How to take screenshots on a mac
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They say that a picture is worth a thousand words, and it’s true. Most of the time, it is easier to explain things when you have images to use. Take for example screenshots. Screenshots are very helpful when you exhausted all the words you can master when talking to someone who needs your help or someone who will help you especially if it’s a technical problem that needs a technical solution. Screenshots are also helpful for documentation or when you just want to show something cool to someone.
How to Take and Save Screenshots Using Your Mac
There are 3 easy options when you are using your Mac. Just follow the steps below on how to do a screen capture on a Mac.
1. Screenshot of Your Whole Screen.
Pressing Command + Shift + 3 at the same time takes a screenshot of your whole screen. When you hear a shutter sound that means a screenshot was taken and the image file is saved on your Desktop. The screenshot will be saved as a PNG and the file name will include the date and time. You can choose to rename the file by following these steps:
- Click the icon of the file or image.
- Hit the Return key.
- Type in the new filename.
Note that everything is included in the screenshot except for videos protected with HDCP or High-Bandwidth Digital Content Protection.
2. Taking Screenshots of a Portion of Your Screen.
Sometimes, a screenshot that shows only a portion of your screen is needed. This is possible, all you need to do is hold Command + Shift + 4. A cross-like cursor will appear. You can drag this to the area you want screen captured. There is also another combination you can use that will help you, hold Command + Shit + 4 at the same time and hit Space key. A camera will appear and you need to move the camera over the item you want to include. The item or window you want to take a picture of will be highlighted. Next, click the mouse or Trackpad button to take a picture. Alternatively, you can press Return to take the screenshot. All parts of your target item or application will be included, regardless of whether the window is covered by another app or off-screen.
To take a screenshot of any part of the screen, follow these steps:
- Hold Command + Shift + 4. Crosshairs will appear and you’ll notice numbers showing the horizontal and vertical location in the pixel.
- Drag the area you want to capture.
- Release the mouse or Trackpad button, and the screen will be captured.
- If you want to drag the screen selection, hold down the mouse button or Trackpad and then hold Space.
- If you want to restrict the resizing to the vertical or horizontal axis, hold the Shift button while holding down the mouse.
- To resize the selection from the center, press Option while also holding down the mouse.
- To cancel your selection, press Escape.
3. Taking Timed Screen Capture on Mac.
There are times when you want to take a picture of your screen at a specific time or your screen display will change. In this scenario, you can use the Grab app to take pictures. To take a timed screenshot, follow these steps:
- Open the Grab app and go to Preferences. Choose whether you want to have the cursor displayed.
- Go to Capture and select Timed Screen.
- Click Start Timer. You have 10 seconds before the screenshot is taken.
- Once the screenshot has been taken, the image will open in the Grab app.
- Save the image by clicking File, then click Save.
- Type in the filename and choose the format you want. The default file format in Grab is TIFF.
Saving Your Screenshots
When you take a screenshot using your Mac device, the file is saved automatically on the desktop. However, this will make your desktop messy, especially if you need to take a lot of screenshots. Clean the folders on your desktop with Tweakbit MacRepair and keep your files organized.
You can also choose to save your screen captures to another folder or location. To save the images to the clipboard, hold Control then press Command + Shift + 3. This action will make it easier to copy the image to a document or an email. You also have the option to change the default save location of your screenshots from your desktop to another existing folder. You can create a new folder and designate it to be the new location to store your screen grabs.
To change the standard save location, follow these steps:
- Open Terminal using the Spotlight.
- Type in: defaults write com.apple.screencapture location
- Then, drag the new save location or folder to the Terminal window.
- If you want to use the Pictures folder as the new save location, type in: defaults write com.apple.screencapture location
/Pictures/
If you want to use a Screenshots folder (make sure you create the folder first) within Pictures, type in: defaults write com.apple.screencapture location
/Pictures/Screenshots/
Here’s an additional tip: you can add tags when saving your screenshots so it is easier for you to organize and find the screen grabs.
