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Taking screenshots on a Mac is straightforward and offers several options depending on what you want to capture. Here’s a professional guide to the most common methods:

1. Using Keyboard Shortcuts (Quickest Methods)

Mac’s built-in keyboard shortcuts are the fastest way to grab screenshots. By default, screenshots are saved as PNG files on your desktop.¹

 

• Capture the Entire Screen:

  • Press Shift + Command + 3.²
  • Your Mac will take a picture of everything on your screen.³ You’ll hear a camera shutter sound (if your volume is on), and a thumbnail of the screenshot will briefly appear in the bottom-right corner of your screen. You can click this thumbnail to edit or share it immediately, or wait for it to save to your desktop.⁴

• Capture a Portion of the Screen:

  • Press Shift + Command + 4.⁵
  • Your pointer will change to a crosshair. Click and drag to select the area you want to capture.
  • Release the mouse or trackpad button to⁶ take the screenshot.
  • Pro Tip: While dragging, you can hold the Space bar to move the selection area without changing its size.⁷ You can also hold the Shift key to resize only one side of the selection.

• Capture a Specific Window or Menu:

  • Press Shift + Command + 4, then press the Space bar.⁸
  • Your pointer will change to a camera icon. Move the camera icon over the window or menu you want to capture. The window or menu will highlight.
  • Click to take the screenshot.
  • Pro Tip: To exclude the window’s shadow from the screenshot, hold down the Option (Alt) key while you click.⁹

• Copy to Clipboard (Instead of Saving to Desktop):

  • To copy any of the above screenshot types directly to your clipboard (so you can paste it into another application without saving a file), simply add the Control key to the shortcut.
  • Control + Shift + Command + 3: Copies the entire screen to the clipboard.¹⁰
  • Control + Shift + Command + 4: Copies a selected portion to the clipboard (after you select the area).
  • Control + Shift + Command + 4 + Space bar: Copies a specific window or menu to the clipboard (after you click the window/menu).

2. Using the Screenshot App (macOS Mojave and later)¹¹

For more control and options, macOS Mojave and later versions include a dedicated Screenshot app.¹²

 

• Open the Screenshot App:

  • Press Shift + Command + 5.
  • A toolbar will appear at the bottom of your screen with various options:
    • Three screenshot buttons:
      • Capture Entire Screen
      • Capture Selected Window
      • Capture Selected Portion
    • Two screen recording buttons:
      • Record Entire Screen
      • Record Selected Portion
    • Options: This pop-up menu allows you to:
      • Choose where to save the screenshot (Desktop, Documents, Clipboard, Mail, Messages, Preview, or Other Location).
      • Set a timer (5 or 10 seconds) for delayed screenshots.¹³
      • Show or hide the mouse pointer in the screenshot.
      • Show or hide the floating thumbnail (the small preview that appears after taking a screenshot).¹⁴
      • Remember your last selection for future screenshots.

• How to Use:

  1. Press Shift + Command + 5.
  2. Select the desired screenshot or recording tool from the toolbar.
  3. If selecting a portion or window, follow the on-screen instructions (drag to select, click the window).
  4. Click Capture (for screenshots) or Record (for screen recordings).
  5. To stop a screen recording, click the Stop button in the menu bar.

3. Saving and Editing Screenshots

• Default Save Location: By default, screenshots are saved to your desktop with the name “Screen Shot [date] at [time].png”.¹⁵
• Floating Thumbnail: After taking a screenshot, a small thumbnail will appear in the bottom-right corner of your screen.¹⁶
  • Click the thumbnail: This opens the screenshot in a Markup window, where you can crop, annotate (add text, shapes, arrows), sign, or share it.¹⁷
  • Drag the thumbnail: You can drag the thumbnail directly into a document, email, note, or Finder window to quickly move or use the image.
  • Swipe right: Swiping right on the thumbnail immediately saves the file to your chosen location and makes it disappear.

Third-Party Screenshot Tools

While macOS provides excellent built-in functionality, some users prefer third-party apps for advanced features like:

• Scrolling Screenshots: Capturing an entire web page or document that extends beyond the visible screen.
• More advanced annotation tools.
• Cloud integration for sharing.
• OCR (Optical Character Recognition) to extract text from images.

Popular options include CleanShot X, Snagit, Lightshot, and Shottr.

By mastering these methods, you can efficiently capture and manage screenshots on your Mac for any purpose.