© AP It's easy to take screenshots on a Mac. AP
- There are four ways to take a screenshot on a Mac, and all of them can be done with easy keyboard shortcuts.
- If you press Shift + Command + 5 on your Mac's keyboard, you'll open the screenshot menu, which lets you take screenshots and videos, as well as customize your settings.
- Pressing Shift + Command + 4 will let you take a quick screenshot anywhere on your screen, while Shift + Command + 3 will capture the entire screen at once.
- If you have a MacBook with a Touch Bar, you can use Shift + Command + 6 to take a screenshot of the Touch Bar.
- Visit Business Insider's Tech Reference library for more stories.
If you see something great online, it's only natural that you'll want to share it with others. Obviously you could send a link, but what if you only want to point out a specific section or image?
Aug 26, 2016 You simply take an existing screenshot keyboard shortcut and add Control to the mix. For example, the keyboard shortcut to capture then entire screen is Shift (⇧) + Command (⌘) + 3. Pressing that key combination will capture your entire screen and place the image as a new PNG file on your desktop. There are four ways to take a screenshot on a Mac, and all of them can be done with easy keyboard shortcuts. If you press Shift + Command + 5 on your Mac's keyboard, you'll open the screenshot. On your Mac, press Shift-Command-5 (or use Launchpad) to open Screenshot and display the tools. Click a tool to use to select what you want to capture or record (or use the Touch Bar). App transfer apple. For a portion of the screen, drag the frame to reposition it or drag its edges to.
Jan 04, 2020 How to take a screenshot on Mac Press Command + Shift + 5 on your keyboard to bring up the screenshot toolbar. Click on one of the following: Capture Entire Screen, Capture Selected Windows, or Capture Selected Portion to capture exactly what you want. Selecting Capture Entire Screen will take a screenshot immediately unless you set a timer. Press Command + Control + Shift + 3. This method works exactly like the one above, except the screenshot does not immediately create a file. Instead, the image is saved to the clipboard, the same temporary storage area where your computer remembers the text that you have copied.
This is where screenshots come in. You can take high quality screenshots on any Mac computer, and then edit or share them however you like. They'll automatically be titled 'Screen Shot,' followed by the date and time you took them.
Macbook trackpad not clicking down. If you've bought or updated your Mac since 2018, you even have access to the advanced screenshot menu, which will let you take videos of your screen too.
Best of all, taking screenshots on a Mac only takes a single keyboard shortcut. Which shortcut you use, though, depends on how you want to take the picture. Apple computer backup devices.
Here's four ways to take screenshots on a Mac.
How to screenshot on a Mac
Every method for screenshotting on a Mac uses the Shift, Command, and number keys. In short:
- Shift + Command + 3 takes a screenshot of the entire screen.
- Shift + Command + 4 lets you highlight a specific part of the screen to capture.
- Shift + Command + 5 opens the screenshot menu, which lets you do both of the above, as well as record videos and edit your screenshot options.
- Shift + Command + 6 takes a screenshot of the Touch Bar, if your Mac has one.
Apple Screenshot Command Shortcut
We'll go over all of them below, starting with the most widely applicable method: the screenshot menu.
Taking a screenshot with the screenshot menu
The screenshot menu was introduced in MacOS Mojave, the big 2018 update — if you've bought or updated your Mac since then, there's a very good chance you have it.
To open this menu, press Shift + Command + 5. A small bar will appear at the bottom of the screen.
The three icons on the left will let you take a screenshot of the entire screen, a specific window, or a highlighted section, respectively. The next two icons to the right will let you record a video of the entire screen, or just a highlighted section.
The 'Capture' button on the far right will take the screenshot, or begin recording the video.
© William Antonelli/Business Insider The screenshot menu will offer you a variety of options. William Antonelli/Business InsiderThere's also a menu labeled 'Options.' This menu lets you choose where to save the screenshot or video, how much time you want between pressing 'Capture' and the screenshot or video being taken, and more.
© William Antonelli/Business Insider The options menu will let you customize how your screenshots are taken. William Antonelli/Business InsiderOf note in this menu is the 'Show Floating Thumbnail' option, which is turned on by default. When this is enabled, after you take a screenshot, a tiny thumbnail of it will appear in the bottom-right corner of the screen. 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 draw or type on it, crop it, share it via your Apple ID account, or delete it.
© William Antonelli/Business Insider You can make the floating thumbnail disappear faster by clicking and dragging it off the screen. William Antonelli/Business InsiderTaking a screenshot of a highlighted section or window
If you want to take a quick screenshot without going through the screenshot menu, you can use this shortcut.
When you press Shift + Command + 4, your mouse cursor will turn into a crosshair. You can then click and drag this crosshair across the screen to create a highlighted box — as soon as you let go of the mouse, your Mac will screenshot everything in the box.
© William Antonelli/Business Insider Everything in the highlighted box will be screenshotted. William Antonelli/Business InsiderBut this isn't all you can do with this shortcut.
If you press Shift + Command + 4, and then press the spacebar, your crosshair will turn into a camera icon. You can then click on any open window to take a screenshot of that window — when the screenshot is saved, it'll have a gray border around it.
If you drag the crosshair to create a highlighted box, and then press and hold the spacebar, it'll lock the box so it can't change size. You can then drag the box anywhere on the screen. Just release the spacebar to take your screenshot.
