If you use your Apple computer for transactions, deliveries, or financial matters, taking screenshots is an important skill to learn. Whether it's keeping evidence of forms and data if you have a dodgy internet connection, or if it's just to cover your back, knowing how to take screenshots on your Mac is useful both on the work and in everyday life.
Unlike Windows PCs, MacBooks and Apple desktops don't have a dedicated Print Screen button, but it's actually quite easy to take screenshots on a Mac once you know how. To do. Want to capture your screen or windows on your MacBook or Apple desktop computer?
In this article, we will see how to take a screenshot on a Mac.
How to Take Screenshots on an Apple Mac
There might not be a dedicated button on your Mac's keyboard for taking screenshots, but that doesn't mean it's particularly hard to do. In fact, taking screenshots on a Mac is simple, and it's also possible to take photos of the entire desktop, selected windows, or even a user-chosen area. Here's how:
How to Take a Screenshot of the Entire Desktop on a Mac
- If you want to take a picture of your entire desktop, first make sure your desktop shows exactly what you want to capture, then follow these steps.
- Hold down the Command key, as well as Shift and the number 3 key (listed as Shift-Command (⌘)-3) on the official support page.
- If you did it correctly, you will hear a shutter sound, which means a screenshot has been taken.
- Apple's operating system saves screenshots to the desktop and timestamps them by default. If everything is working correctly, you will find your screenshots on the desktop in .png format.
- If you prefer to save your screenshot to the clipboard instead of your desktop, add Control to the key combinations above. So press Control, Shift, Command and the number 3 at the same time.
How to Take a Screenshot of a Selected Area on a Mac
- This time, hold down the Command and Shift keys, and this time press the number 4 key.
- If you did it correctly, you will see your mouse icon turn into a cross pointer.
- Once you have the crosshairs, it's time to select the area you want to capture. You can do this by simply clicking and dragging over the area you want, although holding down Shift, Option, or Space will change how the selection tool works.
- Once you've selected the area you want, release your mouse or trackpad and you'll hear the same shutter sound as before.
- You can then find your saved selection on the desktop, again in .png format.
How to Take a Screenshot of a Window on a Mac
- To take a screenshot of a window, you must first hold down the Command key, the Shift key, and the number 4 key.
- Once done, your cursor should hover over the crosshairs, as if you were about to select an area of the screen to capture. Instead, press the spacebar and the crosshairs will turn into a camera icon.
- You can then point the cursor to any window and click on it will cause the contents of the window to be recorded.
- As with all other screenshots, your Mac will save the resulting images to your desktop in .png format — and it'll even timestamp them for you.
How to Take a Screenshot of a Menu on a Mac
- Click on a menu title to see its list of contents.
- Press Shift-Command-4 and the pointer will turn into a crosshair.
- Drag to select the menu or area you want to capture.
- Release your mouse or trackpad button and the area inside the selected box will be taken as a screenshot. To cancel, press the Escape (esc) key before releasing the button.
- Find the screenshot as a .png file on your desktop.
Screenshots and Mac
Taking screenshots on a Mac is easy. Whatever your screenshot needs, they probably have a hotkey for it.