If you're jumping from a Windows PC to a Mac, or are using a Mac for the first time, then you might be wondering how to take screenshots with a Mac, especially since there's no so-called PrintScreen key on your keyboard.
Don't worry, the method is very simple, MacOs provides a lot of screenshot methods (including the screenshot method for capturing a specific window).
Whether you have updated to the latest Catalina version or are still using Mojave, these methods will work, so read on.
Three Ways to Take Screenshots on Mac
1. Use keyboard shortcuts
Whether you want to capture your entire screen, or just a small area, MacOS keyboard shortcuts are the easiest and fastest way.
Apple saves screenshots on the desktop by default. If you want to change it to copy to the clipboard, please add the Control key to the shortcut key combination provided below.
capture the entire screen
- Step 1: Press the Command + Shift + 3 keys simultaneously.
- Step 2: The screenshot will be saved to the desktop, and you can also copy it to the clipboard with the Control key.
In MacOS Catalina, after the screenshot is taken, the preview screen will pop up in the lower right corner, allowing you to directly enter the editing tool.
In addition, when there are more and more screenshots, the desktop will become very messy. In order to facilitate organization, MacOS also has a built-in "stack" function, which will automatically put all the screenshots in the same block.
To do this, click the right mouse button on the desktop, you can find the "Use stack" function, after pressing, all screenshots will be concentrated in one file.
snap to selected area
- Step 1: Press the Command + Shift + 4 keys simultaneously.
- Step 2: Click and drag the desired area when crosshairs appear, release the mouse button to save the screenshot on the desktop. You can also use the Control key to copy to the clipboard.
In addition, if your MacBook Pro has a Touch Bar, if you want to capture the Touch Bar screen, you can use Command + Shift + 6 to complete it.
Capture Single Window
- Step 1: Press the Command + Shift + 4 keys at the same time, a crosshair will appear on the screen.
- Step 2: Press the space bar and the crosshair will turn into a camera icon.
- Step 3: You will notice that when you hover over any window, it will be blue, which means that you can capture this single window.
- Step 4: Capture the desired window and save its screenshot to the desktop.
This method can not only capture the window, but also the desktop, menu bar, and even the pop-up Dock menu.
After saving the screenshot, it will be in PNG format and the background will automatically add a shadow. If you don't want the shadow, please hold down the Option key (some Mac keyboards may say Alt) when you click to save the image.
As with other screenshot methods, pressing the Control key copies to the clipboard instead of the desktop.
2. Use the Grab (screenshot) tool
Too lazy to memorize keyboard shortcuts? Grab (screenshot) is another good friend of yours.
Grab (Screenshot) is an application pre-installed on the Mac, which allows you to select the capture method by clicking the mouse without any shortcut keys, and also provides the function of time-lapse shooting.
If you are using a version above MacOS Catalina, Grab (screenshot) has been integrated into the Command + Shift + 5 shortcut key, which can be quickly called out by pressing it.
MacOS Mojave can be quickly found by searching for "Grab" or "Screenshot" through Spolight.
- Step 1: After starting, you will see various function icons below.
- Step 2: Select the way you want to capture on the left.
Timed screenshot
Use Grab (screenshot) to provide timing screenshot function, which can be delayed up to 10 seconds.
- Step 1: Click the option below.
- Step 2: Choose how long you want to delay, there are 5 seconds, 10 seconds
Another thing to note is that by default, the mouse does not appear in the screenshot. If you want to be captured, please check the "Show mouse pointer" below.
The mouse and mouse can only be turned on in the scheduled screenshot function, which is a big advantage of the Grab (screenshot) method, but we still think that the keyboard shortcut is the best way to use it in general.
3. Use Preview to take a screenshot
Preview is the default tool for Mac to open photos and PDF content . It actually has many useful functions that are not well known, such as capturing screenshots.
- Step 1: Open the preview (type Preview in Spotlight to find it quickly)
- Step 2: "In the upper left corner, click on file menu."
- Step 3: Find and take a screenshot, you can choose the one you want to use "From Selection Range", "From Window", or From Entire Screen"
Compared with the previous method, we recommend Grab more, so it is easier to use.
However, the preview tool still has an advantage, that is, after taking a screenshot, you can directly edit it and then choose the location to save it.
If this feature is useful to you, then you can try it.
