How to Take a Mac Screenshot with a Keyboard Shortcut

 

How to Take a Mac Screenshot with a Keyboard Shortcut

Apple’s macOS operating system includes several shortcuts for taking screenshots of the entire screen or certain parts of the screen.

To use them, press one of the following three-key combinations simultaneously on your keyboard (and in one case, hit space just after the combination). We’ll go over each of these below, but for now, here’s a quick list of the shortcuts:

• Shift+Command+3: Capture an image of your entire Mac’s screen.
• Shift+Command+4: Capture a portion of your Mac’s screen that you select.
• Shift+Command+4 then Space: Capture a window or menu.
• Shift+Command+5: Open the Screenshot app interface.
• Shift+Command+6: Take a screenshot of the Touch Bar on a Macbook Pro.

To capture a screenshot directly to the clipboard instead of an image file, add Ctrl to any of the shortcuts listed above. For example, press Ctrl+Shift+Command+3 to capture the entire screen to the clipboard.

After taking a screenshot, you’ll hear a camera shutter sound effect through your Mac’s speaker. The image will be saved onto your Desktop by default (although the destination can be changed, as we’ll explain below).

The screenshot image can be opened in any standard image viewer or editor, such as Apple Preview or Adobe Photoshop.

Capture Your Entire Mac’s Screen

To capture your Mac’s entire screen, press Shift+Command+3 on your keyboard. After pressing, you’ll hear a camera shutter sound effect, and a thumbnail will pop up in the bottom-right corner of your screen.

If you ignore the thumbnail, it will disappear in a moment and the screenshot image will be saved to your desktop. If you click the thumbnail, you’ll enter editing mode, which we’ll cover below.

If you want to capture the entire screen of your Mac into your clipboard instead of a file, press Ctrl+Shift+Command+3. You can then paste the screenshot into any app you’d like.

Capture a Portion of Your Mac’s Screen

To capture a portion of your Mac’s screen that you select yourself, press Shift+Command+4 on your keyboard. When your mouse cursor transforms into a crosshair, click your mouse or trackpad and drag the crosshair to begin selecting an area of the screen that you want to capture.

As you make your selection, you’ll notice numbers beside the cross-hair cursor. These numbers represent the dimensions of the area that you’ve selected in pixels (width on top, height on bottom).

At any time while you’re capturing, the process can be canceled by pressing the Escape key on your keyboard. Once you’ve selected an area and released your pointer button, the selected area will be saved as a screenshot on your desktop.

Capture a Window or Menu on Your Mac

To capture an exact image of an app window, a menu, or the Dock without having to manually select it, press Shift+Command+4, and then hit the Space bar on your keyboard. Your mouse cursor will transform into a camera icon.

Position the camera icon over the window or menu that you want to capture. Your Mac will highlight the window or menu under the cursor. Click the left button on your mouse or trackpad, and you’ll capture that window or menu as a screenshot.

Open the Mac Screenshot App Interface

On macOS, all screenshots are captured using a built-in app called “Screenshot.” When Screenshot runs as an app, a small floating toolbar appears on the screen that allows you to take screenshots and also configure screenshot options.

To bring up this Screenshot toolbar at any time, press Shift+Command+5 on your keyboard. It will come in handy when you’re changing screenshot settings that we’ll go over below.

Capture a Screenshot of the Touch Bar Screen