Return to site

How Do I Screenshot In Mac

broken image


If you take a lot of screenshots on a Mac, you might end up with a cluttered desktop. This is because Macs automatically save your screenshots on the desktop. They are also saved as PNG files instead of the more widely used JPEG format. If you want to know how to change where screenshots are saved on a Mac, and the format they are saved in, just follow the steps below:

Using Apowersoft Mac Screenshot. There can be various ways on how to screenshot on a MacBook. How to take a screenshot on a Mac hold down ⌘ command: and shift: and press # 3 = Your Mac captures the entire screen and saves it as a file on the desktop. The file name will look like 'Screen shot 2020-12-05 at 08.45.00 AM.png'. How do I take a partial screenshot?

Where Do Screenshots Go on a Mac?

When you use keyboard shortcuts like Command + Shift + 3, your screenshots are automatically saved to the desktop. You can also right-click the floating thumbnail, which lets you save the screenshot to Documents or Clipboard.

How to Change Where Screenshots are Saved on a Mac

There are two ways to change the defaultscreenshot save directory on a Mac, depending on your operating system. Theeasier way is through the Screenshot app in macOS Mojave. For mac OS HighSierra or earlier, you have to use Terminal, an app for entering commandprompts to control your Mac. Below are the steps for each operating system.

How to Change Where Screenshots are Saved in macOS Mojave or Later

  1. Go to the Utilities folder and open the Screenshot app. You can also open the Screenshot app by pressing Command + Shift + 5.
  2. Click Options. The top tile of the menu will show your Save to options:
    • Desktop – This is the default setting which saves the screenshot with the following time format: Screen Shot [date] at [time].
    • Documents – This will save the screenshot to your Documents folder with the time and date as the file name.
    • Clipboard – This will allow you to paste the screenshot to another app which can edit or view images.
    • Mail – This lets you compose a new email in the Mail app with the screenshot attached.
    • Messages – This will attach the screenshot to a message which you can send to a contact.
    • Preview – This will launch Preview, a photo editing app. Your Mac will temporarily name the image file as Untitled until you change it to a different file name.
    • Other Location – This will allow you to navigate outside of the locations previously listed to a folder of your choice. You can save to an existing folder or create a new one.
  3. Choose a Save To option. Your Mac will remember the last one you have selected and will apply this to subsequent screenshots.

How to Change the Default Screenshot Save Location in macOS High Sierra or Earlier

How Do I Capture A Screenshot In Mac

  1. Open Terminal. You can find the Terminal app in the Utilities folder.
  2. Type the following command, followed by a space:

    Note: Make sure to put a space after the word location, otherwise the command won't work.

  3. Drag the folder you want to save to into the Terminal command box. You will see that the file path will now be inserted as another command line in Terminal.
  4. Press Enter on your keyboard.
  5. Then type the following command:
  6. Press Enter or Return. The next time you take a screenshot, it will be saved to the new folder you have created instead of the desktop.

How to Change a Screenshot to JPG and Other File Formats

By default, Macs save screenshots as PNG files, which are usually larger than JPG files. Both can be used for social media, but JPGs are more universally accepted. To save a screenshot as a JPG, use the Terminal to override the default format setting.

  1. Open Terminal.
  2. Type the following command, followed by a space: You can also choose to save your screenshots as other formats by default. You can save them as PDF files if you want to edit or open the image in Adobe. You can save them as TIFF files if you want to retain their original image data even after manipulating the image. Or you can save them as GIF files if you want the image to load quickly on the web. Just choose any of the following commands, followed by a space:

    Note: Make sure to put a space after the file type, otherwise the command won't work.

  3. Hit Enter. The command will be saved to Terminal.
  4. Test to see if the default option has been changed. Take a screenshot then right-click on the image. Choose Get Info from the contextual menu, then check what is written under 'Kind' in the General section.

