How to Screenshot on Mac | 4 Simple Ways to do It.

• To take a screenshot of your Mac screen, Simply press Shift + Command + 3.
• Press Shift + Command + 4 to screenshot a specific area of your screen.
• Press Shift + Command + 5 to open the Screenshot app
• Shift + Command + 6 to screenshot the Touchbar of your old Macbook Pro.

Apple has new M1, M2, and M3 versions of most of its famed Macs, but how to screenshot on Mac remains the same.

Screenshots are a good tool, and you can use them to help guide someone through a new app, capture crucial messages, and even take cited photos of your best friend on WhatsApp. Woefully, Apple desktops and laptops don’t have a specific Print Screen key.

But thankfully, macOS has plenty of keyboard shortcuts and a couple of apps that permit you to get the screenshot you need just as quickly. There’re plenty of ways and customizations. Here’s everything you could ever want to know about taking a screenshot on your Mac.

What is Mac?

Apple Inc. marketed the Mac (known as Macintosh until 1999), and the first Mac was released in 1984. Macs are known for their ease of use and minimalist designs and are prevalent among students, innovative professionals, and software engineers. As of December 2022, macOS has 6% usage worldwide.

How to Screenshot on Mac

Method 1: Cmd-Shift-3

This keyboard shortcut will capture a screenshot of your entire screen.

After pressing this shortcut, a screenshot preview appears in the bottom-right corner of your Mac screen, showing you quick access to editing tools.

Method 2: Cmd-Shift-4

This keyboard combo turns your cursor into a crosshair, which you can drag to select a piece of your screen to capture quickly. Release the mouse’s button or trackpad to take the shot.
You have several other options after hitting Cmd-Shift-4:

Press and release the spacebar: The crosshair turns into a small camera icon, which you can drag over any open window. Just click on your wanted window to take a screenshot of it. A screenshot will be 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 the wanted area but before releasing the mouse’s button or trackpad): This locks in the shape and size of the selection area but lets you reposition it on the screen. It’s convenient if your initial selection area is off by a few pixels; just hold down the spacebar to the area before releasing the mouse’s button to snap a screenshot.

Hold down the Shift key: (after dragging to the wanted area but before releasing the mouse’s button or trackpad): This locks in each side of the selection area made with the crosshairs save the bottom edge, letting you drag your mouse up or down to place the bottom edge.

Without the mouse button, release the Shift key and click it again to reposition the right edge of your selection area. You can toggle between moving the bottom edge and right edge by keeping the mouse’s button or touchpad engaged and pushing the Shift key.

Also, read: How To Inspect Element On Mac

Method 3: Cmd-Shift-5

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

Interchangeable, the two video-recording buttons let you record your whole screen or a selection. On the left is an X button to close the screenshot panel, but you can tap the Escape key to exit.

The right side of this options panel allows you to choose where to save your screenshot – Documents, Clipboard, Mail, Messages, Desktop, Preview, or other location, and set a 5 to 10 seconds pause so you can line up items that might otherwise disappear when you engage your screenshot tool.

As a default, the Show Floating Thumbnail option is enabled, which puts a short preview thumbnail of your captured screenshot in the lower-right corner of your Mac screen, like the screenshot procedure with iOS. Unlike on your iPhone, you can also turn off this preview thumbnail on your Mac. Also, you can show your mouse pointer in a screenshot or video.

If the screenshot panel is in your way, you can grab hold of its left edge and drag it to a new spot on your Mac screen.

Touch Bar MacBooks: Cmd-Shift-6

If you’ve MacBook Pro with the Touch Bar, you can also take screenshots using the Touch Bar. Just tap Cmd-Shift-6 to take screenshots of your Touch Bar.

How to add Annotations

MacOS’ Markup abilities are built into the Screenshot app. That means adding highlights to text, drawing arrows to point out details, making freehand sketches, and much more to any screen capture.

Step 1: To see the Markup toolbar, Tap on the thumbnail that appears in the bottom-right corner of your Mac Screen after taking a screenshot.

Step 2: After tapping on the screenshot’s thumbnail, it opens a window with a Markup toolbar at the top. This system utility window appears above all other windows and lacks an app window’s usual maximise, minimise, and sizing options. There’re several drawing tools, a text tool, a signature option that permits you to sign on your trackpad or take a photo of an ink and paper signature with a webcam or iPhone, and more.

Step 3: Perfect squares and circles are possible when using the Shapes tool, but the Sketch tool at the top-left helps with correct wobbly, hand-drawn shapes, including boxes, ovals, stars, triangles, and arrows.

Step 4: It’s easy to edit your drawings and annotations. Deselect the current tool so that the cursor becomes an arrow and chooses any annotation to adjust its size, colour, and Position. Tap the Delete key to clear that sketch, text, or signature.

Step 5: When you’re pleased with marking up the screenshot, choose the Done button at the upper right to save the image, and you can also use the Share menu to AirDrop and send it to another app or simply trash the screenshot if you don’t want it.

Troubleshooting

How to print screen a portion of the screen on a Mac

If you want to select a specific area, simply press and hold Shift, Command, and 4 simultaneously. This shortcut will bring up a crosshair. Click and drag to select the area of the screen you want to print screen.

Where do my screenshots go on Mac?

By default, when you take a screenshot on your Mac using Shift+Command+3, Shift+Command+4, or Shift+Command+5, your Mac saves the screenshot to your desktop as PNG files. But you can also change the location you can.

How can I take a screen recording?

You can also take screen recordings with the Screenshot program (see above).

Summary

This post explores many ways to take a screenshot on your Mac. While full-screen captures are the “brute force” approach to screenshots, defining an area or window of focus will result in greater efficiency.

Similarly, taking some time to edit and annotate your screenshots will frequently boost their value and give focus to what you’re trying to communicate.

Do you take screenshots on your Mac, and if so? Let us know in the comments section below!