Apple offers numerous, easy-to-remember keyboard shortcuts for taking screenshots. Below, we’ll take a look at the different ways in which we can take screenshots in devices like Mac, Macbook Pro and Macbook Air running OS X El Capitan, OS X Yosemite, and older versions of the Mac OS. By clicking Grap Capture Screen, using the keyboard shortcut Command+Z, you can take a picture of your whole screen. A prompt instructs you to click the screen when you are ready to capture your screen. The Coolest Feature: Taking a picture of a Timer on screen. In Mac OS X 10.4 and later you can also take screenshots using the Preview application. Launch Preview and select Take Screen Shot from the File Menu. You can use Preview in case you forget the keyboard shortcuts. A major difference between the two capture methods is that Preview opens the captured image as an unsaved file. How To Take A Screenshot On A Mac With Keyboard Shortcut In macOS 10.14 Mojave or later, you can use the Screenshot app to take a screenshot. It is a revamped screenshot and screen recording tool, which can be accessed by pressing Command + Shift + 5.
Taking a screenshot on a Mac® is as easy as on a PC—when you know the keyboard shortcuts to do so.
There are plenty of key commands in macOS® you might want to use for screen capture. Today, we’ll break down the six best shortcuts for screenshots that any Mac user NEEDS to know—plus the one useful application that accomplishes all that and more with just one click.
To capture complete Window: Command Key (⌘) + Shift + 3. This will take a screenshot of the.
Capture a Screenshot of an Area
Figure 1 – Keyboard shortcut for taking a screenshot of part of a Mac screen
One of the most common needs for that “print screen” command on a Mac is when we need to capture a portion of the screen. It’s like a snipping tool for Mac. Be it an Instagram story, Twitter update, or part of a webpage to share with a colleague, you can screenshot any of those with just a few key combos.
(1) To capture a portion of the screen, do the following:
- Press Command-Shift-4 to change a pointer to a crosshair.
- Select the area of a screen you want to capture by moving and dragging the cursor.
- After releasing the mouse button, the screenshot will be saved as a PNG image on your desktop.
Figure 2 – Apple Support tweets the solution for screen capturing on Mac.
(2) To copy a portion of the screen to the clipboard, do the following:
- Press Command-Control-Shift-4 to change a pointer to a crosshair.
- Select the area of a screen you want to capture by moving and dragging the cursor.
- After clicking on the mouse, the screenshot will be saved to the clipboard.
- Select the application where you want to insert the captured image, such as Word, Skype, or Outlook.
- Press Command-V to paste the screenshot.
Capture a Screenshot of an Active Window
Figure 3 – The process of taking screenshots of an active application
If you need a screenshot of a specific application that you’re currently using, use this method. You can easily print screen an active window of any program, be it Safari, Chrome, Photoshop, or Microsoft Excel.
(3) To capture a screenshot of an active window, do the following:
- Press Command-Shift-4 to change a pointer to a crosshair.
- Tap on the spacebar on your keyboard. The cursor will change to a camera.
- Select the active application window you want to capture by moving your cursor.
- When you move the cursor over an application, the window will be highlighted.
- Click the mouse button on the window you want to capture. The screenshot will be saved as a PNG image on your desktop.
(4) To copy a screenshot of an active window to the clipboard, do the following:
- Press Command-Control-Shift-4 to change a pointer to a crosshair.
- Tap on the spacebar on your keyboard. The cursor will change to a camera.
- Select the active application window you want to capture by moving your cursor.
- When you move the cursor over an application, the window will be highlighted.
- Click the mouse button on the window you want to capture. The screenshot will be saved to the clipboard.
- Select the application where you want to insert the captured image, like Word, Skype, or Outlook
- Press Command-V to paste the screenshot.
Capture the Entire Screen
Figure 4 – Keyboard shortcut for capturing the entire screen on a Mac
(5) To capture a screenshot of a whole page, do the following:
- Press Command-Shift-3 to take a screenshot of the whole screen.
- The screenshot will be saved as a PNG image on your desktop.
(6) To copy a screenshot of a whole page to the clipboard, do the following:
- Press Command-Control-Shift-3 to copy the whole screen.
- The screenshot will be automatically saved to the clipboard.
- Select the application where you want to insert the captured image, like Word, Skype, or Outlook
- Press Command-V to paste the screenshot.
Mac App for Taking Screenshots
Figure 5 – Parallels Toolbox: The ultimate Mac application for screen and video capturing
Mac Os On Screen Keyboard
Sometimes, remembering all the dozens of shortcuts to take a Mac screenshot is not our main priority. All we need is a simple application that has everything ready for us with just one click.