Since Mojave, Macs have featured a built-in tool to make taking a screenshot a simple and easy process. Here’s how to capture a screen grab, whether you want the whole screen or just part of it.
Capturing a screenshot is a simple way to share whatever it is you’re seeing on the screen. If it’s an error, you can snap a picture and send it to tech support. If it’s a message on social media, you can capture the moment and share the image with your friends and followers.
Screenshot tools for Mac have always been easy to use, yet somewhat rudimentary. You could capture just about anything if you knew the right keyboard shortcuts, but you had to know what you were doing first. Since the release of Mojave, macOS now has a built-in screenshot tool—similar to what you might find in Windows—that allows you to take screen grabs with the click of a button. Here’s how to capture what’s on your screen.
Screenshot Tool
If you want to open the screenshot tool, navigate to Launchpad > Other > Screenshot, or use the shortcut Shift+Command+5. You will have the option to take a screenshot of the entire screen, a selected window, or a custom section of the screen.
There are also options to capture recorded video, including the entire screen or a custom section of the screen. An options drop-down menu allows you to choose where to save screenshots, set up a timer, and other settings.
Grab the Whole Screen
You can take a screen grab of the entire screen from the screenshot tool, or you can use the shortcut Shift+Command+3. By default, the screenshot will save as a .png file on your desktop.
Screenshot Part of the Screen
To capture a specific part of your screen, press Shift+Command+4 and your pointer will change to a cross-hair. Click and drag the cross-hair so that it covers the area you wish to capture. Let go to grab the selected area or press the Esc key to cancel. By holding down Shift, Option, or Space Bar, you can change the shape, size, and position of the selection area before capturing an image. The screenshot will be saved as a .png file on the desktop by default.
Capture a Window or Menu
To take a screenshot of a specific window or menu, press Shift+Command+5 and the pointer will change into a camera icon. Move the camera over the a window to highlight it, then click to save the image as a .png file on your desktop. You can also switch back and forth between capturing a custom selection and grabbing a specific menu by hitting the space bar.
Take an Image of the Touch Bar
If you have a Mac with a Touch Bar, you can take a screenshot of it by pressing Shift+Command+6. The image will be saved as a .png file on your desktop.
Change Where Your Mac Screenshots Are Saved
By default, screenshots are saved to your desktop, but you can change that. Open the screenshot tool with Shift+Command+5, or by going to Launchpad > Other > Screenshot > Options. Under the menu section Save to, you can select a new default location, like Documents, Clipboard, Mail, Messages, or Preview. Or click Other Location to choose a specific folder.
Instead of saving screenshots directly to your computer, you can instead send them to the clipboard by adding the Control key to any shortcut command. For instance, use Shift+Command+Control+3 to capture the entire screen, or Shift+Command+Control+4 to take a screenshot of a portion of the screen. You can then paste the screenshot anywhere you like.
Change Image Format
By default, screenshots on Mac are saved as .png files, but those can get pretty big, especially if you have a large Retina display monitor. You can switch to .jpg format with a small amount of coding. Go to Launchpad > Other > Terminal and type the following inside the new window:
defaults write com.apple.screencapture type jpg
Enter your password if asked, then restart the computer. Future screenshots should save in the preferred format you specified. You can always change it back by typing the above command with PNG at the end instead.
Third-Party Options
If you prefer a third-party solution, Snaggit has everything you could need, but also comes with a $50 price tag. The same company also makes a free program called TechSmith Capture (formerly Jing). Other free options include Skitch and LightShot, while Snappy can sync screenshots with the Snappy app for iOS.
How to Take a Screenshot on Any Device
Here’s everything you need to know about capturing screenshots, no matter the platform—Windows, macOS, Chrome OS, iOS, Android, and even Linux.
Taking a screenshot is a basic thing to do on a Mac. However, it might be less-known to many folks. In Windows, there’s a dedicated key on your keyboard for it: PrtScn (Print Screen).
However, the process of taking a screenshot on a Mac is slightly different. If you’re a first-time Mac user or you just switched from Windows, you will find it quite frustrating. Don’t worry, I got your back. In this article, I will show you the steps on how to take a screenshot on your Mac.
Take A Screenshot Using Key Combination
Perhaps you may be wondering why the Mac doesn’t have a Print Screen key. The answer is that the MacBook provides you with more powerful options than a simple Print Screen key on the keyboard. Here is how:
- Command + Shift + 3: This combination allows you to take a picture of everything that’s currently on your screen.
- Command + Shift + 4: This key combination lets you take a screenshot of only a portion of the screen. You will notice that your cursor turns into a cross with parameters. Dragging your cursor will create a box line. From here, you can then select the area you want to capture by adjusting the box.
- Command + Shift +4 + Space Bar: This combination allows you to capture the currently active window. When you use this key combination, your pointer will turn into a camera icon. Click on the windows you want to capture and it’s done.
Where To Find Your Saved Screenshots on Mac
By default, your screenshots will be saved to your desktop as a PNG format: “Screen Shot [date] at [time].png.”
However, starting with macOS Mojave , you can change the default location of saved screenshots from the Options menu in the Screenshot app. You can also drag the thumbnail to a folder or document to store your shots.
Capture Your Mac Screen Without Key Combination
In fact, there are some utility apps that allow you to take a screenshot on your Mac device. You can go to Applications > Utilities. You will see the Screenshot app listed there. Now you just need to double-click it, a toolbar will show up with different options to capture your screen.
You can also access this app by executing the Command+Shift+5 key combination. If you have an older version of macOS, this application is called Grab.
Another utility app that helps to take a screenshot on macOS 10.15 is SnagIt. It has various screen capturing options that you can execute without any key combination. You can also set up timers for capturing elements that are difficult to take. It is an amazing feature suited for hover-over attributes and drop-down contents capturing.
Now you know how to take a screenshot on Mac. I hope that this guide is useful for you. If you have any questions, please leave them in the comments below.
Modified on: Fri, 15 Jan, 2021 at 11:50 AM
If you need to remember what you’re seeing on your screen, save some settings or even send 10to8 support some more information about an issue you’ve run into, you may need to take a screenshot. There are a lot of different ways to do this depending on the device you are using, so here’s everything you need to know about taking a screenshot.
Taking screenshots on iPhone or iPad
If you’re using 10to8 on your Apple iPhone, then there are two ways to do this depending on whether or not you have a physical home button. If you do still have a home button, then you can take a screenshot by holding down the sleep/wake button and pressing the home button at the same time to take a screenshot. If your volume is on, you will hear the camera shutter sound and see a small “flash”.
If you do not have a home screen button, such as the new iPhone 12 or the 11, to take a screenshot, you’ll need to hold down the volume button on the side and the lock button at the same time. Once again, you’ll hear a camera noise if your volume is up.
If you’re using an iPad with Apple Pencil, you can take a screengrab with the drawing tool . You’ll need to swipe up from the bottom corner of the screen with the Apple Pencil to capture the image.
For all of these options, the screenshot will be saved to your camera roll, so you’ll then need to go there to access it.
Taking a screenshot on Android
Whereas Apple devices are all very similar, Android doesn’t share this uniformity as the software is used by a range of phone manufacturers. However, the most common ways of taking a screenshot on an Android device are either to hold down the home button and volume button (if your phone has a home button), or holding down the power and volume buttons if it does not.
Newer devices running on the Android 10 can also take a screenshot from the main menu which you can bring up by holding the power button.
Taking a screenshot on Mac
Much easier than the previous versions, taking a screenshot on Mac can be achieved by simply pressing Command+Shift+5 , or by navigating to Launchpad > Other > Screenshot. This screen capture will also allow you to grab the entire screen, or part of the screen by cropping the capture window.
If you prefer a keyboard shortcut, then just hit Command+Shift+3 to capture the entire screen. If you only want part of the screen captured, use Command+Shift+4 .
Once you’ve taken the screenshot, click the right mouse button to either save it or open it in a new window. Plus, if you prefer to save an image to the clipboard instantly, add Control to any of the keyboard shortcuts mentioned above.
Taking a screenshot on Windows 10
The easiest and most efficient way to take a screenshot on Windows 10 is to use the Print Screen button or ‘Prt Sc’ . This is located on the top right-hand corner of most keyboards. Simply tap it and it will save a capture of your entire screen straight to your clipboard – even though it will look as though nothing happened!
However, if you don’t want to grab your entire window, the Windows also has a built-in tool which will allow you to take a more concise screenshot. The best and easiest one by far is the Snipping Tool , which can be found in the start menu. You just grab the section you want by dragging the rectangle to encompass it and it’s then moved to the editor where you can edit the image or save it to your desktop or desired folder.
Taking a screenshot on Chromebook
Many Chromebooks also have the Snipping Tool in their start menu, so you may also be able to use this handy tool to grab a capture on your Chromebook.
But as well as built-in tools, you can also take a screenshot on a Chromebook by using the laptop’s Window Switch Key . This button is located at the top of the keyboard and looks like the image below.
Just select Ctrl+Window Switch Key to take a full-screen snapshot. Your Chromebook will then give you a notification on the lower right-hand side of the screen. If you’d only like a section of the screen and not the entire capture, you can hit Ctrl+Shift+Window Switcher .
However, if your Chromebook has a standard keyboard as opposed to a Chromebook keyboard, you won’t see a Window Switcher button. Instead, you’ll need to Ctrl+F5 and Ctrl+Shift+F5 instead . You may also be able to find a Print Screen button, so have a look for this too.
Lastly, if you’re able to use your Chromebook in tablet mode, you can take screenshots without the use of the keyboard. Similarly to the iPad, you can use the power and volume down buttons to snap a picture of the entire screen.
External tools for taking a screenshot
If you’d prefer to use an external tool to capture a screenshot, then there are also plenty of options online. Here are a few ideas:
Lightshot if by far the most popular, plus it’s free. You can use it on Mac and Windows and can be added to Chrome and Firefox as an extension.
Page Screenshot is a paid ($2.99) extension for Safari users that you can purchase from the App Store. You can capture the full length of a page or just a specific section.
Awesome Screenshot is another free tool with extensions for Chrome, Firefox and Microsoft Edge. The benefit of using this tool is that it will instantly blur out bits that you may not want to share.
A simple guide on how to take screenshots on a Mac or Windows PC.
Updated October 23, 2018
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What You Need:
- A Mac or PC
- The Lightshot application for PC (highly recommend)
- A positive attitude
Time Needed
Difficulty
Whether it’s reporting a technical problem to IT or emailing an image to a friend, screenshots are a part of life. It’s pretty easy to do on a Mac, but PC is a different story. I wouldn’t say it’s difficult, but it’s not as intuitive as you’d expect. There are a couple of different ways to take screenshots depending on what you’re trying to capture. So, without further ado, here are some helpful tips to get you started:
How to take a screenshot on a Mac
How to take a screenshot of the entire screen
- Press shift + command + 3 to take a picture of the entire screen
How to capture a selected area of the screen
- Press shift + command + 4. The pointer will turn into a tiny cross
How to capture a window
- Press shift + command + 4. The pointer will turn into a tiny cross
- Press the space bar. The crosshair will turn into a camera
How to capture a menu
- Open the menu
- Press shift + command + 4. The pointer will turn into a tiny cross
How to capture a screenshot of the Touch Bar
- Press shift + command + 6
How to take a screenshot on a PC
How to take a screenshot of the entire screen
Capturing a screenshot isn’t as intuitive on PC as it is on Mac, but it’s still pretty easy to do. First we’ll go over how to do it without installing any third-party programs, but we highly recommend you scroll down and check out Lightspot, a free app that brings Mac-style functionality to Windows 10. Lightspot really does a bang up job of eliminating those extra steps.
