How To Take A Screenshot On A Mac

Learn How To Take A Screenshot On A Mac

When I first purchased my Macbook I had no idea how to take a screenshot on a mac as there was no print screen button like the PC – turns out there are many ways to achieve the same result within Apple’s OS X.

I will touch on the traditional keyboard shortcuts, but today I want to bring to you a solution which one of my readers posted earlier this week. If you are using OS X 10.4 or later then you’ll love this tip (providing you don’t already know it).

Step 1: Open “Preview” which should be in in your Applications folder.

Step 2

In the Preview menu bar, click on File, then select Take Screen Shot. This will present you with 3 options: “From Selection, From Entire Screen and From Window”.

Those three options can also be done via your keyword with the equivalent commands being:

• Screenshot from Selection: Hold Command + Shift + 4
• Screenshot for Window only: Hold Command + Shift + Spacebar
• Screenshot of entire screen: Hold Command + Shift + 3

What is the difference between keyword and preview?

If you use the shortcut “Hold Command + Shift + 3″ this will take a screenshot of the whole display or several displays (if you have numerous connected) straight away.

If you choose to take your screenshot from the entire screen using Preview, you will have a countdown (10 seconds) before the snapshot is taken. To make it easier, Mac has implanted a 10 second countdown timer in the middle of your screen which should give you enough time to shift any applications around in the right position before the snapshot. Incase it isn’t obvious, the 10 second counter will not be captured in the final screenshot.

Another point to remember is that if you hold the “Control” key while taking a snapshot in Preview this will save a copy of the image to your clipboard (as per normal when you utilise the keyboard shortcuts). From an efficiency standpoint, I love the preview method of taking screenshots on my Mac but there is no harm in sticking with the keyboard if you prefer doing it this way.

There you go, a short quick lesson on how to take a screenshot on your Mac. I hope this lesson has helped and if you are looking for any how-to tutorials just send me a note or leave a comment below.