Parallels® Toolbox Screen and Video Pack is the best Designed to help optimize your workday, it has all the important tools for everyday needs, such as screen and video capturing, video converter, YouTube video downloader, and more.
You can try Parallels Toolbox without any obligations and decide for yourself whether a small introductory price is a fair cost for all the time saved.
Where to Find Screenshots on a Mac
Figure 6 – The primary location for all screenshots on a Mac is the desktop
Once you’re done taking them, where do screenshots on a Mac go?
Normally, screenshots are saved as PNG images (titled with the current date and time stamp) right on the desktop. The format looks as follows: “Screen Shot 2018-07-04 at 12.25.36.png”. Alternatively, a user can copy Mac screenshots to the clipboard by adding Control to the key combination and then pasting it right in the needed document. Here at Parallels, we practice this often—we love taking a MacBook® screenshot and sharing it with coworkers. It’s an easy and quick way to effectively communicate what we see on our end.
Apple Mac Screen Capture Shortcut
What to Do if Screen Capture on Mac Is Not Working
The shortcuts for screen capturing may not work for a few reasons. One of the most common ones: they are simply disabled.
To fix that, do the following:
- From the Apple menu in the top left corner, open System Preferences and click on the Keyboard.
- In the new window, click on Shortcuts.
- Find Screen Shots in the left menu.
- Check if the shortcuts are active and have the same key combos you type.
- To change a shortcut, select it and click the new key combination.
If the shortcut is working but screenshots turn out blank, the reason is often copyright issues with the third-party application on the screen. To solve that, use the Parallels Toolbox application for screen capturing.
OS X El Capitan is the latest operating system on Mac in 2015. It has added a lot of new and useful features. Applications like Photos, Safari, and Maps are improved a lot. It even allows you to run two applications in full screen at the same time. Wanna show others these cool features? If so, taking screenshot of them is the best choice. Moreover, screenshots can also help you to tell others how to use a program or to ask for help when you come across a bug. Therefore, here are some solutions to how to screenshot on Mac OS X El Capitan.
Easy Ways to Capture Screen on Mac OS X El Capitan
Mac Os X Screen Capture Keyboard Shortcut
1. Apowersoft Mac Screenshot
This program is a very handy screenshot tool for Mac OS X El Capitan. It is capable of capturing full screen, a particular region or an active window with just a few clicks. What’s more, you will get instant image annotation tools the moment you create a screenshot. You can add lines, arrows and texts to highlight or illustrate important parts on the screenshot. Another advantage of this application is that it enables you to copy or upload the screenshot directly after editing.
Here are the steps for you to print screen on Mac OS X El Capitan with this tool.
- First of all, download and install this application.
- Run this tool and make some settings in the “Options” first. You can choose hotkeys for capturing screen, the directory for saving the screenshot and the image format (JPG, PNG, etc.).
- Then, display what you want to capture on the screen.
- Click the “Regional screenshot”. After that, your mouse cursor will turn into a blue crosshair. Click, hold and drag your mouse to select a region, release the mouse to confirm the screenshot.
- Two toolbars will come out, with which you can add lines, circles and texts to the screenshot.
- Click the “Save” button to keep the screenshot on your Mac as an image file. You can find it in the folder where you preset in the “Options”.
2. Default Screenshot Key Combinations on Mac
Mac offers keyboard shortcuts for taking screenshots. It is the same when taking screenshot on Mac OS X El Capitan.
To capture the full screen, you just need to press “Command + Shift + 3” simultaneously.
To snapshot a region, press the “Command + Shift + 4” keys and drag your mouse to snapshot a region.
To capture a window, press “Command + Shift + 4” and then hit the space bar. Your mouse cursor will turn into a small camera icon. Move it on a window and click it to capture it.
All the screenshots taken this way will be automatically saved to the desktop in PNG format.
3. Skitch
This tool is another great tool that helps you to snapshot on Mac OS X El Capitan. It’s developed by Evernote. With this program, you can capture anything on the screen and edit it instantly. It offers annotation options like arrow, pen, and mosaic. You can also upload the screenshot to your Evernote account.
4. Snagit
Snagit is a powerful tool you use to print screen on Mac OS X El Capitan. You can not only capture the visible things on the screenshot, but also all contents in scrolling windows. Its image editor is also robust with various editing tools. Apart from that, you can also record screen with this program. But you must pay about $50 to enjoy all its functions, and pay another $25 for each upgrade.
Now, you must know how to take a screenshot on Mac OS X El Capitan. And it’s highly recommended that you use Apowersoft Mac Screenshot. Other than taking screenshot of anything on the screen, it also provides instant annotation options. What’s more, you can upload the screenshot to the free cloud and use its links to embed the screenshot in forums. Click the button below to give it a shot.