How to Print Screen to a File in Mac OS X You need to press a combination of keys that usually include the command key with a shift key and another key to capture the screen or take a screenshot. The Mac OS takes an image of the desktop, which includes all the running apps and open windows. How to take a Mac Print Screen (Screenshot) on OS X El Capitan: Open the item or area you’d like to take a screenshot of. Press Command + Shift + 4 and then release all keys. You will now see that your mouse cursor has turned into crosshairs that you can move around.
On WinXP, you can click on the 'Print Screen' key on the keyboard and then paste it from the buffer, and you have a screen shot of whatever view you were looking at. How do you do this on the Mac? Is there a key similar to the one on the PC? All the best, Unnsse. What is known as “Print Screen” in the Windows world is called screen captures or screen shots in Mac OS X. You’ve probably noticed there is no ‘Print Screen’ button on a Mac keyboard, this is to both simplify the keyboard and also because it’s just unnecessary. On a desktop Mac, press Command-Shift-5 to summon the screen capture window. Choose from Capture Entire Screen, Capture Selected Windows, or Capture Selected Portion to select and capture a portion of the screen.
macOS has excellent in-built screenshot support. If you are in a hurry, let me tell you straight up that to take a screenshot on your Mac, press together Command + Shift + 3. However, if your job demands to take screenshots frequently, learn more options to become super productive at this.
Note: The keyboard shortcuts to do screenshots work the same way on MacBook Pro, Macbook Air, iMac, Mac Mini, or any other Mac.
To take a screenshot of the full Mac screen, including the Dock, top menu bar and everything else: Press together Command + Shift + 3.
To take a screenshot of a selected portion: Press together Command + Shift + 4. You may leave the keys when you see the crosshair. Next, drag it to select a portion of the screen. When you are done with the selection, release the mouse key or trackpad touch. Best app to clean my mac. The Mac captures a screenshot and saves it.
Pro Tip: Suppose you make a selection of the wrong portion. You do not press the esc button and restart. Press and hold the Space bar to move the selection. Press and hold Shift to change the selection area only in one direction. And, press the Option key to increase or decrease the sides in proportion. Try it! You will love these.
Animal crossing video game. To capture only an open window on Mac: Press together Command + Shift + 4. Leave the keys when you get the selection cursor.
Now, press the Space bar once. Fortnite wont run on mac.
Next, take the camera icon on any open window and click. Using this, you can even do a screenshot of just the Dock or the menu bar and so on. These screenshot files have a nice grey shading on their edges that look great.
One button for all: Can not remember all the above keys? Just remember one set, and then you can use the tools you see to take a screenshot or even screen recording on Mac running macOS Mojave or later. For this, press together Command + Shift + 5.
After you take a screenshot using any method, you might see its thumbnail in the lower right corner. It will automatically disappear after a few seconds and get saved. Or, you may also click on it to make edits like crop, markup, share, etc.
Note: Suppose you want to take a screenshot of Chrome using Preview. For this, open the Preview app from the Dock or Launchpad. Then you will see the menu for Preview in the top bar. Do not click on the Chrome window. If you click on it or any other app window, its menu will take the place on the top bar.
When you do a screenshot, it is saved to the desktop or place decided by you. However, there is an additional throwaway method to grab a screenshot and get it copied automatically to the clipboard. This won’t save the actual file. You can paste the screenshot in apps like Notes, Word, Google Docs, etc. or even paste it on your other Apple devices courtesy of Universal Clipboard.
For this, press and hold the Controlkey when you take a screenshot using the above methods. For example,
You can also print screenshots using the TouchBar on MacBook. But first, you need to add the screenshot button to it. For this:
Now onwards, tap on the Camera icon in the TouchBar to open the screenshot tools and take a screen capture. How to download premiere pro cc for free mac.
Pro Tip: Wondered how to take the screenshot of the TouchBar itself? Press Command + Shift + 6
Just like any other full screenshot! That is, after you power on your Mac, or are at any login window, or locked user authentication screen, press Command + Shift + 3 to take a screenshot.
This method works if you are running OS X 10.10 (Yosemite, released in 2014) and above.
Note: The screenshot file starts with LWScreenshot if it is of the main login screen (after you just power on or log out of the current user). Rest other login screenshots have the normal file name (Screen Shot Year-Month-Date and Time)
By default, screenshots are saved on desktop. You will find all of them here.
Pro Tips:
All future screenshots will save on the selected location. This setting will stay in effect even if you restart the Mac.
The default keys are great. However, you may modify them to any key you like. For this:
If you use a Windows keyboard with Mac, the steps to take a screenshot remains the same. However, you have to use Windows keyboard equivalents.
Mac Key | Windows Key |
Control | Ctrl |
Option | Alt |
Command | Windows |
Delete | Backspace |
Return | Enter |
So, to take a full screenshot on Mac using Windows Keyboard, press: Windows + Shift + 3. How to make a pdf black and white adobe reader.
To capture a selected part, press: Windows + Shift + 4 and so on…
By default, the screenshots on Mac are taken in .PNG format. But, you can change it to JPG (or even TIFF/ PDF/ GIF). The process involves using the Terminal. But it is straightforward. We have an easy guide that tells you how to do this.
When you take a screenshot on modern Macs, you see its thumbnail for a few seconds. You can click on it to edit it or share it via AirDrop, Mail, Messages, etc. But, if you do not fancy this and think of it as an unnecessary intrusion, here is how to turn it off.
Signing off…
This is how you can master screenshots on Mac. I hope this guide is helpful. If you have any further related questions, feel free to ask in the comments section below.
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I have been an Apple user for over seven years now. At iGeeksBlog, I love creating how-tos and troubleshooting guides that help people do more with their iPhone, iPad, Mac, AirPods, and Apple Watch. In my free time, I like to watch stand up comedy videos, tech documentaries, news debates, and political speeches.