You can take high-quality screenshots on any Mac computer, and then edit or share them however you like. If you've bought or updated your Mac since 2018, you even have access to the advanced screenshot menu, which will let you take videos of your screen too. Show Here are four ways to take screenshots on a Mac — and they only take simple keyboard shortcuts. Mac screenshot shortcutsEvery method for screenshotting on a Mac uses the Shift, Command, and number keys. Alyssa Powell/InsiderShift + Command + 3: Take a screenshot of the entire screenTo capture your entire screen, press and hold down Shift + Command + 3. If you're using multiple monitors, it'll take and save screenshots of every monitor. When you take the screenshot, you'll see a small thumbnail preview in the bottom-right corner of your screen, which you can click to edit the screenshot. Check out the "screenshot menu" guide below for info on how to turn that off if you don't want it. Shift + Command + 4: Capture a specific section or windowTo capture a specific part of your screen, press Shift + Command + 4. Your mouse cursor will turn into a crosshair. You can then click and drag this crosshair across any area of your screen. Let go of the mouse button or trackpad to capture the selected area, or press the Esc key to cancel. That's not all you can do with this method. After pressing Shift + Command + 4, you can press other keys to unlock more options:
Shift + Command + 5: Use the screenshot menuCurrent versions of the macOS (Mojave, Catalina, Big Sur, and Monterey) come with a Screenshot app. To open this app, press Shift + Command + 5. A small menu panel will appear at the bottom of the screen. The three icons on the left allow you take a screenshot of the entire screen, a specific window, or a highlighted section. The next two icons to the right will let you record a video of the entire screen, or just a highlighted section. The Capture button on the far right will take the screenshot. The screenshot menu offers a variety of options. William Antonelli/InsiderThere's also a menu labeled Options. This menu lets you choose where to save your screenshot, how much time you want between pressing "Capture" and the screenshot being taken, and more. The options menu lets you customize how your screenshots are taken. William Antonelli/InsiderOf note in this menu is the Show Floating Thumbnail option, which is turned on by default. When this is enabled, after you take a screenshot, a tiny thumbnail of it will appear in the bottom-right corner of the screen. The screenshot won't be saved to your computer until this thumbnail disappears after a few seconds. However, you can click this thumbnail before it disappears to open the screenshot in a new window. In this window, you can draw or type on it, crop it, share it via your Apple ID account, or delete it. You can make the floating thumbnail disappear faster by clicking and dragging it off the screen. William Antonelli/Business InsiderGrab an image of the Touch BarNot all Mac computers have the Touch Bar, but if you have one, you can take a screenshot of it. If there's something on your Touch Bar that you'd like to show others, you can screenshot it by pressing Shift + Command + 6. This will immediately capture everything on your Touch Bar. The Touch Bar's icons change depending on what app you have open. AppleWhere to find your Mac screenshotsBy default, screenshots appear on your desktop. It'll automatically be titled "Screen Shot," followed by the date and time you took it. You can also change the location that your screenshots get saved to. Press Shift + Command + 5 to open the screenshot menu, then click Options. Use the menu that appears to select a new Save to location. "Save to" options are at the top of this menu. William Antonelli/InsiderWatch: How to screenshot on MacMaya Kachroo-Levine contributed to an earlier version of this article.
William Antonelli Tech Reporter for Insider Reviews William Antonelli (he/she/they) is a writer, editor, and organizer based in New York City. As a founding member of the Reference team, he helped grow Tech Reference (now part of Insider Reviews) from humble beginnings into a juggernaut that attracts over 20 million visits a month. Outside of Insider, his writing has appeared in publications like Polygon, The Outline, Kotaku, and more. He's also a go-to source for tech analysis on channels like Newsy, Cheddar, and NewsNation. You can find him on Twitter @DubsRewatcher, or reach him by email at . Read more Read less |