How to screenshot on a Mac

Whether you’ve recently invested in your first Mac or just never needed to take a screenshot until now, we’ve put together this guide on how to print screen on a Mac.
There are a few different ways you can take a screenshot on your Mac, from quick keyboard shortcuts to bringing up a more detailed toolbar coined Screenshot. We’ll detail everything you need to know, from how to take a quick screenshot using your keyboard to screen recording below.
Keep reading to learn how to screenshot on Mac.
What you’ll need:
- A Mac or MacBook
The short version:
- Press and hold the Shift, Command and 3 keys all at the same time
- Wait for the image to save to your desktop
Step
1Press and hold Shift, Command and 3 at the same time
This will capture the entire screen. To learn how to print screen a specific portion of the screen or a single window, scroll to the bottom of this guide.
Step
2Wait for the screenshot to save to your desktop
Once you’ve successfully held down the above keys, you’ll see a thumbnail of your image at the bottom right-hand corner of your screen. If you leave it, then it’ll save automatically, however you can also click on it to edit the image before saving.
Troubleshooting
If you don’t want to capture the entire screen and just want to select a specific portion instead, simply press and hold the Shift, Command and 4 keys at the same time.
This will bring up a crosshair, which you can then use to click and drag the desired portion of the screen.
To capture a specific window or menu, just press Shift, Command, 4 and the space bar at the same time.
This will bring up a camera icon. You can click on any window or menu to capture it and save it to your desktop. The tool will automatically save the window’s shadow to your image, but you can press and hold the Option button as you choose your window to prevent this if you want.
Screenshot is a tool panel that lets you take screenshots and screen recordings on your Mac. It is also equipped with extra options that allow you to control how you capture your desired image, such as timer delay.
To bring the panel up, press and hold the Shift, Command and 5 keys simultaneously.
Yes it is possible to screen record on Mac by using the Screenshot panel. To do this, you’ll need to bring up the Screenshot panel by pressing and holding the Shift, Command and 5 keys at the same time and selecting either of the record options, shown here.
The option on the left will record the entire screen while the option on the right will bring up a crosshair, which allows you to drag and select the portion of the screen you want to record.