Press and release the space bar: The crosshair turns into a little camera icon, which you can move over any open window. Click on your desired window to take a screenshot of it. Why McGowan wore that see-through VMA dress. Trump resumes rallies, ponders a Biden win. Arians trades barbs with NFLPA executive director. While on other PCs you need to open a separate application to edit a screenshot, on the MacBook Pro you can do this right after taking a screenshot in the same window itself. This saves a ton of time and allows for a much needed ease of access. Screenshots are without doubt a very handy tool to.
Normally, the people who switch from Windows to Mac are the ones who do this research. You will find unlimited queries stating 'how do I take a screenshot on my Mac'. In Windows, the screenshot feature is used with the Print Screen key, but Mac PCs don't have that key. So, if you are one of them, then don't panic.
In this article, you will get to learn everything about the screenshot feature in Mac OS. Once you are done reading this article, you will know how to do a screenshot on Windows and Mac. As there are several methods to do this, you can choose any of the options which are easy for you. Whether you have MacBook Air, Pro, or iMac, you'll be able to learn all the screen capturing methods here.
Part 1 What Is a Screenshot?
You might have heard the term many times, but can you describe it properly? Well, we can do it for you. The term screenshot is used to describe the action of capturing a static image file of your desktop or computer screen or a particular area of the screen.
Thus, the screenshot feature allows the users to take a picture of whatever is on the display screen of their device. This feature is so useful that every electronic device whether it is mobile phones, tablets, or computers, all of them has it.
Before you get to learn how to do a screenshot on a Mac or Windows, you must know about its uses too. When you can't explain something in words, at that time, screenshots come in handy. Few examples where a screenshot can be of real help are given below.
To share the screen image with friends, family, and social media.
It is useful to provide software reviews
The screenshot also helps in software tutorials to demonstrate how a function is performed.
It is also helpful in providing technical support for errors and software issues
Saved screenshots lost? Go to the page for solutions - How to recover permanently pictures.
Part 2 How to Screenshot on Windows 10
You will be glad to know that all current OS has an in-built feature to take screenshots. If you have a Windows system, then you can capture a screenshot easily by pressing two keys simultaneously. Here's how to take a screenshot on Windows with various methods. There are various tools available to allow the Windows users to take a screenshot of a particular area.
1. How to Take a Screenshot on a PC Using Snipping Tool
If you don't want any trouble to screenshot Windows 10, then the snipping tool is perfect for you. This tool was released with Windows Vista and available for all other versions too. It can take screenshots in various sizes and formats. Along with the capturing tool, the Snipping tool also has a basic image editing tool with an eraser, highlighter, and colored pens.
Windows users can use the Snipping tool to:
Capture a window
Capture the entire screen
Capture a free-form portion
Capture a rectangular portion
Once you learn how to screenshot on windows with a snipping tool, you can take the above snips easily. To use the snipping tool, you can follow the below steps.
Press the Start button with a Windows icon, and type Snipping Tool in the search box.
Once the Tool is active, just select the Mode, and choose between Free-Form, Rectangular, Window, or Full-screen snip options. The New option is to take a screenshot using the previous model.
Once you take the screenshot, you will get the Copy and Save options too.
To take a free-form or rectangular snip, you will need to select a particular area with the mouse.
If you are good at remembering shortcuts, then the Snipping tool can also be activated using the Keyboard shortcut keys. Here are the shortcuts that you can use to capture the screen with keys.
Press the Start key and type Snipping tool to open the tool as there is no keyboard shortcut for this.
To select the type of snip, press Alt + M keys and use the arrow keys to select one and then press Enter.
While taking a rectangular snip, hold the Shift key and use the arrow keys to select the area you want to capture.
To save the screenshot, press Ctrl + S keys and to copy, press Ctrl + C keys.
To take a new screenshot with previous mode, press Alt + N keys.
