Best screen capturing app
Also, the Touch Bar tool lets you pick the kind of screenshot you want to take, as well as where you save them to. Here's how to take screenshots with the MacBook Pro Touch Bar. Click the Apple. Note that if you have a MacBook Pro with Touch Bar, these options appear on the OLED strip. Another Touch Bar exclusive is taking a screenshot of the Touch Bar display, which can be done. If you have bought new Mac or switched over to Mac in 2020, here is my beginners guide for new Apple fans on How to take a screenshot (print screen) on a Mac & MacBook Pro. Specially useful, if you are looking for the Print Screen button present on most of the standard keyboards designed for Windows OS.
Screenshots have become so ubiquitous nowadays that we don't give them too much thought anymore. Yet every day we use them to show, explain, and communicate. Whether it's sending an image of a software bug to customer support, a quick how-to GIF to a colleague, or a heartfelt joke a loved one, screenshots help us enrich and liven up our daily communication patterns.
Naturally, for creating and editing screenshots, Windows PC has its widely respected Snipping Tool. In fact, if you've recently switched your PC for Mac, at some point you're guaranteed to wonder where and what is Snipping Tool for Mac.
Rest assured, you're not left without screenshots forever. A snipping tool for Mac does exist. Moreover, just like on Windows, it's built right into the operating system — which is the answer to the common question of where to download snipping tool for Mac. In addition, there are plenty of third-party snipping tools out there that considerably expand on the functionality of the pre-installed option.
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What is the best Snipping tool for Mac?
Mac OS snipping tool is so baked into the operating system that it doesn't even have a name. It just … well, works, mirroring the Snipping Tool you've grown accustomed to on Windows almost to a T.
Plus, there's not just one snipping tool on Mac — there are dozens. Below, we'll compare the default screenshot snipping tool Mac offers to its Windows alternative, and introduce third-party tools like CleanShot, Dropshare, and Capto as well.
How to use Snipping tool on macOS
What is the shortcut key for Snipping Tool? The shortest answer to 'How to snip on Mac?' is to press ⇧⌘5. The shortcut calls up a small menu in the lower part of the screen with lots of options to choose from.
This menu is new to Mac, as it first appeared in macOS Mojave in 2018. Before then, Mac users were limited to either using ⇧⌘3 to take a screenshot of the whole screen or ⇧⌘4 to select an area (these shortcuts still work the same). If you're using one of the macOS versions before Mojave, make sure to update to the latest macOS available to make full use of the snipping tool on Mac.
So the menu for the Mac OS snipping tool features the following options:
- Capture Entire Screen,
- Capture Selected Window,
- Caption Selected Portion (area),
- Record Entire Screen,
- and Record Selected Portion (area).
Besides, there is also an Options dropdown, where you can change where to save the resulting image, set a timer, and choose whether to show the mouse pointer.
BTW, did you know that you can use Mac Snipping tool also to taking screenshots of the Touch Bar itself?
- To save a screenshot of Touch Bar as a file on your desktop press ⇧⌘6
- To copy what you see on Touch Bar to your clipboard press ⌃⇧⌘6
You can customize your keyboard shortcuts by going to System Preferences > Keyboard > Shortcuts > Screen Shots
Right away you can see how similar the functionality of a snipping tool on Mac is to its Windows counterpart. Let's compare screenshot capabilities side by side:
- Full screen: Mac and Windows
- Single app window: Mac and Windows
- Area: Mac and Windows
- Freeform: Windows only
- Video: Mac only
- Delay: 5 or 10 seconds on Mac, 1 to 5 seconds on Windows
- Editing: full toolkit on Mac, limited on Windows
Diving into details, you might notice that the snipping tool on Mac doesn't allow for a freeform capture. Likewise, its Windows alternative can't record video and only offers limited annotation options. So naturally, this default screenshot grabber on Mac would be your go-to in most cases. However, if you need to be able to capture screenshots with a freehand selection or you're just eager to use something more powerful, third-party Mac apps have a lot to offer.
Snipping tool alternatives
Download apps that allow to customize and enjoy screenshotting on Mac – better than default programs.
Snipping tool to capture your screen without distractions
While Mac's default snipping tool can create basic screenshots, a professional utility like CleanShot seamlessly enhances its functionality. It allows you to hide all desktop icons to capture your screen with no distractions, change the wallpaper, preview screenshots before you save them, copy the resulting image or video into your clipboard, annotate images with ease, and much more.
To give yourself an example of what CleanShot is truly capable of, choose Capture Area within the app (notice how desktop icons disappear), drag your mouse to make a screenshot, and click the pen icon to edit the result before it gets saved.
