how to take a screenshots of the mac

In particular, I refer to the Screenshot application which is installed as “standard” on all Macs and which, through a specific combination of keys or directly using the mouse, allows you to photograph the Mac screen with extreme simplicity. In addition, it allows you to choose the format and folder in which to save the screenshots and also to record the computer screen.

If it is exactly the tool you were looking for, I suggest you take five minutes of free time and dedicate yourself to reading the next paragraphs, in which you will find the detailed procedure for “capturing” the screen of your Mac. Screenshot application does not fully satisfy your needs, it will be my job to show you some additional applications that might be right for you. Happy reading and good luck with everything!

How to photograph the Mac screen with a keyboard

How to take a picture of the Mac screen ©Aranzulla

The first solution that I recommend that you consider for photographing the Mac screen is the use of keyboard shortcuts macOS, through which it is possible to take a screenshot not only of the entire screen but also of a portion of it and of specific windows.

To “capture” the full screen of your Mac, all you have to do is press the key combination Cmd + shift + 3: the sound of a camera shutter will signal that you have successfully taken a new screenshot which, automatically, is saved in the form of a PNG image on your Mac desktop (you can change the format by giving the command defaults write com.apple.screencapture type jpg in the Terminal, where instead of jpg you must enter your preferred graphic file format; to make the changes effective give the command killall SystemUIServer).

If, on the other hand, you want to “photograph” a single portion of the screen, press the key combination Cmd + shift + 4 and, as soon as an icon appears on the screen viewfinder, press and hold the left mouse button, select the area of ​​your interest and release the button. Again, the screenshot is automatically saved to your Mac desktop.

Finally, I point out that you can also take a screenshot of one single open window. In that case, use the key combination Cmd + shift + 4, press the space bar, select with the cursor (which in the meantime should have taken the form of a camera) the window of your interest, and click on it to “photograph it”.

After taking any screenshot, you will see a thumbnail of it appear in the lower right corner of the screen. By clicking on the thumbnail in question, you can edit or share the screenshot quickly: In the first case, all you have to do is select the editing tools (eg. geometric shapes, text fields, arrows, etc.) located in the menu related to the opened window, while to share it online you can click on the icon sharing (their arrow inside a square), at the top right, and choose the sharing option you prefer.

If your intention is to “capture” the Mac screen in order to use the screenshot in a graphics program, in a text document, or in any other file, you can follow the instructions I have just given you and, then, import it manually.

Alternatively, you can use key combinations Ctrl + cmd + shift + 3 And ctrl + cmd + shift + 4 that allow you to “photograph” the entire Mac screen, a portion of it, or a single-window without saving the screenshot. In fact, this will be kept in “memory” and, after starting the application or opening the file of your interest, you can press the keys cmd + v to paste the image into the target application or document.

How to photograph Mac screen without keyboard

How to take a picture of the Mac screen ©Aranzulla

If you don’t particularly like keyboard shortcuts, you will be happy to know that you can “photograph” the Mac screen using the application Screenshots (also known as Screenshot) of macOS, which allows you to take screenshots using the mouse directly.

To use the application in question, open the Launchpad click on the relative icon (the one with i colored squares) located on the Dock bar, access the folder Other, and start the Screenshot application by clicking on its icon (that of the camera). Alternatively, you can also open it by pressing the key combination Cmd + alt + 5.

Now, select the option of your interest among those available in the toolbar that appears on the screen: Capture the entire screen to “capture” the entire Mac screen; Capture the selected window to “photograph” a specific window among the open ones e Acquire selection to take a screenshot of a portion of the screen to be selected manually.

If you have chosen to “capture” the entire Mac screen or a portion of it, all you have to do is click on the button Acquire, while to “photograph” a single window you can simply click on the window of your interest.

It will be useful to know that by selecting the options Record the entire screen or Record your selection, you can also record the entire computer screen or portions of it. In this regard, my guide on how to record screen mac.

Finally, I point out that by pressing on the item Options, you can adjust various advanced screen capture settings, such as including the mouse pointer in the screenshots, the appearance of floating miniatures after capturing the screen, setting a timer to delay capture, choosing the folder to save screenshots and other options related to screen recording activity.

Other solutions to photographing Mac screen

How to take a picture of the Mac screen ©Aranzulla

What do you say? You would like to know other solutions to photograph the Mac screens? In this case, you should know that there are several applications that allow you to make screenshots of the entire Mac screen, of individual portions, or of specific windows. Here, then, are some programs to capture the screen that might be right for you.

• CleanShot X: it is a valid tool for taking screenshots and recording the Mac screen. It has an advanced editor and other interesting features, such as the ability to take full screenshots of Web pages by scrolling. It costs $ 8 / month or $ 29 one-time with no free trial, but it’s also included in Setapp, a subscription service (with a 7-day free trial) that allows you to use over 200 applications for macOS (and iOS / iPadOS, with a small surcharge) that would normally be paid for by paying a single monthly or annual subscription. I told you about it in more depth in my guide on how Setapp works.
• Shottr: is a free application that not only allows you to “capture” the Mac screen, portions of it or specific windows, but also entire Web pages or entire chats by scrolling. In addition, it has interesting additional features, such as the ability to add annotations and remove parts of the screenshot, and advanced tools, such as the system OCR which allows the automatic recognition of the text inside the screen (a function which is however available “as standard” in macOS 12 Monterey and later).
• Monosnap: in addition to allowing you to “photograph” the Mac screen, including individual portions and specific windows, this application has an advanced editor for editing screenshots. In the free version, also offers 2 GB of space to store your screens online, while the subscription version (starting at 4.49 euros/month) allows you to have 10 GB of space and to connect to other storage services, such as Google Drive or Dropbox.
• ShrinkTheWeb: is an online service that allows you to capture entire Web pages and not just a portion of it. It’s free with the ability to activate a subscription Pro version that offers more features. To find out more, you can take a look at my guide on how to save a web page as an image.