If you have a Mac with the new Touch Bar, you can easily take a screenshot by using the following key combo: SHIFT + COMMAND + 6 Some websites say to use the Grab utility, but using that tool, you have to pick the cursor you want captured whereas Preview will capture whatever the current cursor is. Open Preview and then click on File – Take a Screenshot – From Entire Screen.Ī countdown dialog will appear and after a few seconds, the entire screen will be captured along with whatever the current cursor is. None of the shortcut keys allow you to capture the cursor by default. If you want to capture a screenshot in OS X with the cursor, you have to use Preview. Takes a screenshot of an individual window and copies it to the clipboard.

The cursor will also turn into a camera icon when you press Space.ĬOMMAND + CONTROL + SHIFT + 4 + SPACE, CLICK A WINDOW You can then click on any window to capture a screenshot. Note that you only have to hold down CMD, SHIFT and 4 together, but can then let go of the keys and press Space separately. This takes a screenshot of an individual window and saves it to the desktop. Alternatively, if you use COMMAND + CONTROL + SHIFT + 4 at the same time, Mac OS X will copy the snippet to the clipboard rather than save it as an image to the desktop.Īdditional Mac OS X screenshot shortcuts: COMMAND + SHIFT + 4 + SPACE, CLICK A WINDOW Press the key combo and drag to select the portion of the screen to capture. Screen captures and snippets are basically the Mac OS X equivalent of the Sniping Tool, for Windows users. However, they are also different because they allow you to specify a certain region or portion of the screen.

Screen captures and snippets are similar to screenshots in the fact that they take a photo of the active windows/desktop. Full Screenshot to File - COMMAND + SHIFT + 3 while holding each button down.Īlternatively, if you use COMMAND + CONTROL + SHIFT, 3 at the same time, Mac OS X will snap a screenshot and copy it to the clipboard, rather than save it to the desktop. For example, if you have Safari and iTunes open, but iTunes is active and Safari is minimized, a screenshot will take a screenshot of your Mac OS X desktop just as you see it. Screenshots work by taking a shot of everything exactly how it is arranged, with active windows open and everything. Screenshots are basically a picture of the entire screen, or the entire desktop.

Mac screenshot shortcut key