- To capture a screenshot of your whole screen and save it to the clipboard so you can paste it later, press the Print Screen key on your keyboard
How to find/save your screenshot
- Select the Windows Start button on the bottom left corner of your screen
- Select Applications
- Open Paint. Yes, this archaic tool still exists
- Press control + V to paste your screenshot from the clipboard
How to edit/crop your screenshot
- Open Paint
- Click on the Select button in the toolbar
How to use Lightshot (highly recommended)
- Install Lightshot or add the Chrome extension
Lightshot is a free screenshot app for PC and Mac. It’s a blessing, really, especially if you’re a PC user, as you don’t have to mess around with Paint or open up additional programs. In other words, it brings Mac-style screenshot functionality to Windows 10.
2. To take a screenshot, you can either press the print screen key on your keyboard or click the Lightshot icon on the bottom right of your screen. When you take a screenshot, the screen will dim slightly
3. Click and drag to highlight the area you want to capture
4. Release the mouse/trackpad to edit, upload, share on social media, and so on
Since Mojave, Macs have featured a built-in tool to make taking a screenshot a simple and easy process. Here’s how to capture a screen grab, whether you want the whole screen or just part of it.
Capturing a screenshot is a simple way to share whatever it is you’re seeing on the screen. If it’s an error, you can snap a picture and send it to tech support. If it’s a message on social media, you can capture the moment and share the image with your friends and followers.
Screenshot tools for Mac have always been easy to use, yet somewhat rudimentary. You could capture just about anything if you knew the right keyboard shortcuts, but you had to know what you were doing first. Since the release of Mojave, macOS now has a built-in screenshot tool—similar to what you might find in Windows—that allows you to take screen grabs with the click of a button. Here’s how to capture what’s on your screen.
Screenshot Tool
If you want to open the screenshot tool, navigate to Launchpad > Other > Screenshot, or use the shortcut Shift+Command+5. You will have the option to take a screenshot of the entire screen, a selected window, or a custom section of the screen.
There are also options to capture recorded video, including the entire screen or a custom section of the screen. An options drop-down menu allows you to choose where to save screenshots, set up a timer, and other settings.
Grab the Whole Screen
You can take a screen grab of the entire screen from the screenshot tool, or you can use the shortcut Shift+Command+3. By default, the screenshot will save as a .png file on your desktop.
Screenshot Part of the Screen
To capture a specific part of your screen, press Shift+Command+4 and your pointer will change to a cross-hair. Click and drag the cross-hair so that it covers the area you wish to capture. Let go to grab the selected area or press the Esc key to cancel. By holding down Shift, Option, or Space Bar, you can change the shape, size, and position of the selection area before capturing an image. The screenshot will be saved as a .png file on the desktop by default.
Capture a Window or Menu
To take a screenshot of a specific window or menu, press Shift+Command+5 and the pointer will change into a camera icon. Move the camera over the a window to highlight it, then click to save the image as a .png file on your desktop. You can also switch back and forth between capturing a custom selection and grabbing a specific menu by hitting the space bar.
Take an Image of the Touch Bar
If you have a Mac with a Touch Bar, you can take a screenshot of it by pressing Shift+Command+6. The image will be saved as a .png file on your desktop.
Change Where Your Mac Screenshots Are Saved
By default, screenshots are saved to your desktop, but you can change that. Open the screenshot tool with Shift+Command+5, or by going to Launchpad > Other > Screenshot > Options. Under the menu section Save to, you can select a new default location, like Documents, Clipboard, Mail, Messages, or Preview. Or click Other Location to choose a specific folder.
Instead of saving screenshots directly to your computer, you can instead send them to the clipboard by adding the Control key to any shortcut command. For instance, use Shift+Command+Control+3 to capture the entire screen, or Shift+Command+Control+4 to take a screenshot of a portion of the screen. You can then paste the screenshot anywhere you like.
Change Image Format
By default, screenshots on Mac are saved as .png files, but those can get pretty big, especially if you have a large Retina display monitor. You can switch to .jpg format with a small amount of coding. Go to Launchpad > Other > Terminal and type the following inside the new window:
defaults write com.apple.screencapture type jpg
Enter your password if asked, then restart the computer. Future screenshots should save in the preferred format you specified. You can always change it back by typing the above command with PNG at the end instead.
Third-Party Options
If you prefer a third-party solution, Snaggit has everything you could need, but also comes with a $50 price tag. The same company also makes a free program called TechSmith Capture (formerly Jing). Other free options include Skitch and LightShot, while Snappy can sync screenshots with the Snappy app for iOS.
How to Take a Screenshot on Any Device
Here’s everything you need to know about capturing screenshots, no matter the platform—Windows, macOS, Chrome OS, iOS, Android, and even Linux.
Since Mojave, Macs have featured a built-in tool to make taking a screenshot a simple and easy process. Here’s how to capture a screen grab, whether you want the whole screen or just part of it.
Capturing a screenshot is a simple way to share whatever it is you’re seeing on the screen. If it’s an error, you can snap a picture and send it to tech support. If it’s a message on social media, you can capture the moment and share the image with your friends and followers.
Screenshot tools for Mac have always been easy to use, yet somewhat rudimentary. You could capture just about anything if you knew the right keyboard shortcuts, but you had to know what you were doing first. Since the release of Mojave, macOS now has a built-in screenshot tool—similar to what you might find in Windows—that allows you to take screen grabs with the click of a button. Here’s how to capture what’s on your screen.
Screenshot Tool
If you want to open the screenshot tool, navigate to Launchpad > Other > Screenshot, or use the shortcut Shift+Command+5. You will have the option to take a screenshot of the entire screen, a selected window, or a custom section of the screen.
There are also options to capture recorded video, including the entire screen or a custom section of the screen. An options drop-down menu allows you to choose where to save screenshots, set up a timer, and other settings.
Grab the Whole Screen
You can take a screen grab of the entire screen from the screenshot tool, or you can use the shortcut Shift+Command+3. By default, the screenshot will save as a .png file on your desktop.
Screenshot Part of the Screen
To capture a specific part of your screen, press Shift+Command+4 and your pointer will change to a cross-hair. Click and drag the cross-hair so that it covers the area you wish to capture. Let go to grab the selected area or press the Esc key to cancel. By holding down Shift, Option, or Space Bar, you can change the shape, size, and position of the selection area before capturing an image. The screenshot will be saved as a .png file on the desktop by default.
Capture a Window or Menu
To take a screenshot of a specific window or menu, press Shift+Command+5 and the pointer will change into a camera icon. Move the camera over the a window to highlight it, then click to save the image as a .png file on your desktop. You can also switch back and forth between capturing a custom selection and grabbing a specific menu by hitting the space bar.
Take an Image of the Touch Bar
If you have a Mac with a Touch Bar, you can take a screenshot of it by pressing Shift+Command+6. The image will be saved as a .png file on your desktop.
Change Where Your Mac Screenshots Are Saved
By default, screenshots are saved to your desktop, but you can change that. Open the screenshot tool with Shift+Command+5, or by going to Launchpad > Other > Screenshot > Options. Under the menu section Save to, you can select a new default location, like Documents, Clipboard, Mail, Messages, or Preview. Or click Other Location to choose a specific folder.
Instead of saving screenshots directly to your computer, you can instead send them to the clipboard by adding the Control key to any shortcut command. For instance, use Shift+Command+Control+3 to capture the entire screen, or Shift+Command+Control+4 to take a screenshot of a portion of the screen. You can then paste the screenshot anywhere you like.
