How To Print Screen On Mac

There are 6 (!) different ways to capture a screenshot on your Mac, 3 different approaches with 2 separate outputs for each, but I use only two. I call myself a heavy Mac user, and I have taken thousands of screenshots in the last year alone that are all published on these WordPress theme collections. I have no idea how many are there, but I am sure that at least tens of thousands of screenshots are all captured using macOS Monterey.

how to print screen on mac

I originally decided to write this tutorial because dozens of people have asked how I have created all those screenshots on this website. I will leave this blog post as a reference to anyone asking the same question again.

If you did try to use some of the methods mentioned above, you might have noticed that screenshots are saved as PNG files. It is OK to use this file format in most cases because you will get the best image quality. Still, if you are using MacBook Pro Retina or some other 4K monitor, you will notice that screenshots can be as large as 5-8MB, which is unacceptable for sending several such files via email.

Since then we have grown a lot and now we offer mockups that might come in handy if you are a designer and want to combine them with screenshots you have taken using the methods above. Since there are too many mockups to list them in a single line we are presenting them in a beautiful list:

My MAC has lost its ability to capture print screens. Any troubleshooting tips you can offer? I updated to El Capitan, but this did not correct the problem. I used to be able to print screen with no problem.

Does anyone else have any ideas on this please as I even after 30 years of using macOS still can not remember all the shortcuts needed. I literally fly around the internet and want to hit one key instead of having to use both hands to replicate one of the most simplest methods of grabbing a screen

Press Shift-Command-4, then move the crosshair pointer to where you want to start the screenshot. Press the mouse or trackpad button, drag over the area you want to capture, then release the mouse or trackpad button.

On every Mac computer, you can capture high-quality screenshots and modify or share them as you see fit. You have the option of capturing the entire screen, a window, or just a section of it. The Shift, Command, and number keys are used in every Mac screenshotting technique.

A few not-so-obvious yet cool features to mention are self-timer, screenshot pinning, and internal cloud. Want to capture something with a delay? CleanShot X has a self-timer that will help you pick the right moment. If you want your screenshot to be visible on the screen, pin it to the desktop. Finally, save your screen captures to the internal CleanShot Cloud and get shareable links in a flash.

Dropshare connects with a range of major third-party cloud apps, but you can also lean on proprietary Dropshare Cloud if you prefer, which is helpful if you want to keep your Mac screen capture sharing separate from your other sharing activity.

A screenshot that you capture on a Mac is instantly saved to your Desktop. You may access them by going to the Desktop screen on your computer or by using Finder to access the Desktop folder and view your saved pictures within. If you have a lot of screenshots that you need to filter through on your Desktop screen, using Finder can be the simpler option since it typically shows the date and time the screenshot was taken.

Go to System Preferences > Security & Privacy > Privacy > Screen Recording on a Mac to disable screenshots. Unlock the padlock with your password. You may view a list of the applications that are currently recording your screen here. You can select and unselect the apps from here.

Press and hold Command + Shift + 4. Your cursor will change into a tiny reticule to the lower left that contains pixel coordinates. To select a rectangle area for a screenshot, click and hold the mouse button or trackpad button while dragging the pointer. If you want to start over without capturing the picture, press the Esc key. Release the click to take the picture.

Press and release the spacebar: The crosshair turns into a little camera icon, which you can move over any open window. Click on your desired window to take a screenshot of it. A screenshot captured by this method features a white border around the window with a bit of a drop shadow.

Press and hold the spacebar (after dragging to highlight an area but before releasing the mouse button or trackpad): This locks in the shape and size of the selection area but lets you reposition it on the screen. It's very handy if your initial selection area is off by a few pixels; just hold down the spacebar to reposition it before releasing the mouse button to snap a screenshot.

A shortcut command introduced way back in MacOS Mojave in 2018, Cmd-Shift-5 calls up a small panel at the bottom of your display with your screen capture options. There are three screenshot buttons that let you capture the entire screen, a window or a selection of your screen.