Once you know how to change the default screenshot settings on your Mac, you'll be able to customize and improve the way you work with screenshots. Taking a screenshot on a Mac also takes some getting used to, especially for Windows users who are used to hitting the Print Screen key. If you need to improve your screenshot skills, check out our article about how to take a screenshot on a Mac.

Was this article helpful?

Related Articles

If you don't know how to take a screenshot on Mac, but looking to learn, this post has everything that you'll need to read. Here, I will tell you how you can take a Screenshot on Mac. I'll list all the different types and methods to take a screenshot on your Mac.

Contents

  • 1 Guide to Take a Screenshot on Mac
    • 1.5 Method-5: Other ways to take a screenshot on Mac.

Guide to Take a Screenshot on Mac

Screenshots are essential for a lot of purposes in various work fields. Basically, a screenshot is a still image of what your computer screen is currently showing. Taking or capturing the screenshot means you have saved that still image to your storage. This may come handy when you want to make a PowerPoint presentation, remember some instructions, or just want to save a visual for viewing later.

How Do I Screenshot In Mac

Taking a screenshot on your smartphone is pretty easy and everyone knows how to do it. But, not everyone knows about taking a screenshot on Mac. That's why I'm writing this guide to help everyone learn to take a screenshot on Mac. Just go through this, and you'll learn everything you need about taking a screenshot on the Mac OS.

Method -1: Take a Screenshot of the Entire Screen and Save it to the Desktop.

In order to take the screenshot of the entire screen and save it to your desktop, hold down the Command + Shift + 3 keys on your Mac keyboard. If the volume is up, you will hear a camera shutter sound at the time you press and hold these keys. After the screenshot is captured, you can find it by going to the desktop. You will see an image file with the name ‘Screenshot xx-xx-xxxx.' ‘X' is the date and time of the capturing. You can just rename this file and use it anywhere you want.

Method-2: Take a Screenshot of Part of the Screen and Save it to the Desktop.

There are times when you'll only want to captureaportionfrom the Mac screen. Do the following in this case. Press and hold the Command + Shift + 4 on your Mac keyboard together. A crosshair cursor will then appear on the screen. Click on this cursor and drag it to highlight the specific area of the screen you want to capture. To edit your selection, press the Esc key to start from the beginning. After you have highlighted precisely what you need, release the mouse. You will hear a camera shutter indicating that the screenshot is taken. You need to have the volume of Mac up in order to listen to this sound. Now just go to your desktop and look for a file named something like this, ‘Screenshot xx-xx-xxxx.' where X will be the date and time of capture.

Method-3: Save the Screenshot of the Entire Screen to Clipboard.

Sometimes you will need to save a screenshot to the Clipboard. Like when you are making a PowerPoint presentation, you can just save the screenshot in the Clipboard and then insert it in your presentation. To do this, press and hold down the Command + Control + Shift + 3 keys on your Mac keyboard. You will hear the camera shutter sound indicating that the screenshot is captured. Now go to the destination where you want to insert this screenshot. For example, go to your presentation and press the Command + V keys together. That's it.

Screenshot

Taking a screenshot on your smartphone is pretty easy and everyone knows how to do it. But, not everyone knows about taking a screenshot on Mac. That's why I'm writing this guide to help everyone learn to take a screenshot on Mac. Just go through this, and you'll learn everything you need about taking a screenshot on the Mac OS.

Method -1: Take a Screenshot of the Entire Screen and Save it to the Desktop.

In order to take the screenshot of the entire screen and save it to your desktop, hold down the Command + Shift + 3 keys on your Mac keyboard. If the volume is up, you will hear a camera shutter sound at the time you press and hold these keys. After the screenshot is captured, you can find it by going to the desktop. You will see an image file with the name ‘Screenshot xx-xx-xxxx.' ‘X' is the date and time of the capturing. You can just rename this file and use it anywhere you want.

Method-2: Take a Screenshot of Part of the Screen and Save it to the Desktop.