Change Image Format
By default, screenshots on Mac are saved as .png files, but those can get pretty big, especially if you have a large Retina display monitor. You can switch to .jpg format with a small amount of coding. Go to Launchpad > Other > Terminal and type the following inside the new window:
defaults write com.apple.screencapture type jpg
Enter your password if asked, then restart the computer. Future screenshots should save in the preferred format you specified. You can always change it back by typing the above command with PNG at the end instead.
Third-Party Options
If you prefer a third-party solution, Snaggit has everything you could need, but also comes with a $50 price tag. The same company also makes a free program called TechSmith Capture (formerly Jing). Other free options include Skitch and LightShot, while Snappy can sync screenshots with the Snappy app for iOS.
How to Take a Screenshot on Any Device
Here’s everything you need to know about capturing screenshots, no matter the platform—Windows, macOS, Chrome OS, iOS, Android, and even Linux.
A picture is worth a thousand words. Screenshots are helpful in triaging your device issues, sharing whatever you do to others. When you are short of words, you can simply snap your screen. Taking a screenshot is built into all operating systems on your devices.
How to Take Screenshots on Mac?
Mac allows us to take screenshots with keyboard shortcuts as well as without keyboard easily.
Make screenshots using Keyboard shortcuts
Follow any one of the below steps to take a screenshot using Mac’s keyboard.
1. Screenshot the whole screen
Make a screenshot of the whole screen on a Mac is really simple and straightforward. Follow the below steps to take a screenshot of the whole screen in your Mac.
- Holding Command + Shift + 3 keys will make a brief shutter sound. This means your Mac took a screenshot of the whole screen and saved it in the Desktop.
- Navigate to the Desktop directory. You can find the screenshot file which has the date and time of the screenshot taken.
2. Select and Screenshot
If you want to select a particular area on your screen and make a screenshot of it, that’s too simple. This time use number 4, instead of 3.
- Just press and hold Command + Shift + 4 keys. Do notice the mouse cursor will be turned into a reticle. This means you are ready to make a selection and screenshot it.
- Feel free to click and drag your mouse or trackpad and make a rectangular region of which you want to make a screenshot.
- Hit the Esc key to start over.
- Once you are ready with the rectangular region to take a screenshot, just release the click. This will make a shutter sound.
- You can see the screenshot on the Desktop.
3. Screenshot a Window
Mac allows users to take a screenshot of an application’s window.
- Hold down Command + Shift + 4 + Space keys. This will turn your mouse cursor into a camera icon.
- Move the cursor on the screen and place it on the window which you want to take a screenshot. The window will be highlighted in blue.
- Use Command + Tab to switch between the windows and hit the Esc key to cancel the session without taking a screenshot.
- Click the blue highlighted window and find the screenshot file in the Desktop.
Copy a screenshot to the clipboard
If you want to copy a screenshot to Mac’s clipboard without saving it as a file into the Desktop (like Windows), just hold down the Ctrl key while performing any of the above methods. This will copy the screenshot into Mac’s clipboard. Then you can paste it to a document or an email.
Take a screenshot without using Keyboard
You can also take a screenshot without hitting any key in the keyboard.
1. Take a screenshot using Preview app
Mac allows us to do it with the use of its Preview app. Just follow the below steps.
- Go to Finder and launch the Preview app.
- Go to the “File” menu of Preview and select “Take Screen Shot”.
- You can see 3 different options to take a screenshot.
- Select any one of the options of your choice and make a screenshot.
- The screenshot will be opened into a Preview window. Go to File -> Save to save the screenshot anywhere you want.
2. Take a screenshot using Grab utility
There is another app named Grab in Mac that helps us to take screenshots efficiently.
- Just go to Applications -> Utility -> Grab and open the Grab app.
- Click the “Capture” menu of the Grab app.
- There will be 4 different options to take a screenshot.
