Taking a screenshot on your Mac is a fundamental skill, whether you’re sharing a funny moment online, creating a tutorial, or simply saving important information displayed on your screen. macOS offers a variety of built-in tools to capture exactly what you need, from the entire screen to a specific window or a custom selection. This guide will walk you through all the methods to print screen, or rather, screenshot, on your Mac, ensuring you become a screen capture expert in no time.
Capture the Entire Screen: Your Full View
The quickest way to grab everything visible on your Mac display is using a simple keyboard shortcut.
- Press and hold the Shift, Command (⌘), and 3 keys simultaneously. Then, release all three keys at the same time.
- You might see a brief flash on your screen. In the corner of your display, a thumbnail preview of your screenshot will appear momentarily.
- Click the thumbnail to immediately edit your screenshot using Markup tools, allowing you to crop, annotate, or share it instantly. If you miss the thumbnail, don’t worry – the screenshot is automatically saved as a PNG file to your desktop, named with the date and time.
Capture a Portion of the Screen: Focus on What Matters
Sometimes you only need to capture a specific area of your screen, avoiding unnecessary clutter. macOS allows you to select and screenshot just a portion.
- Press and hold the Shift, Command (⌘), and 4 keys together, then release. Your cursor will transform into a crosshair pointer.
- Click and drag the crosshair to select the rectangular area you want to capture. As you drag, you’ll see a selection box appear, outlining the area for your screenshot.
- Release the mouse or trackpad button to take the screenshot of the selected area.
- Need to adjust your selection?
- To cancel the screenshot before capturing, simply press the Esc (Escape) key.
- To move the selection area without changing its size, press and hold the Space bar while dragging the selection box.
- Just like capturing the full screen, a thumbnail will appear for quick editing, and the screenshot will be saved to your desktop if you don’t interact with the thumbnail.
Capture a Window or Menu: Isolate Specific Elements
To capture a single window, like a browser window or application menu, macOS offers a dedicated method.
- Open the window or menu you intend to screenshot, ensuring it’s active and visible on your screen.
- Press and hold Shift, Command (⌘), and 4 keys, and then press the Space bar once. The crosshair pointer will change into a camera icon.
- Click on the window or menu you wish to capture. The selected window will be highlighted as you hover your camera icon over it.
- Optional: Exclude the window shadow. If you want a cleaner screenshot without the window’s shadow, press and hold the Option (⌥) key while clicking on the window.
- Again, a thumbnail preview will appear for editing, and the screenshot saves to your desktop automatically.
Record a Video of Your Screen: Capture Motion and Action
Beyond static screenshots, macOS also lets you record videos of your screen. You can capture the entire screen or a selected portion, perfect for creating tutorials or recording gameplay.
You can use either the built-in Screenshot app or QuickTime Player to record your screen. For detailed instructions, refer to Apple’s guide on how to record the screen on your Mac.
Find Your Screenshots and Recordings: Locate Your Captures
By default, all screenshots and screen recordings are conveniently saved to your Desktop. They are named with the prefix “Screen Shot” or “Screen Recording,” followed by the date and time they were taken, and saved as PNG (.png) for screenshots or MOV (.mov) for recordings.
If you don’t see your screenshot on the desktop, it might be hidden. To easily locate it, use Finder:
- Open Finder.
- In the menu bar at the top, click Go, then select Desktop. Alternatively, click Desktop in the Finder sidebar on the left. This will display all items on your desktop, including your recent screenshots.
Advanced Screenshot Tips and Tricks: Enhance Your Workflow
macOS offers even more options to customize your screenshot experience:
- Save to Clipboard: To copy a screenshot directly to your clipboard instead of saving it as a file, hold down the Control key in addition to the standard keyboard shortcuts (e.g., Control-Shift-Command-3 for full screen). You can then paste the screenshot directly into documents, emails, or editing software.
- Screenshot App (Shift-Command-5): For more control, press Shift-Command-5 to open the Screenshot app (available in macOS Mojave and later). This app provides a toolbar at the bottom of your screen with options to capture the entire screen, a window, or a selected portion, as well as record the entire screen or a selected portion. It also includes a timer and options to choose where to save your screenshots. You can find the Screenshot app also in the Utilities folder within your Applications folder.
- Thumbnail Interaction: The screenshot thumbnail that appears briefly in the corner is interactive. Click it to edit, or simply drag it to quickly save the screenshot to a different folder or directly into an application. If you hover your mouse pointer over the thumbnail, it will remain visible longer, giving you more time to interact with it.
- App Restrictions: Be aware that some applications, particularly those displaying protected content like streaming services (e.g., Apple TV app), may prevent you from taking screenshots of their windows due to copyright restrictions.
Mastering screenshots on your Mac is easy and greatly enhances your productivity and communication. Experiment with these methods to find the quickest and most efficient ways to capture your screen and share your visual information.