To be able to always capture your screen without all the desktop icons getting in your way, set and use custom hotkeys in the Preferences menu of the CleanShot app. Wondershare reviews mac. And if you wonder what's the most effective way to share your screenshot with others, you need to know about one more app.
Share screenshots with others instantly
Unlike the default snipping tool on Mac, we have a tool approaches the problem of screenshots as a sharing problem first and foremost.
Dropshare is a Mac snipping tool alternative that allows you to choose between capturing a specific area, capturing and editing, and recording an area or full screen. After you done, all URLs would be saved automatically and ready to share with your team. Every time you take a screenshot, Dropshare swiftly uploads it to the cloud and gives you a short link to share with others. It's also robust in its uploading options, offering you a choice between 10 GB of its own storage or any of the cloud providers you already use, such as Dropbox, Google Drive, Rackspace, Amazon S3, etc.
However, if you want to make 100% freehand selections or take webpage screenshots of any length, you need to combine Dropshare with another brilliant utility.
How to capture freehand region on a Mac
Compared to other tools discussed above, Capto is in a league of its own and virtually redefines how to snip on Mac. It lets you capture full screen, circle area, rectangle area, freeform area, single app window, menus, webpages, and more. Besides, it features a robust editor to help you modify the results.
To create screenshots of any type, simply choose Freehand and draw out the shape.
Similarly, the options for instantly taking seamless screenshots of long webpages are available under the Web tab, where you can choose to use a built-in browser to search for the website or open the current URL.
This feature completely eliminates the need for the old-school way of taking screenshots as long as your display allows and then somehow stitching them all together by hand.
Does Mac have a snipping tool for me?
Yes, and lots! As you can see, your Mac has a wide array of snipping tools to cover every need possible. And hopefully, by reading this far, you've come a long way from wondering whether 'Mac has snipping tools at all' to 'how to use snipping tool for Mac' to 'omg, which snipping tool do I choose.'
Your choice in using a specific snipping tool should correlate to your needs. It's probably a good idea to disregard the default Mac OS snipping tool and instead use CleanShot right away, as it features more functionality and much cleaner experience. But if communication is key, turn to Dropshare, which enables you to stay in the loop in a super-productive and visual way. And finally no screenshot functionality is too complicated for Capto, which brings all custom screenshot needs under one roof.
Best of all, you can try and download all these apps, and decide which one you like the most for free because all of them are available through Setapp, a platform for over 150 best-in-class Mac apps for any job. Taking screenshots with unique apps from Setapp will bring you the most beautiful results of the highest quality in no time. Screenshot away!
Meantime, prepare for all the awesome things you can do with Setapp.
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If you have bought new Mac or switched over to Mac in 2020, here is my beginners guide for new Apple fans on How to take a screenshot (print screen) on a Mac & MacBook Pro. Specially useful, if you are looking for the Print Screen button present on most of the standard keyboards designed for Windows OS.
If you look at any Laptop or Desktop with windows OS, you will always find a simple 'Print screen' button which allows to take a screenshot directly in combination to the Function key.
However when it comes to Mac or MacBook Pro, the PrintScreen button is simply missing!
Of-course you can take a full or partial screenshot on Mac, but with few combination of keys together. unfortunately its not intuitive on Mac as using a simple Print Screen button in Windows and slightly hard to memorize!
So I have prepared text guide as well as a info-graphics, which you can simply print and paste on your pin board for quick reference.
On Mac, you have an option to capture your entire screen or just a selected portion of it (partial screen).
Also you have an option to automatically save the screenshot to your desktop or to the clipboard.
How to Take Screenshots (Print Screen) on Mac or Macbook Pro?
Full Screen Shot — Hold down Command ⌘ + shift + 3 simultaneously
Partial Screen Shot — Hold down Command ⌘ + shift + 4 simultaneously
So while you wish to share your moments of your favorite videos, achievement of games, discussions on social networks like Twitter or Facebook, any bugs you want to report to Apple support, OR almost anything and everything you see on your screen, this step-by-step guide will help you. Also do refer to Info-graphics which will help you for quick print and reference.
Note : All methods prescribed in this article for taking a screenshot will work with OS Sierra, OS X El Capitan, OS X Yosemite, and most older versions of the modern Mac operating system.
