The Macintosh operating system has always made it easy to capture a screen shot. A screen shot is an image of your computer desktop or an active window. Here's a summary of all the keyboard shortcuts you can use to capture your screen in Mac OS X. Show A. Entire screen:
B. Portion of the screen:
C. Specific application window:
___________________________________________________________ Computing Tips and Techniques are brought to you by the Information Technology Group for the purpose of sharing a wide variety of technology tips with its clients. The collection of these tips are protected by intellectual property rights, such as copyright. All intellectual property rights belong to the manufacturer of the software product in question. You can take high-quality screenshots on any Mac computer, and then edit or share them however you like. If you bought or updated your Mac in 2018 or later, you will have access to the advanced screenshot menu, which lets you take videos of your screen as well. Here are five ways to take screenshots on a Mac. Quick tip: Your Mac lets you take videos of your screen as well as screenshots. Check out our article on how to screen record on a Mac for more info. Mac screenshot shortcutsEvery method for screenshotting on a Mac uses the Shift, Command, and number keys. Keyboard ShortcutFunctionShift + Command + 3Capture a screenshot of the entire screen.Shift + Command + 4Highlight a specific part of the screen to screenshot.Shift + Command + 5Open the screenshot menu to record video or edit your screenshot options.Shift + Command + 6Take a screenshot of the Touch Bar, if your Mac has one. Shift + Command + 3: Take a screenshot of the entire screenTo capture your entire screen, press and hold down Shift + Command + 3. Note: If you're using multiple monitors, it'll take and save screenshots of every monitor. When you take a screenshot, you'll see a small thumbnail preview in the bottom-right corner of your screen, which you can click to edit the screenshot. You can turn this feature on and off using the screenshot menu. Shift + Command + 4: Capture a specific section or window1. Press Shift + Command + 4. 2. Your mouse cursor will turn into a crosshair. Click and drag this crosshair to select an area of your screen. 3. Let go of the mouse button or trackpad to capture the selected area, or press the Esc key to cancel. That's not all you can do with this method. After pressing Shift + Command + 4, you can press other keys to unlock more options:
Shift + Command + 5: Use the screenshot menuCurrent versions of the macOS (Mojave, Catalina, Big Sur, Monterey, and Ventura) come with a Screenshot app. 1. Press Shift + Command + 5 to open the Screenshot app. A small menu panel will appear at the bottom of the screen. 2. The three icons on the left allow you to take a screenshot of the entire screen, a specific window, or a highlighted section. The next two icons to the right will let you record a video of the entire screen, or just a highlighted section. Click on one of the options on the left to select how you want to take a screenshot. 3. Click the Capture button on the far right to take the screenshot. There's also a menu labeled Options. This menu lets you choose where to save your screenshot, how much time you want between pressing Capture and the screenshot being taken, and more. The Options menu also has the Show Floating Thumbnail option, which is turned on by default and will have a checkmark on the left. This option makes a tiny thumbnail appear in the bottom-right corner of the screen when you take a screenshot. The screenshot won't be saved to your computer until this thumbnail disappears after a few seconds. However, you can click this thumbnail before it disappears to open the screenshot in a new window. In this window, you can:
Grab an image of the Touch BarNot all Mac computers have the Touch Bar, but if you have one, you can take a screenshot of it. If there's something on your Touch Bar that you'd like to show others, you can screenshot it by pressing Shift + Command + 6. This will immediately capture everything on your Touch Bar. Where to find your Mac screenshotsBy default, screenshots appear on your desktop. It'll automatically be titled "Screen Shot," followed by the date and time you took it. You can also change the location that your screenshots get saved to by following these steps: 1. Press Shift + Command + 5 to open the screenshot menu. 2. Click Options to open the menu. 3. In the Save to section of the menu, select one of the pre-listed locations or, click on Other Locations to choose a folder you want your screenshots to be saved to by default. Quick tip: If you hold down the Control key while you take your screenshot, it'll copy the screenshot to your clipboard instead of saving it. You can then paste the screenshot anywhere that allows you to insert images. Third-party screenshot apps for macOSIf you don't want to use your Mac's built-in screenshot tools, you can use a third-party app for macOS. One of the best and free screenshot apps is Lightshot, and it's quite easy to use. 1. Download and install Lightshot on your Mac computer. 2. Launch Lightshot by pressing Command + Shift + 9 on your keyboard. Your Mac's screen will darken, indicating that you're ready to take a screenshot. 3. Click and drag the mouse pointer to select the area of your screen that you want to screen shot. The highlighted area will appear normally while everything else excluded from the screenshot will still be darkened. You can also press Command + A to select the entire screen. 4. You can use the toolbar that appears on the side of the highlighted area to add other elements to your screenshot, such as text, lines, rectangles, arrows, and colors. 5. Press Command + S and choose where you want to save the screenshot to on your computer. Quick tip: You can press Command + C to copy the screenshot to your Mac's clipboard. You can then paste it in any application that allows you to insert images. Other great screenshot apps for macOS that you can use include Monosnap, Shottr, Skitch, and CleanShotX. William Antonelli Tech Reporter for Insider Reviews William Antonelli (he/she/they) is a writer, editor, and organizer based in New York City. As a founding member of the Reference team, he helped grow Tech Reference (now part of Insider Reviews) from humble beginnings into a juggernaut that attracts over 20 million visits a month. Outside of Insider, his writing has appeared in publications like Polygon, The Outline, Kotaku, and more. He's also a go-to source for tech analysis on channels like Newsy, Cheddar, and NewsNation. |