

Press the Command + Shift + 4 keys simultaneously. Press the Command + Shift + 3 keys simultaneously for an instant capture of your desktop.Ī screenshot preview appears in the bottom-right corner of your screen, giving you quick access to editing tools.

By default, Apple's methods save your screenshot to the desktop, but if you want to copy the screenshot to the clipboard, there's a keyboard shortcut you can use instead. MacOS keyboard shortcuts are the quickest ways to take screenshots, whether you're capturing the entire screen or just a portion. Here’s everything you could ever want to know about taking a screenshot on your Mac. There are plenty of options and customizations. Thankfully, MacOS has plenty of keyboard shortcuts and a couple of apps that allow you to get the shot you need just as easily. Note: This updated and expanded tip was first published in June 2013. (I went ahead and picked the F5 key for snapping a screenshot of the whole screen.) Just click the “Screen Shots” heading in the left column to get started. Having a hard time pressing and holding all those keys? You can create new, easier keyboard shortcuts for taking screenshots from the Keyboard preferences pane.Ĭlick the Apple menu in the top-left corner of the screen, select System Preferences, click the Keyboard icon, then click the Keyboard Shortcuts tab.įrom here, you can tweak all kinds of keyboard shortcut settings-including those for screenshots.

Yes, firing up Grab takes a bit more effort than simply using one of the Mac’s screenshot shortcuts, but sometimes the extra power is worth it-and indeed, I use Grab all the time to snap images for my Mac tips. Hiding in your Mac’s Applications folder is a handy little tool called Grab, and it does a great job of snapping screenshots when you need a bit more flexibility than what’s available in the Mac’s “native” screenshot feature.įor example, Grab will let you take a screenshot of just the active window, and it’ll also (optionally) include the mouse cursor in your screenshot.īest of all, Grab boasts a “timed screen” feature, which takes a screenshot ten seconds after you activate the timer. The Mac’s “Grab” app boasts a “timed screen” feature, which takes a screenshot ten seconds after you activate the timer.