Similarly, if you drag to create a highlighted box and then press and hold the Shift key, you can adjust solely the height or width of the box. Move your mouse up or down to adjust the height, and left or right to adjust the width. Let go of the mouse to take the screenshot.
Taking a screenshot of the entire screen
Pressing Shift + Command + 3 will immediately take a screenshot of your entire screen. If you're using multiple monitors, it'll take and save screenshots of every monitor.
Apple Screenshot Command Shortcut
We'll go over all of them below, starting with the most widely applicable method: the screenshot menu.
Taking a screenshot with the screenshot menu
The screenshot menu was introduced in MacOS Mojave, the big 2018 update — if you've bought or updated your Mac since then, there's a very good chance you have it.
To open this menu, press Shift + Command + 5. A small bar will appear at the bottom of the screen.
The three icons on the left will let you take a screenshot of the entire screen, a specific window, or a highlighted section, respectively. The next two icons to the right will let you record a video of the entire screen, or just a highlighted section.
The 'Capture' button on the far right will take the screenshot, or begin recording the video.
© William Antonelli/Business Insider The screenshot menu will offer you a variety of options. William Antonelli/Business InsiderThere's also a menu labeled 'Options.' This menu lets you choose where to save the screenshot or video, how much time you want between pressing 'Capture' and the screenshot or video being taken, and more.
© William Antonelli/Business Insider The options menu will let you customize how your screenshots are taken. William Antonelli/Business InsiderOf note in this menu is the 'Show Floating Thumbnail' option, which is turned on by default. When this is enabled, after you take a screenshot, a tiny thumbnail of it will appear in the bottom-right corner of the screen. 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 draw or type on it, crop it, share it via your Apple ID account, or delete it.
© William Antonelli/Business Insider You can make the floating thumbnail disappear faster by clicking and dragging it off the screen. William Antonelli/Business InsiderTaking a screenshot of a highlighted section or window
If you want to take a quick screenshot without going through the screenshot menu, you can use this shortcut.
When you press Shift + Command + 4, your mouse cursor will turn into a crosshair. You can then click and drag this crosshair across the screen to create a highlighted box — as soon as you let go of the mouse, your Mac will screenshot everything in the box.
© William Antonelli/Business Insider Everything in the highlighted box will be screenshotted. William Antonelli/Business InsiderBut this isn't all you can do with this shortcut.
If you press Shift + Command + 4, and then press the spacebar, your crosshair will turn into a camera icon. You can then click on any open window to take a screenshot of that window — when the screenshot is saved, it'll have a gray border around it.
If you drag the crosshair to create a highlighted box, and then press and hold the spacebar, it'll lock the box so it can't change size. You can then drag the box anywhere on the screen. Just release the spacebar to take your screenshot.
Similarly, if you drag to create a highlighted box and then press and hold the Shift key, you can adjust solely the height or width of the box. Move your mouse up or down to adjust the height, and left or right to adjust the width. Let go of the mouse to take the screenshot.
Taking a screenshot of the entire screen
Pressing Shift + Command + 3 will immediately take a screenshot of your entire screen. If you're using multiple monitors, it'll take and save screenshots of every monitor.
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Note that unless you enable it in the screenshot menu, this won't capture your mouse cursor. And if you have the floating thumbnail option enabled, taking screenshots in quick succession will capture the floating thumbnail in the corner, too.
Taking a screenshot of the Touch Bar
Not all Mac computers have the Touch Bar, a long but thin touch screen built into the keyboard. But if your MacBook does have one, you likely know how useful it can be.
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.
© Apple The Touch Bar screenshot will be as long as the actual Bar. AppleIf your Mac doesn't have a Touch Bar, pressing this won't do anything.
Maya Kachroo-Levine contributed to an earlier version of this article.
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How do I take a screenshot? | |||||
press | PrtScn | = | Windows captures the entire screen and copies it to the (invisible) clipboard. Note: On some notebooks you have to hold Fn and then press PrtScn instead. | ||
Where can I find that key? | |||||
PrtScnScrLkPause | Look for this group of keys at the upper right of your keyboard. Note: Print Screen (PrtScn) might have been abbreviated differently on your keyboard. | ||||
How do I take a screenshot of a single window? | |||||
hold down | Alt | and press | PrtScn | = | Windows captures only the currently active window and copies it to the clipboard. |
How do I take a screenshot of a specific area? | |||||||
hold down | ⊞ | and | Shift | and press | S | = | Use your mouse to draw a rectangle in order to specify what to capture. Windows then copies it to the clipboard. Since: Windows 10 Creators Update. |
I guess it's in the clipboard now. How can I paste it into a document or something? | |||||
hold down | Ctrl | and press | V | = | Windows pastes the screenshot (that is in the clipboard) into a document or image you are currently editing. |
Where should I paste it? I just need a (graphics) file. | |||||
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How do I take a screenshot and have it directly as a file? | |||||
hold down | ⊞ | and press | PrtScn | = | Windows (8 or 10) captures the entire screen and saves it as a file to your Pictures >Screenshots folder. |
Can you show me in a video? | |||||
Is there a dedicated program for taking screenshots? How can I find it? |