Let’s say you’re browsing your social media feed when you notice something so exciting you just have to share it with your friends. Your fingers hover over your keyboard, but then you pause and think, “Wait, how do I take a screenshot on a Mac again?”
If you think that’s a silly question and chuckled a little inside, don’t worry – you’re not the only one. In fact, it’s apparently one of the most searched queries across the major search engines.
Find your screenshot on your desktop. It will be saved as a.png file named 'screenshot' labeled with the date and time. Earlier versions of OS X will save it as 'Picture #'—for example, if it's the 5th screenshot on your desktop it will be labeled as 'Picture 5'. Then, press SPACEBAR, turning your cursor into a camera. Finally, click on the window you wish to screenshot. The screenshot will now be saved to your desktop. By default, the screenshot will have a drop shadow around it. You can also remove the drop-shadow from your Mac screenshots if you wish. I did this since I think the screenshots look. Screenshots can easily be taken using keyboard shortcuts, and will automatically appear on your Mac's desktop. If you can't find them there, there are a couple ways to check if your screenshot.
What’s the big deal about screenshots?
In this day and age where everything is practically one click away, screenshots are a powerful tool to share content with just about anyone.
For example:
– You want to share a funny meme that literally has you rolling on the floor laughing? Check.
– You want to share an inspiring quote with your followers to spread the positive vibes around? Check.
– You want to save a series of instructions, but you’re too busy (or lazy, let’s be honest here…) to type them out? Check.
– You want to save a crucial time-stamped conversation that can make or break someone’s career, reputation, relationship, (alright… that probably escalated a little too quickly, but you get the idea. *winks)? Check.
– You want to share a funny meme that literally has you rolling on the floor laughing? Check.
– You want to share an inspiring quote with your followers to spread the positive vibes around? Check.
– You want to save a series of instructions, but you’re too busy (or lazy, let’s be honest here…) to type them out? Check.
– You want to save a crucial time-stamped conversation that can make or break someone’s career, reputation, relationship, (alright… that probably escalated a little too quickly, but you get the idea. *winks)? Check.
Whatever your intentions may be, the screenshot is your friend (or, in some cases, your enemy).
So, how do I take a screenshot again?
(Our apologies for getting sidetracked) Now back to the focus of this article: how to take a screenshot on your Mac.
There are actually many ways to do this so choose what kind of screenshot you want to take first. You can choose between taking a screenshot of your entire screen, a designated section, your current window, or a selected menu.
Take a Screenshot of Your Entire Screen
- Press Shift-Command (⌘) – 3 on your Mac keyboard.
- The screenshot will automatically be saved on your desktop as a PNG file.
Take a Screenshot of a Selected Portion of Your Screen
- Press Shift-Command (⌘) – 4 on your Mac keyboard. Doing this will change the pointer to a crosshair.
- Drag the edges of the crosshair to specify which areas you want to include in the screenshot.
- You can also hold “SHIFT, “OPTION,” or the spacebar to change the way the selection moves.
- Once you’re done, release your mouse or trackpad button.
- If you change your mind and want to change the selected area, just press the ESC key before you release the button.
- The screenshot will automatically be saved on your desktop as a PNG file.
Take a Screenshot of Your Current Window
- Press Shift-Command (⌘) – 4. Doing this will change the pointer to a crosshair.
- Press the spacebar and wait for the pointer to change into a camera icon.
- Move the camera icon and highlight the window that you want to share.
- Click your mouse or trackpad.
- If you change your mind and you want to change the selected window, just press the ESC key before you click.
- The screenshot will automatically be saved on your desktop as a PNG file.
*This works with windows in the Finder and most applications.
Take a Screenshot of a Menu
- Open the menu that you want to take a screenshot of to show the contents.
- Press Shift-Command (⌘) – 4 on your Mac keyboard and wait for the pointer to change to a crosshair.
- Drag the edges of the crosshair to select the menu.
- Once you’re done, release your mouse or trackpad button.
- If you want to cancel the selection, just press the ESC key before you release the button.
- The screenshot will automatically be saved on your desktop as a PNG file.
If you wish to take a screenshot of the menu but not its title, you can follow these steps instead:
- Open the menu that you want to take a screenshot of to show the contents.
- Press Shift-Command (⌘) – 4 on your Mac keyboard and wait for the pointer to change into a crosshair.
- Press the spacebar and wait for the pointer to change into a camera icon.
- Highlight the menu.
- Click your mouse or trackpad.
- If you changed your mind and you want to cancel the selection, just press the ESC key before you click.
- The screenshot will automatically be saved on your desktop as a PNG file.
Take a screenshot of the Touch Bar
- Press Shift-Command (⌘) – 6 on your Mac keyboard.
- The screenshot will automatically be saved on your desktop as a PNG file.
- If you want, you can also make a custom screenshot button by changing the Control Strip of your Touch Bar.
- To change the Control Strip, tap the screenshot button to see the different screenshot options and their default save location. You can also use it to specify a different or more convenient destination of your choice.
*This works if you have a Mac with a Touch Bar and macOS Sierra version 10.12.2 or later.
Notes:
Mac Screen Recording
- All screenshots are automatically saved as PNG files on your desktop in Mac OS X version 10.6 onwards.
- Screenshots are automatically named as “screenshot”+ date + time.png.
- If you wish to save your screenshots to the Clipboard instead of your desktop, just add “Control” to the key combinations provided above. For example, press Control-Shift-Command (⌘) – 3 instead of simply pressing Shift-Command (⌘) – 3.
- If you want to view your screenshots, you can open it with Preview, Safari, or other image editing applications.
- Do note that some apps, like the DVD Player, might not let you take screenshots of their windows.
