How do I take a Screenshot on my Mac

This article covers the built-in options for taking screenshots on your Mac. You can use the keyboard shortcuts to quickly take pictures, or open the Screenshot app for more options like screen recording and changing the settings to suit your needs.

Using Shortcuts for Screen Capture

Use keyboard shortcuts to take screenshots of your entire screen, a portion of your screen, or a window or menu. By default, screenshots are saved to your desktop in the format ”Screen Shot [date] at [time].png.”. The location of your screenshots can be changed in the settings of the Screenshot app, which is outlined in the last section of this article.

Note: If you are using a Windows keyboard, the Windows Key is what you press in place of the Command Key on a Mac keyboard. For more information about using a Windows Keyboard with your Mac, see this post.

Capture the Entire Screen

• Press: Command (⌘) + Shift + 3

This will capture the entire screen and save the screenshot to the destination chosen in the Screenshot app.

Capture a Selected Portion of the Screen

• Press: Command (⌘) + Shift + 4

Your cursor will change to a crosshair. Click and drag to select the area you want to capture. Release the mouse button to take the screenshot, which will be saved to the destination chosen in the Screenshot app.

Capture a Specific Window or Menu

• Press: Command (⌘) + Shift + 4, then press the Spacebar

Your cursor will change to a camera icon. Move the camera icon over the window or menu you want to capture. Click to take the screenshot, which will be saved to the destination chosen in the Screenshot app.

Capture the Touch Bar (for MacBook Pro models with Touch Bar)

• Press: Command (⌘) + Shift + 6

This will capture the entire Touch Bar and save the destination chosen in the Screenshot app.

Using the Screenshot app

If you can’t remember the shortcut for each of the capture modes you can open the Screenshot app and click on the capture function you want. To quickly access the screenshot app:

• Press: Command (⌘) + Shift + 5

You can also navigate to the Screenshot app by opening Launchpad.

The Screenshot app, which is included in macOS Mojave and later, has controls for:

• Capturing the entire screen
• Capturing a specified window
• Capturing a selected portion of the screen
• Recording activity on the entire screen
• Recording activity on a portion of the screen

Customizing Screenshot Settings

MacOS allows you to customize various settings related to screenshots, such as the default save location, the inclusion of a floating thumbnail, and more:

1. To open Screenshot app:
   • Press Command (⌘) + Shift + 5
2. Options:
   • Click the “Options” button in the Screenshot app toolbar to see settings for saving screenshots, setting a timer, and more.

By using these methods, you can capture screenshots quickly and easily on your Mac. The destination of these screenshots can be changed in the Screenshots app. Screen recordings can also be taken using the screenshots app. Hope these steps were helpful and thanks for reading.