Whatever setting you choose, your Mac will remember this setting and use it for all screenshots in the future. You can also use the same menu to set a timer on the screenshot and set a few other options. Mojave’s screenshot tool is fairly powerful, so if you need a refresher on what all the buttons do, we have a guide on that as well. Taking Mojave screenshots using keyboard shortcuts To capture the entire screen using a keyboard shortcut press Command + Shift + 3 To capture a selected portion of the screen, press Command + Shift + 4. Use your mouse and drag to select the area of. To capture a selected window, press Command +.

Best screen capturing app

For many new Apple users, particularly those who are migrating from Windows and are used to that Prt Scrn (Print Screen) button, the answer to the question of how to screenshot on Mac isn’t immediately obvious.

Although it only takes pressing a couple of keys to take a screenshot on Mac, the fact remains that Mac screen capture is something that hasn’t historically felt all that intuitive. For example, in addition to different key commands for screenshotting windows vs. smaller selections, recording video of your screen for a long time was only possible through QuickTime Player.

Best screenshot apps for macOS

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Although macOS Mojave has changed much of this, how to screenshot on Mac remains a heavy-hitting search query, as not everyone uses the latest version of macOS. Below you’ll find more information on taking a screenshot on Mac (and capturing video), as well as some useful tools to make your Apple screenshot life easier.

Exploring Mac Screenshot Basics

As there’s no dedicated button for print screen on Apple products, there are a few different commands associated with screen capture on Mac that vary slightly depending on your setup.

It makes sense to divide the world of how to take a screenshot on a Mac into pre and post-Mojave, since it was with this iteration of macOS that Apple really revolutionized their Mac screenshot command system.

1. Pre-Mojave Mac screenshot commands

If for whatever reason you don’t want to upgrade to Mojave then you’ll need to familiarize yourself with a couple of key Mac screenshot shortcut options:

• ⌘ + Shift + 3
• ⌘ + Shift + 4

The first of these commands is probably the easiest to get to grips with and the quickest one to take advantage of when taking a screenshot on Mac, as it captures the entire screen at once. If you’re using multiple screens, it takes a screenshot in Mac OS for every screen you’re using simultaneously.

The second of the commands represents a slightly more nuanced way to take a snapshot on Mac. Rather than capturing your entire screen, it prompts you to select the area you want to capture. If you follow it up with a press of Space, it allows you to choose the window you want to screencap instead.

Overall, while these commands do let you print screen on Mac, they feel sort of like an afterthought rather than a fully fledged feature of macOS. With so many people looking into how to screenshot on Mac, it’s not surprising that Apple recently decided to make it a little more clear how to screenshot in Mac OS Mojave.

2. Post-Mojave Mac screenshot command menu

In addition to the above commands, which still work for Mojave users, there’s now an option for them that’s very much in keeping with the existing format of how to print screen on Mac — ⌘ + Shift + [Number].

If you’re a Mojave, Catalina, or Big Sur user, you can use ⌘ + Shift + 5to bring up a screen capture menu that will allow you to:

• Capture Entire Screen
• Capture Selected Window(s)
• Capture Selected Portion
• Record Entire Screen
• Record Selected Portion

At the right-hand side of this menu there’s also Options that lets you (among other things) select where your MacBook screenshot and video output is saved.

In other words, anyone looking for an easy answer to the question “how do you screenshot on a Mac?” could do a lot worse than considering an upgrade to Mojave in order to streamline the process.

3. Third-party Mac OS screenshot apps

You might notice that, even with the inclusion of ⌘ + Shift + 5 Mac screen capturing menu, the options for taking a Mac screenshot remain pretty basic. If you’re looking for a snipping tool for Mac that can do a little more, you may need to turn to a third-party developer.

CleanShot X is unbeatable here. The app toolkit is tailored for 50+ different changes, which makes it an ultimate screen capturing tool for Mac. You can use CleanShot X to capture screen — whether it’s a window, full screen, area, or even scrolling content, as well as record video.

While capturing anything on your desktop, you can choose to hide all desktop clutter and disable desktop notifications in one click. Once you have your clean screenshot, open it from the overlay window that pops up, and start editing. You can add annotations, blur specific parts, or draw — CleanShot X will help you customize virtually anything.

A few not-so-obvious yet cool features to mention are self-timer, screenshot pinning, and internal cloud. Want to capture something with a delay? CleanShot X has a self-timer that will help you pick the right moment. If you want your screenshot to be visible on the screen, pin it to desktop. Finally, save your screen captures to the internal CleanShot Cloud and get shareable links in a flash.

If you’re looking for something with a little more emphasis on screen recording, Capto could be the ideal solution for you. In addition to recording video, or just taking a snapshot on Mac, you can also annotate and edit captures via an intuitive iMovie-esque interface.

Capto does wonders for software walkthroughs. And given its strong visual component, it’s also perfect for those with auditory shyness who would rather add captions than a voiceover. Capto’s built-in organizer is pretty helpful for keeping track of your screenshots too.

Mac OS screenshot organization

If you take a lot of screenshots then you’re probably way too used to your Downloads folder or Desktop being clogged up with images that have filenames like “Screen Shot 2019-XX-XX at 21.36.15”.