Likewise, the two video-recording buttons let you record your entire screen or a selection of it. On the left is an X button to close the screenshot panel, but you can also just hit the Escape key to exit out.

On the right side is an Options button. It lets you choose where to save your screenshot -- Desktop, Documents, Clipboard, Mail, Messages, Preview or Other Location, and set a 5- or 10-second delay so you can line up items that might otherwise disappear when you engage your screenshot tool.

By default, the Show Floating Thumbnail option is enabled, which puts a little preview thumbnail of your just-captured screenshot in the lower-right corner of your screen, similar to the screenshot procedure with iOS. Unlike on your iPhone, you can turn off this preview thumbnail on your Mac. Lastly, you can choose to show your mouse pointer in a screenshot or video.

If you've got an older MacBook Pro with the Touch Bar, you can also take a screenshot of what's currently showing on the Touch Bar. Just hit Cmd-Shift-6 to take a very wide and skinny screenshot of your Touch Bar.

If you embrace the Floating Thumbnail, you'll gain quick access to Markup tools to annotate your screenshot. You can swipe the Floating Thumbnail away or just let it slip away on its own and it'll be saved to the spot you last saved a screenshot. Click the Floating Thumbnail and it'll open in a Markup View preview window (but not Preview) with all of the markup tools you get in Preview.

Longtime Mac screenshotters may be slow to adopt the Cmd-Shift-5 shortcut, but I find myself using it more for the ability to annotate screenshots without needing to open Preview, and quickly delete screenshots that I know immediately I messed up. The 5- and 10-second delay options are also useful and appreciated additions.

You can take high-quality screenshots on any Mac computer, and then edit or share them however you like. If you bought or updated your Mac in 2018 or later, you will have access to the advanced screenshot menu, which lets you take videos of your screen as well.

When you take a screenshot, you'll see a small thumbnail preview in the bottom-right corner of your screen, which you can click to edit the screenshot. You can turn this feature on and off using the screenshot menu.

2. The three icons on the left allow you to take a screenshot of the entire screen, a specific window, or a highlighted section. The next two icons to the right will let you record a video of the entire screen, or just a highlighted section. Click on one of the options on the left to select how you want to take a screenshot.

There's also a menu labeled Options. This menu lets you choose where to save your screenshot, how much time you want between pressing Capture and the screenshot being taken, and more.

The Options menu also has the Show Floating Thumbnail option, which is turned on by default and will have a checkmark on the left. This option makes a tiny thumbnail appear in the bottom-right corner of the screen when you take a screenshot. The screenshot won't be saved to your computer until this thumbnail disappears after a few seconds.

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.

3. In the Save to section of the menu, select one of the pre-listed locations or, click on Other Locations to choose a folder you want your screenshots to be saved to by default.

Quick tip: If you hold down the Control key while you take your screenshot, it'll copy the screenshot to your clipboard instead of saving it. You can then paste the screenshot anywhere that allows you to insert images.

3. Click and drag the mouse pointer to select the area of your screen that you want to screen shot. The highlighted area will appear normally while everything else excluded from the screenshot will still be darkened. You can also press Command + A to select the entire screen.

In macOS, you can take a screenshot by hitting the Shift-Command-3 keys in combination. By default, screenshots are saved on your Mac's desktop in PNG format. If you have additional displays connected to your Mac, these screens will be captured at the same time as separate individual images.

If you want to capture just part of the screen, you can use the Shift-Command-4 key combination. This turns the cursor into a crosshair selection tool which you can then drag out with a left click to select what you want to capture. Simply let go of the left mouse button or the trackpad on a Mac notebook to take the shot.

Tip: If you tack the Control key onto either of the shortcuts described above, macOS copies the captured image to the clipboard, which is useful if you want to paste it into an application that can edit or view images. Otherwise, screenshots taken using key shortcuts are saved straight to your desktop. 041b061a72