7 Ways to Take a Screenshot in Mac OS X - wikiHow

19/10/2014 22:17

How to Take a Screenshot in Mac OS X

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Seven Methods:

Edited 2 days ago

Screenshot a Portion of Your Screen

Save a Screenshot to the Clipboard

Take a Shot of Your Entire Screen

Screenshot of an Open Window

Altering the Default Location of the Saved Files

Grab Utility Method

Additional Methods

If you need to snap a picture of a funny chat conversation, show an expert an

error message on your system, create instructions for performing a task, or
even contribute to a wikiHow article, a screenshot is the ideal way to show
someone exactly what is on your computer screen. Taking a screenshot on
Mac OS X is easy, and there are a variety of simple ways to capture just the
image you need.

Method 1 of 7: Screenshot a Portion of Your Screen

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Press Command + Shift + 4 . Your cursor will turn into a small cross-hair
reticle.

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Click and drag your cursor to highlight the area you'd like to take a picture
of. A grayed rectangle should appear where you drag your cursor. If you need to

adjust your windows at all, press Esc to return to a regular cursor without taking a
picture.

Let go of the mouse. You should hear a brief camera shutter noise if your

Find your screenshot on your desktop. It will be saved as a .png file named

computer's sound is turned on. That signals that your screenshot has been taken.

"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".

Use the screenshot. Once you have taken your screenshots, they are now ready
to be used as needed. You can attach them to an email, upload them to the Web,

or even drag them straight into an application such as a word processor.

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7 Ways to Take a Screenshot in Mac OS X - wikiHow

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Method 2 of 7: Take a Shot of Your Entire Screen

Make sure your screen displays exactly what you want to show in your

Press Command + Shift + 3 . If your sound is on, your computer should make

Find your screenshot on your desktop. It will be saved as "screenshot" labeled

screenshot image. Ensure all the relevant windows are visible.

a brief camera shutter noise.

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 "Picture 5".

Method 3 of 7: Save a Screenshot to the Clipboard

Press Command + ^ Control + Shift + 3 . This method works exactly like the
one above, except the screenshot does not immediately create a file. Instead, the

image is saved to the clipboard, the same temporary storage area where your computer
remembers the text that you have copied.
You can also take a portion screenshot with this method using
Command + ^ Control + Shift + 4 and dragging your reticle over the

appropriate part of your screen, exactly as the portion screenshot method.

Use Command + V or Edit > Paste to paste your image. Your screenshot
image can be pasted straight into any compatible application, such as a Word

document, an image editing program, and many email services.

Method 4 of 7: Screenshot of an Open Window

Press Command+Shift+4 and hit Spacebar. The cross-hair will turn into a small
camera. You can press Spacebar again to switch back to the reticle

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7 Ways to Take a Screenshot in Mac OS X - wikiHow

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Move your cursor over the window you want to capture. The camera will
highlight different windows blue as it moves over them. You can use keyboard

commands such as Command+Tab to shift through your windows while still in this mode.

Click on the window. The picture of the window you selected will be saved to the
desktop by default just like the other screenshot methods.

Method 5 of 7: Grab Utility Method

Go to Applications > Utilities > Grab. This opens the Grab application. You will

Click the Capture menu and choose between the four different options.

see the menus shown in the upper left of your screen, but no windows will open.

To take a picture of your entire screen, click on Screen (or just use the keyboard
command Apple Key + Z). A window will pop up telling you where to click and
letting you know that the window will not appear in the shot.
To take a picture of a portion of your screen, click on Selection. A window will
pop up instructing you to drag your mouse over the portion of your screen you'd
like to capture.
To take a picture of a specific window, select Window. Then, click on the
window you'd like to take a picture of.

When the new window opens, choose Save. You can also choose Save As to
give it a different name and/or move it to a more appropriate location, but note that

it can only be saved as a .tiff file. Note that the file is not automatically saved.

Method 6 of 7: Altering the Default Location of the Saved Files

Create a new folder. Do so in Finder by going to File > New Folder.

Name the folder. Do so by clicking once on "untitled folder." Enter your desired

Open a terminal screen. This can be found in the finder, under utilities.

name into the box, such as "Screenshots".

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7 Ways to Take a Screenshot in Mac OS X - wikiHow

In the command line, copy defaults write com. pple.screencapture location ,

Drag the folder you want into the terminal window. This will add the new

Click Return. A new command line will appear.

Copy killall SystemUIServer into the command line and hit Return. This resets

Be careful not to delete the folder. Otherwise, you will have to recreate it or redo

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making sure to include a space after location. Dont click Return.

screenshot destination to the command line.

the terminal, allowing the changes to take immediate effect.

this process in order to assign a new default location for screenshots.

Method 7 of 7: Additional Methods

Use Skitch. Skitch will allow you to make basic edits to your screenshots and

Monosnap is a powerful screenshot tool. Take a screenshot, annotate it and

Use Jing. Similar to Skitch, Jing lets you take screenshots and upload them

upload them to the web.

upload it to the cloud, save or open in any other r external editor.

directly to the web. You can also use it to take videos of your screen.

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Tips
Files from the screen-capture tool are saved to the desktop as PNG
files by default. This is not the best method and fills your desktop if not
managed. The easiest way to solve this is to make a screenshot folder,
which is outlined in Altering the Default Location of the Saved Files.
Advanced users with knowledge of the MAC OS X Lion Terminal
application can also use the "screen-capture" command to take a
screenshot from the command line.
An alternative but more long-winded method of taking screenshots is
available via Mac OS X Lion's Preview application. The screenshot
options appear on the "File" menu and match those available via the
keyboard shortcuts.
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Warnings
Posting screenshots that include copyrighted information could have
legal implications, so be careful that you have the right to capture any of
the information visible on your screen.
When taking screenshots to pass on to other people, or to publish on
the Internet, ensure no personal or confidential information is captured
within the image.

Article Info

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Categories: Mac OS X | Screenshots

Recent edits by: Scarlett, Hasbeen400, I_know_how_2
In other languages:
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