Take screenshots on a Mac: Screenshots are an integral part of the Mac experience for most users. In previous versions of macOS, keyboard shortcuts worked great for this task, but macOS Mojave has a dedicated screenshot tool. Below we’ll show you how to use it.
How to take Screenshots on a Mac with a Keyboard Shortcut
Table of Contents
- To take a screenshot of the entire screen, hold Command + Shift + 3 on your keyboard.
- To take a screenshot of part of the screen, hold down Command + Shift + 4 . Use your mouse to select the area you want to capture.
- To take a screenshot of a window, hold Command + Shift + 4, press Space, select the window, and then click the mouse button or press Enter.
When a screenshot is taken, it won’t immediately appear on the desktop as it did in previous versions of macOS. In macOS Mojave, only a screenshot preview will appear in the lower right corner of the screen, from where you can work with it. This way you can easily edit, move and share screenshots.
How to take a screenshot of macOS using a special tool
With the release of macOS Mojave, a handy new screenshot tool has arrived. There are two ways to call it:
- Through the Finder, open the programs folder, go to Utilities, and select Screenshot.
- Alternatively, hold down the Command + Shift + 5 keys on your keyboard.
Either method will open the screenshot tool from the bottom of the screen. There will be convenient buttons for doing:
- Screenshot of the entire screen.
- Screenshot of the selected window.
- Screenshot of the selected area of the screen.
The tool also allows you to record the screen, just like in QuickTime. The following options are available:
- Full-screen recording.
- Record the selected area of the screen.
You can also choose the default folder for saving screenshots and recordings and turn on the timer counting down to a screenshot. You can also disable small previews and enable screenshot history. You can enable or disable the display of the cursor on screenshots.
The toolbar can be dragged across the screen. In the screenshots, the panel itself will not be displayed.
Where is Screenshot Saved on Mac
By default, screenshots are saved to the macOS desktop, but you can change where screenshots are stored.
Interaction with preview
When you take a screenshot, a small preview will appear on the screen. It will automatically disappear after five seconds if you do nothing with it. You can remove the preview yourself by swiping it to the right. After that, the screenshot will immediately be saved to the default folder.
You can drag the preview to a program like Mail or Messages to quickly share a screenshot.
If you right-click on the preview, additional options will appear: save to a specific location, open in programs, open in Finder, delete, edit, etc.
If you click on the screenshot with the left mouse button, it will open in the Preview application in full size. Here you can edit it, share it, or crop it (if it’s a video).
Also Read: macOS Big Sur: How to customize the Dock and menu bar
Taking Mac Screenshots with Third-Party Tools
If you need advanced screenshot features, you can use third-party programs such as CleanShot X.
CleanShot X offers the following features:
- Adding annotations to screenshots
- Quick access to the screenshot panel
- Scrolling a screenshot, selecting a screenshot area, a specific window, etc.
- Screen Freeze
- Reliable Screen Recording
- Record screen as GIF
- Do Not Disturb Automatically
- Show/hide cursor
- Hide desktop clutter while recording – hide desktop icons
- Click Capture
- Capturing keystrokes
- Upload screenshots and recordings and get a link to share with CleanShot Cloud
- Tags
- Command Screenshot Management
- Custom domain and branding
The CleanShot X license costs $29 for 1 Mac and includes 1 year of updates (an additional annual subscription for future updates costs $19). Meanwhile, CleanShot Cloud Pro offers all the features, including custom domain names and branding, old screenshot cleanup controls, and more, starting at $8 per month per user when billed annually.
Here are two more popular third-party screenshot apps for Mac that you should check out:
