Taking a screenshot on a Mac is simple and can be done in several ways depending on what you want to capture. Below are the most common methods:
1. Capture the Entire Screen
Press:
- Command (⌘) + Shift + 3
This will take a screenshot of the entire screen and save it as a file on your desktop by default.
2. Capture a Selected Portion of the Screen
Press:
- Command (⌘) + Shift + 4
Your cursor will turn into a crosshair. Click and drag to select the area you want to capture. Release the mouse button to take the screenshot. The image will be saved to your desktop.
3. Capture a Specific Window
Press:
- Command (⌘) + Shift + 4 , then press the Spacebar .
Your cursor will change to a camera icon. Move the cursor over the window you want to capture and click. The screenshot of that specific window will be saved to your desktop.
4. Screenshot and Copy to Clipboard
If you want to copy the screenshot to the clipboard instead of saving it as a file, add Control to any of the above shortcuts:
- Command (⌘) + Control + Shift + 3 : Copies the entire screen to the clipboard.
- Command (⌘) + Control + Shift + 4 : Copies a selected portion of the screen to the clipboard.
- Command (⌘) + Control + Shift + 4 , then Spacebar : Copies a specific window to the clipboard.
You can then paste the screenshot into an application (e.g., Preview, Word, or Photoshop) using Command (⌘) + V
5. Using the Screenshot Toolbar (macOS Mojave and Later)
Press:
- Command (⌘) + Shift + 5
This opens a toolbar at the bottom of the screen with various options:
- Capture the entire screen
- Capture a selected window
- Capture a selected portion of the screen
- Record the entire screen or a selected portion
You can also set a timer and choose where to save the screenshots from this toolbar.
6. Change the Default Save Location
By default, screenshots are saved to the desktop. You can change this by going to:
- System Settings > Keyboard > Keyboard Shortcuts > Screenshots
From there, you can specify a different folder for saving screenshots.