There are times when you'll only want to captureaportionfrom the Mac screen. Do the following in this case. Press and hold the Command + Shift + 4 on your Mac keyboard together. A crosshair cursor will then appear on the screen. Click on this cursor and drag it to highlight the specific area of the screen you want to capture. To edit your selection, press the Esc key to start from the beginning. After you have highlighted precisely what you need, release the mouse. You will hear a camera shutter indicating that the screenshot is taken. You need to have the volume of Mac up in order to listen to this sound. Now just go to your desktop and look for a file named something like this, ‘Screenshot xx-xx-xxxx.' where X will be the date and time of capture.

Method-3: Save the Screenshot of the Entire Screen to Clipboard.

Sometimes you will need to save a screenshot to the Clipboard. Like when you are making a PowerPoint presentation, you can just save the screenshot in the Clipboard and then insert it in your presentation. To do this, press and hold down the Command + Control + Shift + 3 keys on your Mac keyboard. You will hear the camera shutter sound indicating that the screenshot is captured. Now go to the destination where you want to insert this screenshot. For example, go to your presentation and press the Command + V keys together. That's it.

Method-4: Save the Screenshot of a part of the Screen to Clipboard.

Similarly to Chapter-2, you can screenshot a part of the screen and save it to your clipboard. To do this, press and hold down the Command + Control + Shift + 4 keys on your Mac keyboard. A crosshair cursor will appear, click on it and drag it over the area you want to highlight. To adjust your selection, you can press the Esc key on the keyboard. After you have highlighted the area, just release the mouse. Now go to the destination where you want to insert this screenshot and press Command + V keys together. That's it.

Method-5: Other ways to take a screenshot on Mac.

Apart from these methods, there are several other ways in which you can capture a screenshot of your Mac screen. Let's take a quick look at all the other methods.

(i) Take a Screenshot with Mac's Touch Bar.

How Do I Screenshot In Mac

The newer versions of the Macbook Pro have a Touch Bar that offers a Screenshot option. You can use this screenshot feature to capture full screen, partial screen, or specific window screenshots. When the Screenshot icon is enabled on the Touch bar, just tap on this icon and select the type of screenshot you want to take. The types are similar to the options while capturing screenshot using Grab. You'll learn about that in the next portion.

How Do I Screenshot In Macbook

(ii) Take a Screenshot with Grab.

You can take a screenshot using the Grab app on your Mac. Go to the Finder folder situated at the dock, and insert ‘Grab' in the search bar present in the top-right side. Now go to the left-sidebar and choose ‘Applications.' Open the Grab app and select ‘Capture' present on the top navigation bar. Just choose the type of screenshot you want to take. You will have four options- Selection, Window, Screen, or Timed Screen.

(iii) Take a Screenshot with third-party apps.

There are third-party apps like Cleanshotand Captothat you can use in order to capture a screenshot on Mac. These apps offer additional features like capturing video of the screen, blurring desktop icons, taking high-quality images, etc. If you are professional, you must leave the default methods and give such apps a shot once.

Method-6: Edit a Mac Screenshot with Keynote.

How To Screen Record On A Mac

You can edit your Mac screenshots with the Keynote app. It is a presentation app that comes with your Mac by default. Just save a screenshot on the desktop. Right-click on it and choose ‘Open with.' Now choose Keynote from the list of compatible apps. The screenshot will then open in Keynote and you can do the required editing as per your choice.

Summary

That's all for this guide. Now you know all the different ways and types of taking a screenshot on a Mac machine. You can also edit the screenshots now. For personal usage, you can just remember the keyboard shortcuts and use them to capture the screenshots. Or, if you are a professional, I'd recommend using good third-party apps. These apps offer features that can help you get an edge over others.

I hope this post helps you enough. For any queries, doubts, or suggestions, feel free to visit the comment section. I'll be glad to listen.





broken image