Well yeah, why would I keep an uncropped version around? It seemed safer to save over the one I didn't want.

Edit: I guess I don't usially save before cropping a screenshot. But it's not something I really thought about before either.

sometimes I want to keep the original for my own records

Isn't that the default on Android phones if you screenshot then crop. As opposed to screenshot, then open it and crop.

I tend to use the rectangular option in the snipping tool as a way to be certain that I won't forget to crop important info. Both of these make me think I need to check my process and see if it is relevant.

It applies if you choose to "overwrite" any file that is larger than the generated PNG data.

My normal workflow is use snipping tool, it opens in editor, crop, save. This is for sure safe?

It seems like the problem is that if you use the snipping tool to save to a file that already exists it only modifies as much of the file as is required so that the new image you saved is visible - the rest of the file's data is preserved. The problem is saving to a file with more information than the cropped information requires - the original images information "overflow" isn't removed. So if you're saving to a new file it's fine, there's no extra information.

I am aware after reading the whole thread but still, I think I've done it countless times over the years.