How to Take Screenshots on Mac: Complete Guide for Beginners

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Whether you’re capturing a funny moment, saving an important piece of information, or creating content for work, knowing how to take a screenshot on a Mac is essential. In this guide, we’ll walk you through the different ways to take screenshots on your Mac, from capturing the entire screen to selecting specific areas or windows. Plus, we’ll show you how to use the built-in tools macOS provides for even more flexibility.

1. Full-Screen Screenshot on Mac

The simplest way to take a screenshot on a Mac is by capturing the entire screen. This is useful when you want to grab everything visible on your display.

• How to Do It:
  Press Command (⌘) + Shift + 3.
  Your screen will flash, indicating the screenshot has been taken, and it will automatically save to your desktop.

2. Capture a Selected Area on Your Screen

If you don’t need the whole screen but only a portion of it, macOS gives you the option to select an area to screenshot.

• How to Do It:
  Press Command (⌘) + Shift + 4.
  Your cursor will change to a crosshair. Click and drag to select the area you want to capture. Release the mouse to take the screenshot. It will save automatically to your desktop.

3. Screenshot of a Specific Window

Need to capture just one window? macOS allows you to take screenshots of individual windows, which is great for focusing on specific content like a browser or a document.

• How to Do It:
  Press Command (⌘) + Shift + 4, then press the Spacebar.
  Your cursor will turn into a camera. Hover over the window you want to capture and click to take the screenshot. The window will be captured with a clean, neat border.

4. Recording Your Screen (macOS Mojave and Later)

If you need to create a tutorial or demo, macOS allows you to record your screen. This feature is available starting with macOS Mojave.

• How to Do It:
  Press Command (⌘) + Shift + 5 to bring up the screenshot toolbar.
  From here, you can choose to either capture a still screenshot or record your screen. Click the “Record Entire Screen” or “Record Selected Portion” button, then click “Start Recording.”

5. Screenshot of the Touch Bar (for MacBook Pro Users)

For those with a MacBook Pro featuring the Touch Bar, you can take a screenshot of what’s displayed on it.

• How to Do It:
  Press Command (⌘) + Shift + 6.
  This will capture everything on your Touch Bar and save it to your desktop.

Bonus Tips:

• Change Where Screenshots Are Saved: By default, screenshots are saved to your desktop, but you can change this location using the Screenshot tool (Command (⌘) + Shift + 5).
• Copy a Screenshot to the Clipboard: If you’d like to copy the screenshot directly to your clipboard, add the Control key to any of the shortcuts. For example, Command (⌘) + Shift + 3 + Control will copy the full-screen screenshot instead of saving it.

Conclusion

Taking screenshots on a Mac is quick and easy with a few keyboard shortcuts. Whether you’re capturing your entire screen, a specific window, or a portion of your screen, macOS gives you all the tools you need. Try out these tips and see how easy it is to capture exactly what you need!