2. How to Screenshot Using Print Screen on Windows 10
The only thing you need to do to take a PC screenshot on Windows 10, is the Print Screen button. The PrtScr key allows you to save a screenshot, take a screen screenshot without saving it as a file, and take a screenshot of one window. In normal keyboards, the PrtScr key is available right next to the Function keys. While in laptops, the Function 'Fn' is used to activate the Print Screen feature.
The steps you need to follow to take a screenshot in Windows 10 are as follows:
To take a screenshot without saving, you'll need to press PrtScr. Then, open the program where you want to use the Screenshot and paste it. In some laptops, you'll need to press Alt + Fn + PrtScr keys instead.
To take a screenshot of just one window, press Alt + PrtScr keys.
To take a screenshot of a particular area, press Windows + Fn + PrtScr
The mishandling of taking a screenshot might cause photo corruption. How can you restore corrupted photos?
3. How to Save Screenshots on Windows 10
To save the screenshot on Windows 10, you don't need to do much. As you press the Windows Key and PrntScrn keys together, the screen dims for a second and the screenshots automatically get saved to the default folder.
As the default format for Windows 10 screenshot is PNG, you can use another method to save the screenshot in another format.
Press the PrintScreen key and wait for a few seconds.
Open Windows Paint and then press Ctrl + V, or right-click to paste the screenshot.
Then press Ctrl + S to save the file or go to the 'Save as' option under the File menu.
Customize the location, enter a name, and select another format for your screenshot.
Finally, tap on the Save button and you'll have your screenshot in a specified location.
But, in some systems, the PrntScrn key has other functions too. Then in such conditions, you'll need to press the Fn + Windows key + PrntScrn simultaneously to capture a screenshot. You can find the folder under the User Profile's Pictures option.
4. How to Edit Screenshots on Windows 10
Hopefully, now you know how to screenshot on Windows 10/8/7. Along with this, the method of editing screenshots in Windows system is also very easy. Usually, the tools which are used to take screenshot have their editing function.
But the default PrntScrn method doesn't have an editing option. Therefore, to edit the screenshots, you have to use a slightly different method.
Press the Print Screen key of your system and open Windows Paint.
As the screenshot also gets copied to the clipboard, you can simply paste it in the paint.
Inside the paint, you'll have the basic editing options to crop, resize, rotate, and perform additional editing.
But with Windows 10, a tool named as Microsoft Snip that allows the users to draw some lines, add audio files and add animated things in the screenshot before sharing. In the older version of Windows, the users can also use the Snipping tool for editing.
Part 3 How to Screenshot on Mac
Without the PrntScrn, many users who switch from Windows OS to Mac get lost. But don't worry; Mac OS is not that hard to operate as you think it is. So, here's how to take a screenshot on Mac easily. Luckily, you get more customizable options for Mac than Windows OS.
1. Use Mac Screenshot Shortcut to Screen Capture Mac
To capture a particular screen area, you can use the Mac screenshot shortcut. As there are various options available, you have to follow slightly different steps to take screenshots of a particular area.
Screenshot a window:
1 If you want to use screen capture on Mac for a window, then you should press Command + Shift + 4 keys at once. As the crosshairs appear on the screen, press the Space key and position the cursor over the window and click on the mouse or the trackpad. Remember to hold the space bar while dragging. 2 As you click, the camera icon will appear and the window will turn grey. If multiple windows are open, then choose the window you want to capture and click on the mouse to take the screenshot. The image will appear on the desktop automatically.
Screenshot the entire screen:
To take a screenshot on MacBook, you only need to press the Command + Shift + 3 and you will hear a shutter sound of the camera. By default, the screenshot will be displayed on the desktop.
Screenshot part of the screen:
1 To screenshot MacBook pro or others, you should press Command + Shift + 4 keys simultaneously. With this shortcut, you'll be able to capture a part of the screen. 2 As you press the keys, a cross will appear on screen with some numbers. You can drag the cross across the area which you want to capture. Press the Space bar while dragging to move the entire selection. Then release the mouse or trackpad button and you'll find the screenshot on your desktop.