Unfortunately, this inelegant and cluttered outcome is the default Mac screenshot shortcut. Not particularly helpful for keeping all of your images in check, especially when macOS is prone to heavily abbreviating filenames.

While it’s possible to use Finder in conjunction with Preview to view all of your caps, that still isn’t a particularly satisfying visual experience. One of the best solutions is Inboard, which functions like a private Pinterest for your desktop and allows you to tag and filter all of your screenshots for later use.

Inboard takes care of the design savvy out there too with a feature that connects your Dribbble account to import all your likes for digestion at a later date.

But even once you’ve solved the question of how to do a screenshot on a Mac, sharing those screenshots with, say, colleagues or friends isn’t necessarily the easiest thing to do.

Rather than emailing files back and forth, or having to upload everything to a public Google Drive, you might consider a solution like Dropshare. As the name suggests, it makes sharing screenshots (and other files) as simple as dropping them into the relevant area.

Dropshare connects with a range of major third-party cloud apps, but you can also lean on proprietary Dropshare Cloud if you prefer, which is helpful if you want to keep your Mac screen capture sharing separate from your other sharing activity.

The future of how to take a screenshot on a Mac

As you can see from above, learning how to screenshot on Mac isn’t particularly difficult, and screen capture on Mac is now easier than ever thanks to the addition of a dedicated MacBook screenshot and video capture menu in macOS Mojave.

It’s clear from this new feature that Apple understands the issue of how to print screen on Mac is one that has been, to put it lightly, unintuitive in the past, so you can likely expect to see further tweaks to the process in the future.

In the meantime, there are some excellent options in the snipping tool for Mac market that facilitate the process and offer a range of diverse features you won’t find among those built-in options for taking a screenshot on Mac.

Best of all, you can try all the apps mentioned here: CleanShot, Capto, Inboard, and Dropshare absolutely free with a 7-day trial of Setapp, a Mac platform with over 200 essential apps for any task at hand. Now you’re all set for your screenshotting game.

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Meantime, prepare for all the awesome things you can do with Setapp.

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If you are running Mojave, you can screenshot a whole screen, capture a window, capture only a section, or record a video of the screen. Here’s how to screenshot on a Mac running Mojave.

If you are not running macOS Mojave or later yet, check out our previous article on how to take a screenshot with a Mac.

How to Screenshot the Whole Screen in macOSMojave

1. Press Command + Shift + 5.
2. Click the 1^st icon in the menu that pops up. The screenshot menu will be at the bottom of your screen.

   Click the 1st icon after the “X” button on the left. This action will turn the pointer into a camera.

3. Click the mouse or trackpad to capture the screen. Alternatively, you can also click “Capture” on the right-hand side of the screenshot menu.
4. A thumbnail of your image will appear in the bottom right corner of the screen. You can click the thumbnail to make changes to the image, or you can swipe it off the screen to save it faster.
5. Your image will be saved to the desktop after a few seconds.

How to Capture a Window in macOS Mojave

1. Press Shift + Command + 5.
2. Click the 2^nd icon in the menu that pops up. This action will turn the pointer into a camera.
3. Click the window you want to capture. It doesn’t matter if the window you are capturing is behind another window.
4. A thumbnail of your capture will appear briefly in the bottom right corner of your screen. You can then choose to markup, share, save, or take other actions from this thumbnail.
5. Your image will be saved to the desktop after a few seconds.

Note: The window that you captured will have a shadow effect.

If you don’t wish to screenshot the shadow as well, do the following instead:

1. Press Command + Shift + 5.
2. Click the 2^nd icon in the menu that pops up.
3. Your pointer will appear like a cross with a circle in the middle. When you see this cross icon, hold down Alt/Option and then press Space bar + Alt. This actionwill turn the pointer into a camera.
4. Click your trackpad ormouse button to screenshot the window without shadow.
5. A thumbnail of your capture will appear briefly in the bottomright corner of the screen. You can then choose tomarkup, share, save, or take other actions from this thumbnail.
6. Yourimage will be saved to the desktop after a few seconds.

How to Take a Screenshot of a Section in macOS Mojave

1. Press Shift + Command + 5.
2. Click the 3^rd icon in the menu that pops up. Once you click this, your screen will dim, except for a section that is highlighted in a box.
3. Use your mouse to drag the box around the section of your screen that you want to capture.
4. Click Enter to take the screenshot. Or you can click Capture in the onscreen controls.
5. A thumbnail of your capture will appear briefly in the bottom right corner of the screen. You can then choose to markup, share, save, or take other actions from this thumbnail.
6. Your image will be saved to the desktop after a few seconds.

How to Capture Timed Screenshots in Mojave

1. Press Shift + Command + 5.
2. Click Options in the screenshot menu.
3. Choose 5 or 10 seconds from the Timer options.
4. Choose the type of captures that you want to capture. You can choose between the entire screen, a selected area, or a single window.
5. A timer will start after you choose the kind of screenshot. The screenshot will be taken when the timer reaches zero.

The Options menu also lets you show or hide the mouse pointer, or change where to save your screenshot.

Screen Capture Mac Os X Mojave

Now that you know how to screenshot on macOS Mojave, find out how to record your Mac screen here.

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