How to screenshot on a Mac

The short answer

• Whole screen: Shift-Command-3.
• An area: Shift-Command-4, then drag over the area.
• One window or menu: Shift-Command-4, then Space, then click the window.
• All options and screen recording: Shift-Command-5.

The picture lands on the desktop as a PNG file named "Screenshot" with the date and time. Hold Control as well, for example Control-Shift-Command-4, and it goes to the clipboard instead, ready to paste with Command-V.

Mac screenshot shortcuts, in one table

From Apple's two pages on screenshots, listed under Sources. Command is the ⌘ key.

Esc cancels any of them before the picture is taken.

Is there a Snipping Tool for Mac

No app on the Mac is called Snipping Tool. The built-in equivalent is the Screenshot app, which Shift-Command-5 opens on macOS Mojave 10.14 or later. For someone used to Windows:

The Windows side, with every key, is in Snipping Tool shortcuts.

Part of the screen or one window

An area

After Shift-Command-4 the pointer turns into a crosshair. Drag over the area and let go. To move the selection without changing its size, hold Space while dragging. Esc cancels.

One window

After Shift-Command-4, press Space and click the window or menu. Hold Option while clicking to leave out the window's shadow.

Which one for a guide

Take the window when the step is about a whole app panel. Take an area when the step is about one field or button, so the reader sees where to look. How tight to crop is in Crop to where the work happens.

The Screenshot toolbar and its options

Shift-Command-5 opens a toolbar with six buttons: Capture the entire screen, Capture a window, Capture a portion of the screen, Record the entire screen, Record a window and Record a portion of the screen. The Options menu holds the settings:

Apple notes that HDR captures more brightness and color but needs an HDR display to show the difference; on a standard display an HDR screenshot appears as SDR. For a picture that goes into a document or a ticket, keep SDR, which Apple labels Most Compatible.

The floating thumbnail

After a capture, a thumbnail sits in the bottom-right corner for a few seconds. Click it to mark up or share the picture, drag it straight into a document or an email, or swipe it right to save it at once. Control-click it and choose Save to Clipboard to copy it instead of keeping a file.

Where screenshots are saved and how to change it

Screenshots go to the desktop, named "Screenshot" with the date and time. To change the folder, press Shift-Command-5, open Options and choose a place under Save to, or Other Location for any folder.

PNG to JPG, and other Terminal settings

The toolbar has no setting for JPG, PDF or TIFF, and none for the window shadow. The screencapture settings in Terminal cover them. Each command has an undo line that puts back the default. Run killall SystemUIServer after a change so it takes effect.

The folder must already exist. These settings come from the screencapture manual, not from Apple's support pages; Apple documents only the Save to option.

Screen recording on a Mac

Press Shift-Command-5 and choose Record the entire screen, Record a window or Record a portion of the screen. Options sets the microphone and a timer. To stop, click the Stop Recording button in the menu bar. The recording is saved as a .mov file whose name begins with "Screen Recording" and the date and time.

For a guide, a recording rarely replaces written steps: a reader can scan numbered steps with one picture each faster than a video. See How to write step-by-step instructions.

When the shortcut does nothing

• Check the shortcut itself: Apple notes that the screenshot shortcuts can be changed in Keyboard settings. Open Apple menu > System Settings > Keyboard > Keyboard Shortcuts and look for the screenshot shortcuts: one switched off or set to other keys explains silence.
• Look on the clipboard: with Control held, nothing is saved. Paste with Command-V.
• Look in the Save to folder: if someone chose another place under Shift-Command-5 > Options, the files go there, not to the desktop.

Some apps cannot be captured

Apple says you may not be able to take pictures of windows in some apps, and names DVD Player. Nothing on the Mac side fixes that; the app decides.

A web page longer than the screen

The Mac's own tools take only what is on the screen; Apple lists no scrolling capture. In Chrome on a Mac, DevTools can: press Command-Option-I, then Command-Shift-P, type "screenshot" and choose Capture full size screenshot. Where that breaks (very tall pages, fixed headers, web apps that scroll inside a panel) is in Full page screenshot in Chrome.

Screenshots for a step-by-step guide

Northwind's support team documents a refund in the Paynest admin panel: six clicks, so six pictures. On a Mac that is six times Shift-Command-4, six crops and six files to rename before anything goes into the document.

1. Capture the area of the step, not the whole screen: the refund form, not the dock and the menu bar.
2. Mark the one control the reader clicks. The thumbnail's markup tools are enough for one box.
3. Cover names, email addresses and order numbers with a filled shape, or crop them out, before the picture leaves the Mac. The rules are in Redact before you share.
4. Rename the files in step order, so the fourth picture is not "Screenshot" plus a time.

For a task of 15 or 20 clicks this is the slow part. A step recorder that takes the picture at every click does the capturing; the checks above stay the same. What to look for is in Doing it without editing every picture by hand.

Screenshot shortcuts on one page

The shortcuts for Windows 11, the Mac and a Chromebook, and the steps for a full page in Chrome, fit on one printable sheet: PDF, A4, PDF, US Letter or Markdown for a wiki. Each shortcut on it is the one stated, with its source, in the guide for that system.

Sources