Hello, there peeps!! So I am assuming that if you are on my article i.e., how to capture screenshot on a Mac, then you surely have just switched from Windows to a shiny Mac piece. And now you’re stuck with the basics as of capturing screenshots, finding Print screen
“Print Screen” button is mostly available on most keyboards intended for Windows. There are a few special cases yet practically all Windows keyboards have “Print screen” button. Unfortunately, there is no such button on your Mac. However it doesn’t imply that you can’t take a screenshot, you can. But the procedure is more convoluted, harder to remember yet is considerably more adaptable with regards to output and what you are explicitly hoping to catch in a screenshot.
In the guide below, we’ll cover the most common ways to do so on a Mac. Whether you have an iMac, iMac Pro, MacBook, MacBook Air, or MacBook Pro, the process is essentially the same as long as you’re running macOS or older OS X operating system.
5 Basic ways to take screenshot on a Mac:
Macs come with screenshot tools to capture precisely what you want—your full screen, a specific window with or without its shadow, or just a small section of your screen. The only problem is, Macs hide their screenshot tools behind keyboard shortcuts. You need to memorize a few shortcuts—or customize your Mac—to quickly take screenshots whenever you need.
Here’s how to use some of your Mac’s screenshot tools (which are super easy and beginner friendly) to capture anything on your screen.
To capture the entire screen:
- Press command + shift + 3 simultaneously.
- That will save a copy of your screen to your clipboard.
- You can alternatively press the same combination without the Command key in order to save the image as a PNG file to your desktop.
Note: If you’ve updated MacOS to the latest release version, known as Mojave, a preview of the screenshot will appear in the corner of your screen giving you quicker access to editing tools. You can also take advantage of the new screenshot “Stacks” feature which groups together similar files on your desktop, like screenshots. To do so, just right click on your desktop and all of them will be quickly grouped together.
To capture a selected area:
- Press command + shift + 4 simultaneously.
- Your mouse pointer will turn into a crosshair.
- Use it to select the region you wish to capture.
- You can fine-tune your selection by pressing the spacebar, which will let you take a full-screen capture or to select an open menu.
- Your selection will then be copied to the clipboard. Alternatively, don’t press the Command key and your screenshot will be saved to the desktop as a PNG file.
- If you have a MacBook Pro with Touch Bar, it’ll give you options on the Touch Bar that include the Selected Portion, Window, or Entire Screen.
To capture a screenshot of a particular app window:
- Press command + Control + Shift + 4.
- You will notice that your mouse cursor changes to “+” with pixel coordinates on the right side.
- Now with spacebar (that very wide button on your keyboard).
- Now click on the window you would like to capture in a screenshot.
- The screenshot is now saved on your clipboard for further use in apps
To capture a screenshot of a Menu:
- Open the Menu that you wish to capture.
- press Command + Shift + 4 key and mouse cursor will turn to cross-hair icon.
- Press the spacebar key after the cursor has turned to cross-hair icon and the icon will now change to camera icon.
- Navigate the Camera icon to the menu you wish to capture.
- You’ll notice that the menu is highlighted, it is now time to capture it. Just click the mouse button to capture the menu.
To capture a screenshot of touch bar on MacBook Pro:
- Ensure that your MacBook Pro is running macOS Sierra 10.12.2 or later.
- You need to press shift + command + 6 key to capture the screen.
- You are at liberty to customize the Control Strip region of your Touch Bar and include a Screenshot option.
- This will make it easier at it gives you an easy way to take the screenshot, change screenshot type, and also the change the location to save it.
5 advance level steps to take screenshot on Mac:
Let’s take a dig to some advanced level magic:
To capture a full screen:
For this, you’ll have to first launch Grab. Grab is a program that comes pre-installed on all Macs and lets you create screenshots directly from the menu bar.
- Open Grab by locating the application on your Mac or by hitting command + space bar and typing “grab”.
- Navigate to a screen you want to screenshot.
- Right-click on the Grab icon in your dock and select “Capture Screen” so a prompt appears.
- Click outside the prompt to select the screen you want to capture.
- Click “X” to close the screenshot window.
- Chose to delete or save by selecting the format, destination, and name of the file.
To capture a desired window:
For this you’ll again need Grab.
- Open Grab by locating the application on your Mac or by hitting command + space bar and typing “grab”.
- Right-click on the Grab icon in your dock and select “Capture Window” so a prompt appears.
- Click the “Select Window” button.
- Then click the window you want to screenshot.
- Click “X” to close the screenshot window.
- Chose to delete or save by selecting the format, destination, and name of the file.
To capture Timed screen:
With Grab, you can take a screenshot of a particular section of the screen, an individual window, or the entire screen — the same three options we previously outlined above. What’s new here is the “Timed screen” option, which gives you a 10-second delay before the screenshot is captured. This means that if you need to open a menu or position your mouse in the right position, you’ve got some time to do so.
- Open Grab as in the instructions above.
- Select Timed Screenshot from the Grab menu, or press its shortcut: Command + Shift + Z.
Keep in mind that your mouse cursor will not show up in the screenshot by default. If you want to ensure it’s captured in the frame, click Preferences from the main Grab menu and select the mouse icon from the resulting pop-up window.
Using Preview to take a screenshot on a Mac:
Preview, the default tool that allows you to open everything from photos to PDF files on your Mac has more than a few hidden features. You can edit images with Preview. For instance, simply by clicking the toolbox icon. Preview can also capture screenshots.
- Open Preview.
- Highlight File in the menu bar.
- From the drop-down menu, select Take Screenshot and then either From Selection, From Window, or From Entire Screen, depending on your preferences.
Bonus tip: How to edit a screenshot on a Mac:
- Take a screenshot saved directly to your desktop.
- Double-click on the resulting image file on your desktop.
- Or, right-click your image file and select “Open With.”
- Select “Keynote” from the list of applications, or “Other” to locate Keynote in your Finder.
- In Apple Preview, you can expand the edit toolbar to add shapes, change the screenshot’s color composition, incorporate text, and more.
- In Keynote, you can add a shadow, add a reflection, and remove the screenshot’s background.
I really hope that this guide helped you in taking screenshot on a Mac easily. For more such articles visit our official website Webful Creations.