How to Screenshot on Mac
So you've finally taken the plunge. No longer will you be dragged out by Windows, viruses, and freedom of customization that only Microsoft can provide. All for your new, beautiful, perfect Mac. So now that we've told your life story, let's get on to the main event. Finally understanding how to take a screenshot on this foreign looking keyboard, and finally saying goodbye to the Windows key. And if you want to become a screenshot guru, then you have to check out our all-inclusive how to screenshot guide.
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Method 1 - Keyboard
Capture a full screenshot and save it to your desktop - Command + Shift + 3
If you aren't looking to start searching for wherever the Screenshots were saved, this method will automatically save the picture to your Desktop, where you can easily move the file wherever you wish. This will take a screenshot of the entire screen, so make sure you want everything on it there in the picture.
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Capture a selected area and save it to your desktop - Command + Shift + 4
This function will also save to the desktop, but this will allow you to select the dimensions and area that the Screenshot covers, so you can take a screenshot of a particular window, or several of them at once, while keeping the rest outside of the image. Once you click Command + Shift + 4, your mouse cursor will allow you to drag it to your desired dimensions.
Tip: You can take a full screenshot from this mode if you press Spacebar.
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Method 2 - Grab
Another method of screen capture is using the Grab program.
You can access it through Go, and then clicking Utilities
Click the Grab icon, and the top menu seen in the title photo will pop up.
From this window, you can choose a Selection, a Window, the Whole Screen, or a Timed Screenshot
The Timed Screenshot is a really neat feature that allows you the time to set up the screen as you like it, or if you like even have the mouse cursor on the screen, there are all sorts of options through the menu you can decide on.
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Method 3 - Using Preview to Take a Screenshot
Open Preview from your Applications folder, or the and in the drop down menu, click Take Screenshot.
Preview is the default tool for Mac to look at anything from Images to PDFs, and also has a neat feature that allows you to take screenshots of the files you are previewing. When you open Preview, click the file menu and scroll down to Take Screenshot. There you will have 3 different choices of how to capture the entire / a segment of the screen.
Similar to the other options, this will allow you to take various types of screenshots with different levels of customization. What is different here, is that once you take it, the screenshot is presented as an overlay, with several basic editing tools, as well as options for where you would like to save it. This means that the process itself is less streamlined than the others, especially the keyboard shortcuts. This will however offer you the most amount of customization options among the 3.
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