Screenshot a dropdown menu:
1 To know how to screen capture on Mac of a drop-down menu, you will need to open the menu first. Then press the Shift + Command + 4 keys and drag the cross to the area of the menu. 2 Release the mouse to capture the area and then press the Space key to change the pointer to a camera. Then press the menu to capture the screenshot.
Any photo corruption issue can be solved. Here are the solutions - How to Repair JPEG Files.
2. Do a Screenshot via macOS Mojave
Whether it is Mac OS X, macOS, MacBook Air, MacBook Pro, or Mac Mojave, every Mac version has its criteria to take a screenshot. To learn how to take a screenshot on macOS Mojave, you can read the below section.
.
But to get to the controls, you'll need to click on the Command + Shift + 5 on the keyboard and the screen capture controls will appear on the screen. But you can also use keyboard shortcuts.
Screenshot the whole screen on Mac:
If you want to know how to screenshot on macOS Mojave, then follow these steps: To capture the screen, press the Command + Shift + 3, and the screenshot of the entire screen will be automatically saved on the desktop.
Screenshot a window:
To capture the screen of a particular window, you will have to follow the below steps:
Press the Command + Shift + 4 keys at once and then tap the Space Bar key.
The cursor will change into a camera icon and you can move it around the window as a screen.
As you move the cursor over the window, the area will be highlighted.
After you've selected the area, press the mouse button and a screenshot will be saved to the desktop.
Screenshot a portion on Mac:
To take the screenshot of a particular portion, you need to follow these steps:
Press the Command + Shift + 4 keys together at once.
A cross-hair cursor will appear on the screen. Click and drag the cursor to the particular area that you want to capture.
Release the mouse button and the screenshot will be saved automatically.
3. Edit Screenshots on Mac
Once, you have learned how to take a screenshot on a MacBook Pro you will need to know how to save screenshot too. So, here you can find out where the screenshots go after you capture them.
It is vital that you also know where do screenshots go on Mac. By default, the screenshots are saved on the desktop. But you can also use other tools to customize the location where the screenshots might be saved.
As you now know how to screenshot on Mac Air/Pro/Mini or any other Mac version, then you will be glad to know that you can also edit them. Furthermore, it is easy to very easy to edit the screenshots. All you need to do is following the steps below:
As the screenshot is created, a thumbnail appears on the corner of the screen.
Tap on that thumbnail and this will open the Markup tool. You can draw, highlight, add shapes, signatures, and text boxes to the screenshot.
You'll also have the option to rotate or crop the image, share the screenshot via mail, message, or add them to photos.
4. How to Save Screenshots on Mac
In Mojave, you can use apps like Grab to save your screenshots elsewhere. The screenshot images will be saved in the Documents folder with Untitled Name.
As you click on the Command + Shift + 5 keys, open the Save to section and find the location where the images are saved. You can easily customize the location in any of the Mac version.
The default format for the screenshot is PNG. To save the image in a different format, you can open the screenshot in a different application. You can also choose the Thumbnail or Options button to change the location of the screenshot. The location can be changed in settings from desktop, documents, or Clipboard.
Part 4 How to Recover Lost Screenshots
Sometimes, even though the screenshots are saved, there is a possibility that they still get lost. But luckily, you still have a reliable method to get them back, if you save the screenshots on your PC, hard drive, SD card, and so on. The method is taking advantage of Recoverit Photo Recovery.
Once you know how to take a screenshot in Mac, you can take as many screenshots as you want. But unfortunately, sometimes, we can also go through the accidental deletion, formatting, and system crash that results in data loss. But luckily, we can recover the photos easily with Recoverit Photo Recovery.
This tool is specially designed to take care of the media files that you accidentally lose. Whether it is photos, videos, or audio files, you can easily recover the screenshots with Recoverit.
