The Macintosh operating system has always made it easy to capture a screen shot. A screen shot is an image of your computer desktop or an active window. Here's a summary of all the keyboard shortcuts you can use to capture your screen in Mac OS X. Entire screen: To capture the entire screen, press Command-Shift-3. If you go to System Preferences and under Keyboard you can set up the shortcut for screenshot keys however you want. The defaults will be the same as on a Mac keyboard except the Command (apple) key will be the Windows key. So normal full screen screenshot would be Windows+Shift+3. How to Disable Screenshot Thumbnail Preview; 4 Keyboard Shortcuts to Take Screenshots on Mac. Capture the Full Screen; Capture Selected Portion of Screen; Capture Any Open Window; Using Screenshot Tools; Capture the Full Screen. To take a screenshot of the full Mac screen, including the Dock, top menu bar and everything else: Press together.
There may be times when you need to take a screenshot on your Mac. You might have a software bug to report, an important pop-up, threaded web conversations, or even just a payment receipt you need for your records.
There are several ways to take a screenshot on a Mac computer running OS X or MacOS operating systems. You can
- Take a screenshot on Mac with Grab Utility.
- Use keyboard shortcuts to grab a screenshot.
- Use third-party applications to take your screenshot.
Keep in mind, you can also record your screen instead of taking a picture by using the QuickTime application.
How to take a screenshot on Mac with Grab Utility
The most common way to take a screenshot on a Mac is by using the built-in Grab application. This application can be found within your Utility folder located inside Finder and Launchpad.
- Click on Finder or Launchpad to locate the Utility folder.
- Click on Finder.
- Select Applications from the sidebar.
- Locate and double-click the Utilities folder to open it.
- Click on Launchpad and then click again on the Utilitiesbubble to open it.
- Locate the Grab icon inside the Utility folder/bubble and launch the application.
Using the grab application is easy. There is no “windowed” user interface for this application. It is completely controlled from the MacOS or OS X menu bar and/or keyboard shortcuts.
Using the grab application, you can choose four different types of screenshots.
- Selection: This option allows you to highlight the desired area you want to capture. Select Selection or press Shift+Command+A on your keyboard. Click and drag the highlighted box to make your selection.
- Window: The Window option allows you to choose a specific window to capture. Select Window or press Shift+Command+W. Click on the desired window.
- Screen: Choosing the Screen selection lets you to capture the whole screen. Select Screen or press Command+Z. Click anywhere on the screen.
- Timed Screen: The Timed Screen choice captures the whole screen on a ten-second delay. Select Timed Screen or press Shift+Command+Z. Click anywhere on the screen to start the timer.
Choose the option that works best for your needs. Once you have taken the screenshot, a pop-up will appear to show you a preview of your shot. When you close the preview, your Mac will prompt you to save your image. If you are happy with the results, label the image, select a save destination, and click on the Save button. Otherwise, click Don’t Save and try again.
Grab saves in .tiff
format automatically. If you need to convert the image into a friendlier format, you will have to do so with another application.
How to take a screenshot on a Mac using keyboard shortcuts
If you do not want to deal with launching the Grab application or converting your images from .tiff
to formats such as .png
or .jpeg
, then you are in luck. Mac has offered a way to take screenshots with keyboard shortcuts for decades now. This little-known feature is easy to use.
- Screen: Press Shift+Command+3 and a
.png
of the entire screen will automatically save to your desktop. - Selection: Press Shift+Command+4, click and drag curser to make your selection. Press Escape (esc) to cancel. A
.png
of your selection will be waiting on your desktop. - Window:Press Shift+Command+4 and the spacebar. Select desired window. Press Spacebar again to return back to selection mode or esc to cancel. A
.png
of the selected window will be saved to your desktop.
If you are using a PC keyboard, the following commands are as follows:
- Control is the Ctrl key.
- Option is the Alt key.
- The button with the Windows logo is the Command key.
Newer versions of Mac OS or OS X label the saved file as “Screen Shot” followed by the date and time. Older versions of Mac OS or OS X label the saved file as “Image” followed by a number, but only if more than one file labeled “Image” is located on your desktop.
How to take a screenshot on a Mac using third-party applications
There are numerous applications available for taking screenshots. You can scour the web or look inside the Mac App Store for any screenshot application that might appeal to you.
