with area selection and post-recording crop.

Option 1: Snipping Tool (built-in, basic)

1. Press Win + Shift + R (or open Snipping Tool → video mode).
2. Drag the region, hit Start, record, stop.
3. You get an MP4 of that region.

Fine for quick internal captures. Limits: no system-audio/mic mixing, no cursor effects, no way to fix anything afterwards, and quality settings are take-it-or-leave-it.

Option 2: Xbox Game Bar (built-in, full windows only)

Win + G records apps, but only whole windows, not regions, and it refuses the desktop and File Explorer. Useful for game clips; wrong tool for demos.

Option 3: Area recording in a real recorder

Purpose-built recorders let you drag a capture region before recording and keep the footage editable. In Girato the flow is: pick your screen → click ◱ Record area → drag a box around just the app (goodbye taskbar, goodbye bookmarks bar) → record. Your clicks inside that area still drive automatic zooms.

The under-rated companion feature is crop-after-recording: record generously, then crop to the region that matters. You never lose footage to a too-tight region, and you can change your mind per export.

Why region beats full-screen for shared videos

• Focus: your app fills the frame instead of 30% of it.
• Privacy: taskbar icons, notification toasts and browser tabs leak more than people think. Better to never capture them. For anything already captured, use a privacy blur.
• Legibility on phones: region + zoom is the difference between readable and squint-worthy in vertical exports.