How to Recover Screenshots on Windows and Mac
People usually swipe the saved screenshot and fall into despair. You can download Recoverit Photo Recovery to get the screenshots back from your computer, tablet, an Android phone with an SD card, etc.
Select a location
You can choose the location where you lost your data. If you don't know the exact location, then choose the 'I can't find my partition' option and scan the disk.
Scan the hard drive
The software will scan the selected hard drive all around to search for all your lost or deleted screenshots. Once the scan is complete, all the photos that were recently deleted will be displayed on the screen.
Preview and recover photos
Finally, you can have a preview of the files you want to recover, select the screenshots you want, and click on the Recover option to get them back.
Hopefully, now you've learned how to get a screenshot on Mac and Windows both. It is easy to keep a track of the screenshots. And if you ever lost some important screenshots, then Recoverit Photo Recovery tool is always here for your help.
Further, read and get the exact guide on recovering pictures from Photo Booth.
Solve Media File Problems
Recover & Repair Photos
Recover & Repair Videos
Recover & Repair Audio
Recover & Repair Cameras
macOS has excellent in-built screenshot support. If you are in a hurry, let me tell you straight up that to take a screenshot on your Mac, press together Command + Shift + 3. However, if your job demands to take screenshots frequently, learn more options to become super productive at this.
Note: The keyboard shortcuts to do screenshots work the same way on MacBook Pro, Macbook Air, iMac, Mac Mini, or any other Mac.
4 Keyboard Shortcuts to Take Screenshots on Mac
Capture the Full Screen
To take a screenshot of the full Mac screen, including the Dock, top menu bar and everything else: Press together Command + Shift + 3.
Capture Selected Portion of Screen
To take a screenshot of a selected portion: Press together Command + Shift + 4. You may leave the keys when you see the crosshair. Next, drag it to select a portion of the screen. When you are done with the selection, release the mouse key or trackpad touch. The Mac captures a screenshot and saves it.
Pro Tip: Suppose you make a selection of the wrong portion. You do not press the esc button and restart. Press and hold the Space bar to move the selection. Press and hold Shift to change the selection area only in one direction. And, press the Option key to increase or decrease the sides in proportion. Try it! You will love these.
Capture Any Open Window
To capture only an open window on Mac: Press together Command + Shift + 4. Leave the keys when you get the selection cursor.
Now, press the Space bar once.
Next, take the camera icon on any open window and click. Using this, you can even do a screenshot of just the Dock or the menu bar and so on. These screenshot files have a nice grey shading on their edges that look great.
Using Screenshot Tools
One button for all: Can not remember all the above keys? Just remember one set, and then you can use the tools you see to take a screenshot or even screen recording on Mac running macOS Mojave or later. For this, press together Command + Shift + 5.
After you take a screenshot using any method, you might see its thumbnail in the lower right corner. It will automatically disappear after a few seconds and get saved. Or, you may also click on it to make edits like crop, markup, share, etc.
How to Use Preview App to Take a Screenshot on Mac
Use Launchpad or go to Finder → Applications and open the Preview app.
Click on File from the top menu bar.
Choose Take Screenshot and then select one of the options.
Note: Suppose you want to take a screenshot of Chrome using Preview. For this, open the Preview app from the Dock or Launchpad. Then you will see the menu for Preview in the top bar. Do not click on the Chrome window. If you click on it or any other app window, its menu will take the place on the top bar.
How to Save Screenshots Directly to the Clipboard on Mac
When you do a screenshot, it is saved to the desktop or place decided by you. However, there is an additional throwaway method to grab a screenshot and get it copied automatically to the clipboard. This won’t save the actual file. You can paste the screenshot in apps like Notes, Word, Google Docs, etc. or even paste it on your other Apple devices courtesy of Universal Clipboard.