- Click on the App Store located on the MacOS and OS X dock to launch the application.
- Type the word screenshot in the search box and hit enter.
Be aware that many screenshot applications do cost money. Check to see the cost before you download. If you do decide to download an application that costs money and you are not happy with it, you must remove it promptly in order to receive a refund.
Keep in mind, there are countless applications to try and using them will likely differ from the MacOS and OS X native process.
Lightshot, Apowersoft Screenshot, and Cloud App, are the top-rated applications in this category.
How to record your screen on a Mac using the QuickTime application
Capture Screen On Mac Keyboard Hp Computer
To record your screen instead of taking a photo, simply launch the Quickytime.app from Finder or Launchpad and press Control+Command+N on your keyboard.
- When the black box appears labeled “Screen Recording,” click on the Record button.
- Follow the on-screen instructions to finish recording your screen.
If you are a diehard Apple fan and also own iOS devices, you can take screenshots with them by pressing the Home and Lock buttons at the same time. The image will be saved to your camera roll and you can access it through the Photos app.
Taking screenshot is one of the most common things we do on our computers. It is known to all that “PrtSc”, “Win + PrtSc” or “Fn + PrtSc” are the keys to screenshot in Windows and “Command + Shift + 3/4” are the keys to capture screen on Mac. But do you know how to print screen on Mac running Windows since there is no “PrtSc” key on the Mac keyboard? If not, you can read this article to learn this trick.
How to Print Screen Windows on Mac with BootCamp
Use Keyboard Shortcuts
In fact, it is very easy to make a screenshot on Mac in Boot Camp. If you are using an Apple keyboard with numeric keypad or Apple Pro keyboard, you can press “F14” to take a screenshot of the full screen and “Option + F14” to capture an active window. If you are using an Apple USB & Wireless keyboard or MacBook Pro keyboard, you need to press “Fn + Shift + F11” to capture full screen and “Fn + Shift + Option + F11” to snapshot an active window. The screenshot is copied to the clipboard. You can go to Paint, paste the screenshot on the blank board and save it as an image file. This is the default way to print screen on Mac running Windows.
Pros: No need to install additional programs.
Cons: It’s awkward to press so many keys at the same time.
Utilize Screenshot Tools
Since you are running Windows OS, you can use third-party screenshot tools for Windows to screenshot on your Mac. Free Screenshot Capture is a wise choice. It is a light-weight online screenshot application. With this tool, you are able to capture full screen, active window and any specific region on the screen. In addition to taking screenshot, it also allows you to annotate the screenshot instantly, share the screenshot to social networks directly or upload it to the free Cloud space provided by the developer.
Here are the detailed steps for you to print screen Windows on Mac with this tool.
- Navigate to screenshot.net, and click on the orange “Take Screenshot” button. Run Java applet to load this application.
- When the application pops up, hit on the camera icon or press the hotkey “Ctrl + Q”. Then your cursor will turn into a crosshair. Click, hold and drag your mouse to capture an area. And release your mouse to confirm the screenshot.
- You can annotate the screenshot with lines, arrows, text and so on. After that, click the diskette button to save it to your local file. Alternatively, you can also upload it to the Cloud so that you can get links to embed the screenshot in forums and blogs.
It’s worth mentioning that this application also has a pro version which has 10 screenshot modes, including scrolling window screenshot, menu screenshot, polygon screenshot, etc. Aside from that, this pro version also comes with a robust image editor, a screen recorder and a task scheduler which allows you to take automatic screenshots. You can download this version to enjoy all those benefits now.
Pros: You can take, annotate, save/share/upload the screenshot within one interface.
Cons: The online version needs network.
Make Use of Windows Built-in Screenshot Utility
Snipping Tool is another way to screenshot Windows on Mac. To access this utility, just go to “Start > Accessories > Snipping Tool”. It has four screenshot modes for you to choose: Free-form Snip, Rectangular Snip, Window Snip and Full-screen Snip. Apart from taking screenshot, this tool provides simple annotations as well.
Pros: You don’t need to install any programs on your Mac.
Cons: Editing options are limited.
Summary
This post gives you some feasible ways to print screen Windows on Mac. It is advisable that you adopt the second method of using Free Screenshot Capture. Because, other than taking screenshot, this program also provides many other useful functions like rich editing, direct sharing as well as uploading to free Cloud space.