If you can’t explain something clearly, you can crop a screenshot on Mac instead. A picture is more than a thousand word. For instance, you can send your friend or family of how to use a new software, service or something else on your Mac computer. Sometimes you need to draw on the screenshot to strengthen the key point directly.
There is a built-in snip tool on Mac named Grab. You can use Grab to crop a screenshot of custom screen and window. In macOS Mojave, the Grab app is replaced with Screenshot. As for macOS Catalina, Grab is not included. You need to bring it up with Shift, Command and 5 keys. Or you can crop Mac screenshots via keyboard shortcuts.
Whatever, let’s see how to screenshot on Mac in 3 different ways.
Part 1: How to Crop and Edit a Screenshot on Mac
It is helpful if you add draws on a screenshot. Others can understand what you want to express quickly and directly. To full control Mac screenshots, it is recommended to use Vidmore Screen Recorder. You can use Vidmore Screen Recorder free version to take screenshots with real-time drawing effects on Mac. The program is completely free to crop, edit, share and manage screenshots on Mac. Here’re the main features of the Mac screenshot capture software.
- Crop a screenshot on Mac of the whole screen, a single window or any selected area.
- Edit a screenshot on Mac with text, arrow, line, blur, callout and other shapes in any size and color.
- Save a screenshot on Mac as PNG, JPG, JPEG, BMP, GIF or TIFF.
- Share a screenshot on Mac to Facebook, Twitter, Instagram. Flickr, etc.
- 100% free to take screenshots on Mac. No registration or user account required. No watermark.
- Work with Mac OS X 10.10 or above.
Step 1 Pixelstyle photo editor 3 6 1 download free. : Free download, install and launch Vidmore Screen Recorder. Choose Screen Capture in the main interface.
Step 2: You can see the cursor move in the pop up window. If you want to crop a screenshot on Mac of the certain browser, program or entire screen, you can left click the mouse to confirm. Or you can click and drag your mouse to set the certain screenshot capture area.
Step 3: To edit the Mac screenshot, you can choose any drawing tool in the small window. For instance, you can click on the Callout icon to access it. Set the size and color based on your need. Now you can draw on the screenshot image directly.
![Mac Mac](https://www.macgamestore.com/images_screenshots/valhalla-hills-35033.jpg)
Step 4: You can erase, undo or redo any change on the Mac screenshot. If you want to copy the Mac screenshot to clipboard, you can click the Copy button directly. It is also supported to pin the screenshot to screen. Or you can click Save to save a screenshot on Mac. In the popping-up Save as window, you can set the destination folder, tags, file name and format. Finally, click Save to export your Mac snapshot.
You may need: How to add watermark to video
Part 2: How to Crop a Screenshot on Mac with Grab
For average Mac users, you can use Grab to screenshot images on Mac. In spite of common Mac screenshots, you can take a time-delayed screenshot on Mac using Grab as well. If you are using macOS Catalina, you need to find it by pressing Command, Shift and 5 key combinations.
Step 1: Open Grab in the Launchpad. Or you can find it in the Applications folder as well.
Step 2: You can see Grab’s menu bar on the Dock.
Step 3: Choose Selection, Window, Screen or Timed Screen to crop an image on Mac with Grab.
Step 4: From the File drop-down list, choose Save to export your Mac screen capture image as JPEG, PNG or TIFF.
Part 3: How to Crop a Screenshot on Mac with Keyboard Commands
If you want to capture any portion of the screen on your Mac computer immediately, you can use the Mac screenshot keyboard commands. The captured screenshot will be saved to desktop automatically. If you want to crop a screenshot to clipboard on Mac, you can press Control with other fixed combinations. After that, you can edit the screenshot thumbnails with other photo editors. (Edit video with video editors)
Crop a screenshot on Mac of full screen:
Step 1: Press Shift, Command and 3.
Step 2: Click the thumbnail to in the corner to edit the screenshot.
Step 3: The Mac screenshot will show on the desktop automatically.
Crop a screenshot on Mac of any portion:
Step 1: Press Shift, Command and 4.
Step 2: Drag the crosshair and set the screen capture area.
Step 3: Release the mouse or trackpad to crop a screenshot on Mac.
Step 4: The screenshot will be saved to Mac desktop.
Crop a screenshot on Mac of a window or menu:
Step 1: Press Shift, Command, 4 and Space bar.
Step 2: Hover your mouse over the window or menu you want to capture.
Step 3: Click to crop a screenshot on macOS Catalina.
Step 4: You can press Option to exclude window shadow from the screenshot image.
Step 5: The Mac screenshot picture will show on the desktop quickly.
Capture Screenshot On Your Mac
Part 4: FAQs of Cropping a Screenshot on Mac
Take A Screenshot On Your Mac - Apple Support
Why Screenshot on Mac not working?
If you crop a screenshot on Apple TV and other related Apple programs, you are not allowed to use the built-in screenshot shortcuts and programs. The Chrome Incognito mode will stop you from cropping screenshots on Mac as well. During this time, you can run Vidmore Screen Recorder to crop a photo on Mac instead.
What to do when Screenshot on Mac not responding?
How To Screenshot On Your Macbook
You can restart Mac or use alternative screen capture software to solve the problem.
Unable to delete screenshots on Mac?
Taking A Screenshot On Your Mac
Dragging and dropping to the Trash is the common solution to delete Mac screenshots. If the screenshot image is stuck, you can press Option, Command and Escape to force quit it first.
Take A Screenshot On Your Mac
That’s all to crop a screenshot on Mac of all versions. Can you screenshot on your Mac computer successfully? If you have any question or suggestion about Mac screenshot, you can feel free to contact us.