- Choose any one of the options and make a screenshot.
- Click File -> Save to save the screenshot file.
These are the various methods you can use to make screenshots in Mac devices.
Since Mojave, Macs have featured a built-in tool to make taking a screenshot a simple and easy process. Here’s how to capture a screen grab, whether you want the whole screen or just part of it.
Capturing a screenshot is a simple way to share whatever it is you’re seeing on the screen. If it’s an error, you can snap a picture and send it to tech support. If it’s a message on social media, you can capture the moment and share the image with your friends and followers.
Screenshot tools for Mac have always been easy to use, yet somewhat rudimentary. You could capture just about anything if you knew the right keyboard shortcuts, but you had to know what you were doing first. Since the release of Mojave, macOS now has a built-in screenshot tool—similar to what you might find in Windows—that allows you to take screen grabs with the click of a button. Here’s how to capture what’s on your screen.
Screenshot Tool
If you want to open the screenshot tool, navigate to Launchpad > Other > Screenshot, or use the shortcut Shift+Command+5. You will have the option to take a screenshot of the entire screen, a selected window, or a custom section of the screen.
There are also options to capture recorded video, including the entire screen or a custom section of the screen. An options drop-down menu allows you to choose where to save screenshots, set up a timer, and other settings.
Grab the Whole Screen
You can take a screen grab of the entire screen from the screenshot tool, or you can use the shortcut Shift+Command+3. By default, the screenshot will save as a .png file on your desktop.
Screenshot Part of the Screen
To capture a specific part of your screen, press Shift+Command+4 and your pointer will change to a cross-hair. Click and drag the cross-hair so that it covers the area you wish to capture. Let go to grab the selected area or press the Esc key to cancel. By holding down Shift, Option, or Space Bar, you can change the shape, size, and position of the selection area before capturing an image. The screenshot will be saved as a .png file on the desktop by default.
Capture a Window or Menu
To take a screenshot of a specific window or menu, press Shift+Command+5 and the pointer will change into a camera icon. Move the camera over the a window to highlight it, then click to save the image as a .png file on your desktop. You can also switch back and forth between capturing a custom selection and grabbing a specific menu by hitting the space bar.
Take an Image of the Touch Bar
If you have a Mac with a Touch Bar, you can take a screenshot of it by pressing Shift+Command+6. The image will be saved as a .png file on your desktop.
Change Where Your Mac Screenshots Are Saved
By default, screenshots are saved to your desktop, but you can change that. Open the screenshot tool with Shift+Command+5, or by going to Launchpad > Other > Screenshot > Options. Under the menu section Save to, you can select a new default location, like Documents, Clipboard, Mail, Messages, or Preview. Or click Other Location to choose a specific folder.
Instead of saving screenshots directly to your computer, you can instead send them to the clipboard by adding the Control key to any shortcut command. For instance, use Shift+Command+Control+3 to capture the entire screen, or Shift+Command+Control+4 to take a screenshot of a portion of the screen. You can then paste the screenshot anywhere you like.
Change Image Format
By default, screenshots on Mac are saved as .png files, but those can get pretty big, especially if you have a large Retina display monitor. You can switch to .jpg format with a small amount of coding. Go to Launchpad > Other > Terminal and type the following inside the new window:
defaults write com.apple.screencapture type jpg
Enter your password if asked, then restart the computer. Future screenshots should save in the preferred format you specified. You can always change it back by typing the above command with PNG at the end instead.
Third-Party Options
If you prefer a third-party solution, Snaggit has everything you could need, but also comes with a $50 price tag. The same company also makes a free program called TechSmith Capture (formerly Jing). Other free options include Skitch and LightShot, while Snappy can sync screenshots with the Snappy app for iOS.
How to Take a Screenshot on Any Device
Here’s everything you need to know about capturing screenshots, no matter the platform—Windows, macOS, Chrome OS, iOS, Android, and even Linux.
