Since Macs don’t have a PrintScreen button like in Windows, many Mac beginners don’t know how to take a screenshot on Mac. In fact, this is simple, and there are even several ways to do the task.

But first, let’s see what each symbol and key means: • ⇧ – Shift ⌘ – Command ^ – Control ⌥ – Option (Alt in Windows) ⇥ – Tab ⌫ – Delete • ⌤ – Enter ⎋ – Escape ←↑→↓ – Arrow Keys fn – Function key ⏎ – Return ⇪ – Caps Lock 1. Key shortcuts to take a screenshot on Mac MacOS provides hotkeys to carry out any action and system task. When you use them, the speed of your work on a Mac increases significantly. Shift + Command + 3 – take a shot of a full Desktop screen. Shift + Command + 4 – take a screenshot of a certain area (choose with a mouse) of your Desktop. Shift + Command + 4 + Space – take a screenshot of a certain window of the Desktop. If you need to copy the screenshot to the clipboard for further insertion into any graphics or text editor, use the following hotkeys: Shift + Command +3 + Control – save a screenshot of a full Desktop to the Clipboard.

Taking a screenshot on Mac can be an intimidating affair especially for a newbie who just got a new Mac. This problem is always because the Mac comes without a PrintScreen key on its keyboard and there is no available shortcut on Mac for this purpose. But then, I will love to let you know that. Unfortunately, in order to support macOS screenshots, I had to keep using the width-based 'Find Photos' action as Shortcuts doesn't recognize Mac screenshots if you only use 'Is a Screenshot' as a filter.

Shift + Command + 4 + Control – save a screenshot of a certain area (choose with a mouse) to the Clipboard. Shift + Command + 4 + Space + Control – save a screenshot of a certain Window to the Clipboard. Then press Command + V to paste the picture. You can also do this via the Menu → Edit → Paste. How to take screenshots on Mac with Grab If you are used to performing tasks with a mouse and don’t like remembering keyboard shortcuts, you can use a standard macOS Grab. Find it via Spotlight or in the Launchpad. Grab is extremely simple to use; however, it has a wide range of functions.

Here are the main ones. As you can see, it’s simple.

There are four modes of “shooting,” each of which provides shortcuts: Shift + Command + A – Selection (take a screenshot of the selected area) Shift + Command + W – Window (take a screenshot of any of the currently open windows) Command + Z – Screen (take a screenshot of the entire screen) Shift + Command + Z – Timed Screen (take a screenshot of the entire screen timer) After a screenshot is made, the Grab window will appear with a screenshot. Now you can save it in the right folder. It should also be noted that Grab can work with several screenshots; it is possible to take several screenshots, and then compare them and choose the best one. Grab also lets you copy your images to the clipboard by pressing Command + C. Changing screenshots settings with Terminal commands* • When you make a screenshot, by default it is saved to the desktop. You can change the location for storing the screenshots via Terminal.

Go to Applications →Utilities → Terminal and use the following command: Defaults write com.apple.screencapture location ~/Pictures Killall SystemUIServer Here ~/Picturesis the path to the folder. Restore settings: Defaults write com.apple.screencapture location ~/Desktop Killall SystemUIServer • By default all screenshots’ names start with “Screenshot” You can change the screenshots’ names via the following commands: Defaults write com.apple.screencapture name “the desired name” Killall SystemUIServer Here the “ desired name” is the name of a new image. Restore settings: Defaults write com.apple.screencapture name “Screenshot” Killall SystemUIServer • You can even change the screenshot file format. By default, Mac saves the screenshots in PNG. To change it, use the command: Defaults write com.apple.screencapture type format Killall SystemUIServer The “ format” may be one of the following: jpg, tiff, pdf, png, bmp. *Here you can find That’s all. Hope you got all the information you needed about how to take screenshots on Mac with built-in system tools.

There are also lots of great third-party programs for this task; however, most Mac users are satisfied with the ways described above. And our last piece of advice: Remove unneeded screenshots regularly, as each of the files may take more than 1 MB of memory. As a result, your disk may contain gigabytes of unused image files.

You can also check your disk usage and find the biggest files and folders with a utility. Find out how by clicking on the link Disk Expert See more • Prev: • Back: • Next: Related entries.

NOTE: This guide applies to ALL modern versions of Windows: Windows 10, Windows 7 and Windows 8.1. Some of the methods described in our tutorial, work only in one or two of these operating systems. Where that is the case, we appropriately highlight this fact. Use the keyboard shortcut: PrtScn (Print Screen) or CTRL+ PrtScn The first method is also the best known and it works in all versions of Windows: on your keyboard, press the PrtScn (Print Screen) key or CTRL+PrtScn keys. Windows creates a screenshot of the whole screen and saves it to the clipboard. It is not stored as a file on your hard drive.