How to Take a Screenshot in Mac OS X

Seven Methods:Screenshot a Portion of Your ScreenTake a Shot of Your Entire ScreenSave a Screenshot to the ClipboardScreenshot of an Open WindowGrab Utility MethodAltering the Default Location of the Saved FilesAdditional Methods

Method 1 of 7: Screenshot a Portion of Your Screen

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   Press ⌘ Command+⇧ Shift+4. Your cursor will turn into a small cross-hair reticle.
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   Click and drag your cursor to highlight the area you'd like to take a picture of.A grayed rectangle should appear where you drag your cursor. If you need to adjust your windows at all, press ⎋ Esc to return to a regular cursor without taking a picture.
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   Let go of the mouse. You should hear a brief camera shutter noise if your computer's sound is turned on. That signals that your screenshot has been taken.
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   Find your screenshot on your desktop. It will be saved as a .png file named "screenshot" labeled with the date and time.
   • Earlier versions of OS X will save it as "Picture #"—for example, if it's the 5th screenshot on your desktop it will be labeled as "Picture 5".
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   Use the screenshot. Once you have taken your screenshots, they are now ready to be used as needed. You can attach them to an email, upload them to the Web, or even drag them straight into an application such as a word processor.

Method 2 of 7: Take a Shot of Your Entire Screen

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   Make sure your screen displays exactly what you want to show in your screenshot image. Ensure all the relevant windows are visible.
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   Press ⌘ Command+⇧ Shift+3. If your sound is on, your computer should make a brief camera shutter noise.
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   Find your screenshot on your desktop. It will be saved as "screenshot" labeled with the date and time.
   • Earlier versions of OS X will save it as "Picture #"—for example, if it's the 5th screenshot on your desktop it will be labeled "Picture 5".

Method 3 of 7: Save a Screenshot to the Clipboard

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   Press ⌘ Command+^ Control+⇧ Shift+3. This method works exactly like the one above, except the screenshot does not immediately create a file. Instead, the image is saved to the clipboard, the same temporary storage area where your computer remembers the text that you have copied.
   • You can also take a portion screenshot with this method using⌘ Command+^ Control+⇧ Shift+4 and dragging your reticle over the appropriate part of your screen, exactly as the portion screenshot method.
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   Use ⌘ Command+V or Edit > Paste to paste your image. Your screenshot image can be pasted straight into any compatible application, such as a Word document, an image editing program, and many email services.

Method 4 of 7: Screenshot of an Open Window

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   Press Command+Shift+4 and hit Spacebar. The cross-hair will turn into a small camera. You can press Spacebar again to switch back to the reticle
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   Move your cursor over the window you want to capture. The camera will highlight different windows blue as it moves over them. You can use keyboard commands such as Command+Tab to shift through your windows while still in this mode.
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   Click on the window. The picture of the window you selected will be saved to the desktop by default just like the other screenshot methods.

Method 5 of 7: Grab Utility Method

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   Go to Applications > Utilities > Grab. This opens the Grab application. You will see the menus shown in the upper left of your screen, but no windows will open.
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   Click the Capture menu and choose between the four different options.
   • To take a picture of your entire screen, click on Screen (or just use the keyboard command Apple Key + Z). A window will pop up telling you where to click and letting you know that the window will not appear in the shot.
   • To take a picture of a portion of your screen, click on Selection. A window will pop up instructing you to drag your mouse over the portion of your screen you'd like to capture.
   • To take a picture of a specific window, select Window. Then, click on the window you'd like to take a picture of.
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   When the new window opens, choose Save. You can also choose Save As to give it a different name and/or move it to a more appropriate location, but note that it can only be saved as a .tiff file. Note that the file is not automatically saved.

Method 6 of 7: Altering the Default Location of the Saved Files

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   Create a new folder. Do so in Finder by going to File > New Folder.
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   Name the folder. Do so by clicking once on "untitled folder." Enter your desired name into the box, such as "Screenshots".
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   Open a terminal screen. This can be found in the finder, under utilities.
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   In the command line, copy defaults write com.apple.screencapture location , making sure to include a space after location. Don’t click Return.
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   Drag the folder you want into the terminal window. This will add the new screenshot destination to the command line.
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   Click Return. A new command line will appear.
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   Copy killall SystemUIServer into the command line and hit Return. This resets the terminal, allowing the changes to take immediate effect.
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   Be careful not to delete the folder. Otherwise, you will have to recreate it or redo this process in order to assign a new default location for screenshots.

Method 7 of 7: Additional Methods

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   Use Skitch. Skitch will allow you to make basic edits to your screenshots and upload them to the web.
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   Monosnap is a powerful screenshot tool. Take a screenshot, annotate it and upload it to the cloud, save or open in any other r external editor.
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   Use Jing. Similar to Skitch, Jing lets you take screenshots and upload them directly to the web. You can also use it to take videos of your screen.