5 Ways to Take Screenshots on a Macbook

2025 Author: Jason Gerald | gerald@how-what-advice.com. Last modified: 2025-01-23 12:04

From making witty visual jokes to reporting problems to get technical support, taking screenshots is a useful trick to get to know your computer. Luckily, taking screenshots (or screen grabs) in OS X is super easy. Here are some commands for taking various screenshots on your Macbook or any other Mac computer.

Step

Method 1 of 5: Taking a Screenshot of the Entire Screen

Step 1. Hold down the Command and Shift keys and press 3

You will hear a short camera sound. This is the most basic screenshot: it will take a picture of your entire screen at that moment.

Step 2. Look for the screenshot as a-p.webp" />

Method 2 of 5: Taking a Screenshot of a Selection

Step 1. Hold down the Command and Shift keys and press 4

Your cursor will turn into a small purse with a pixel coordinate number on the bottom left.

Step 2. Click and hold your mouse or trackpad and drag the cursor to select a rectangular area for the screenshot you want

You can press the ESC key to restart without taking a photo.

Step 3. Release the click to take a picture

Again, your file will be saved on your desktop.

Method 3 of 5: Taking a Screenshot of a Window

Step 1. Hold down the Command and Shift keys and press 4 then Space

This will turn your cursor into a small camera icon and any window you hover your mouse over will be highlighted blue.

Step 2. Highlight the window you want to take a screenshot of

To find the correct window, you can cycle through your open applications with Command + Tab or use F3 to organize all your open windows. Press ESC to cancel the command without taking a photo.

Step 3. Click the highlighted window

Look for your files on the desktop.

Method 4 of 5: Saving Screenshot to Clipboard

Step 1. Hold down the Control key and perform one of the above commands

This will save your screenshot to the clipboard instead of as a file stored on the desktop.

Step 2. Paste the screenshot into a word processing document, email or image editor by holding down the Command key and pressing V or selecting "Paste" from the "Edit" menu

Method 5 of 5: Taking Screenshots in Preview

Step 1. Open Preview

Look for Preview in the application folder in the Finder, and double-click its icon.

Step 2. Open the File menu and move your cursor to Take Screen Shot

Step 3. Select "From Selection", "From Window" or "From Entire Screen

"

• "From Selection" will turn your cursor into a reticle (a circle like a telescope view). Click and drag across the rectangular area you want to capture.

  

• "From Window" will turn your cursor into a camera icon. Highlight the window you want to capture and click it.

  

• "Entire Screen" will start the countdown. Set the screen you want to capture and wait for the timer to count down.

  

Step 4. Save your new image

The screenshot will immediately open as a nameless Preview image window. Open the File menu and select "Save." Give the file a name, choose a location and file type, and click "Save."