For this, press and hold the Controlkey when you take a screenshot using the above methods. For example,
To take a full-screen grab and have it copied to the clipboard: Command + Shift + Control + 3.
To take a screenshot of a selected portion and have it copied to the clipboard: Command + Shift + Control + 4.
You can also use Command + Shift + 5, then press the Control button, and take the screenshot.
How to Take a Screenshot on MacBook Pro Using Touch Bar
You can also print screenshots using the TouchBar on MacBook. But first, you need to add the screenshot button to it. For this:
Click on the Apple logo → System Preferences.
Next, click on Extensions → Touch Bar.
Click on Customize Control Strip → drag the Screenshot icon down to the TouchBar. When you see the icon on the TouchBar, you may drag it left or right at the desired position. Finally, click on Done.
Now onwards, tap on the Camera icon in the TouchBar to open the screenshot tools and take a screen capture.
Pro Tip: Wondered how to take the screenshot of the TouchBar itself? Press Command + Shift + 6
How to Take a Screenshot of Login Screen on Mac
Just like any other full screenshot! That is, after you power on your Mac, or are at any login window, or locked user authentication screen, press Command + Shift + 3 to take a screenshot.
This method works if you are running OS X 10.10 (Yosemite, released in 2014) and above.
Note: The screenshot file starts with LWScreenshot if it is of the main login screen (after you just power on or log out of the current user). Rest other login screenshots have the normal file name (Screen Shot Year-Month-Date and Time)
Where to Find Screenshots on Mac?
By default, screenshots are saved on desktop. You will find all of them here.
Pro Tips:
If you have several screenshots, select them all, right-click and then choose New Folder with Selection.
You can also drag the screenshot thumbnail to any folder.
How to Change Default Location of Saved Screenshots on Mac
Press Command + Shift + 5.
Click on Options.
From under Save to, choose a predefined location. Or click on Other Location.
All future screenshots will save on the selected location. This setting will stay in effect even if you restart the Mac.
How to Change Keyboard Shortcuts to Take Screenshots on Mac
The default keys are great. However, you may modify them to any key you like. For this:
How Do I Screenshot On My Macbook Pro Air
Click on the Apple logo from the Menu bar and choose System Preferences.
Now, click on Keyboard → Shortcuts.
Click on Screenshots.
Select a shortcut and then press the enter key.
Now, press the desired new key or multiple keys combination.
How to Print Screen on Mac Using Windows Keyboard
4 Top Tips To Fix Screenshot On Mac Not Working - EaseUS
If you use a Windows keyboard with Mac, the steps to take a screenshot remains the same. However, you have to use Windows keyboard equivalents.
Mac Key
Windows Key
Control
Ctrl
Option
Alt
Command
Windows
Delete
Backspace
Return
Enter
So, to take a full screenshot on Mac using Windows Keyboard, press: Windows + Shift + 3.
By default, the screenshots on Mac are taken in .PNG format. But, you can change it to JPG (or even TIFF/ PDF/ GIF). The process involves using the Terminal. But it is straightforward. We have an easy guide that tells you how to do this.
How to Disable Screenshot Thumbnail Preview on Mac
When you take a screenshot on modern Macs, you see its thumbnail for a few seconds. You can click on it to edit it or share it via AirDrop, Mail, Messages, etc. But, if you do not fancy this and think of it as an unnecessary intrusion, here is how to turn it off.
Press Command + Shift + 5.
Click on Options.
Under Options, click on Show Floating Thumbnail to unselect it.
Signing off…
This is how you can master screenshots on Mac. I hope this guide is helpful. If you have any further related questions, feel free to ask in the comments section below.
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I have been an Apple user for over seven years now. At iGeeksBlog, I love creating how-tos and troubleshooting guides that help people do more with their iPhone, iPad, Mac, AirPods, and Apple Watch. In my free time, I like to watch stand up comedy videos, tech documentaries, news debates, and political speeches.
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