Sn | INDEX – How to take screenshot on Mac? | |
1 | How to take a screenshot of your entire screen? | Jump to Topic |
2 | How do I take a partial screenshot? | Jump to Topic |
3 | How to take a screenshot of a window? | Jump to Topic |
4 | How to take a screenshot of a menu? | Jump to Topic |
5 | How do I take a screenshot of the Touch Bar (MacBook Pro)? | Jump to Topic |
6 | How can I take a screenshot using Preview? | Jump to Topic |
7 | Where are my Screenshots stored? | Jump to Topic |
8 | How can I change screenshot file format to JPG or TIFF or GIF or PDF? | Jump to Topic |
9 | How to copy the screenshot directly to clipboard instead of desktop save? | Jump to Topic |
10 | How to paste image from clipboard into a document or something? | Jump to Topic |
11 | How to take screenshots using the command line ('Terminal')? | Jump to Topic |
12 | How to take screenshots in MacOS Mojave? How to Change Mojave's Default Screenshot Location? | Jump to Topic |
13 | How to edit screenshots? | Jump to Topic |
14 | How to Customize Mac Screenshot Shortcuts? Interesting topic Hotkey! | Jump to Topic |
15 | How to Fix Screenshot on Mac Not Working Error? | Jump to Topic |
16 | How to transfer the screenshot from Mac to iPhone? | Jump to Topic |
1) How to take a screenshot of your entire screen?
1)Hold down Command ⌘ + shift + 3 simultaneously
2) You will hear a camera click sound.
Result : Mac will capture the entire screen and save it as a .png file on your desktop.
Note : [ File on Desktop will be named like 'Screen shot 2020-08-29 at 08.45.00 AM.png' ]
Tip : This process also works on MacBook Air
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2) How do I take a partial screenshot?
You can take screenshot of selected portion of your screen using following key combination –
1) Hold down Command ⌘ + shift + 4 simultaneously
2) Now your mouse pointer will change to a crosshair (+)
3) Move the crosshair (+) using the mouse or tackpad to the location where you want to start the screenshot, then drag to draw a rectangle which specifies 'what to capture'
– The crosshairs provide you a precise pixel count during dragging (see the image snap shot below), this helps you selecting a specific image size (or even to measure).
– You can hold down Option to change the lock point to the center of the area.
– Or you can hold down Shift to lock all sides but the one in the direction you're currently moving.
4) After you select desired area, simply, release your mouse or trackpad button to hear a camera click sound.
Note : [ If you wish to cancel the operation, press the Esc (Escape) key before you release the button. ]
5) The screenshot will be saved to your desktop.
Note : [ File on Desktop will be named like 'Screen shot 2020-08-29 at 08.45.00 AM.png' ]
Tip : This process also works on MacBook Air
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3) How to take a screenshot of a window?
1)Hold down Command ⌘ + shift + 4
2) Now your mouse pointer will change to a crosshair (+)
3) Press the Spacebarand the pointer changes to a Camera.
4) Move the camera over a window to highlight it. The window will tint blue to show your selection.
5) Now click your mouse or trackpad. You will get a confirmation camera click sound.
Note : [ If you wish to cancel the operation, press the Esc (Escape) key before you release the button. ]
6) The screenshot will be saved to your desktop.
Note : [ File on Desktop will be named like 'Screen shot 2020-08-29 at 08.45.00 AM.png' ]
Important note :Some apps, especially those designed to play copy-protected videos such as DVD Player, might not let you take screenshots of their windows.
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4) How to take a screenshot of a menu?
1) Click the menu to reveal its contents.
2)Hold down Command ⌘ + shift + 4
3) Now your mouse pointer will change to a crosshair (+)
4) Drag to select the menu.
5) Release your mouse or trackpad button.
Note : [ If you wish to cancel the operation, press the Esc (Escape) key before you release the button. ]
6) The screenshot will be saved to your desktop.
Note : [ File on Desktop will be named like 'Screen shot 2020-08-29 at 08.45.00 AM.png' ]
These steps capture the contents of a menu, but not its title:
1) Click the menu to reveal its contents.
2)Hold down Command ⌘ + shift + 4
3) Now your mouse pointer will change to a crosshair (+)
4) Press the Space bar. The pointer changes to a camera.
5) Move the camera over the menu to highlight it.
6) Click your mouse or trackpad.
Note : [ If you wish to cancel the operation, press the Esc (Escape) key before you release the button. ]
7) The screenshot will be saved to your desktop.
Note : [ File on Desktop will be named like 'Screen shot 2020-08-29 at 08.45.00 AM.png' ]
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5) How do I take a screenshot of the Touch Bar (MacBook Pro)?
If you have a Mac with a Touch Bar and macOS Sierra 10.12.2 or later then use the following key combination –
1) Hold down Command ⌘ + shift + 6
2) Your Mac captures the entire Touch Bar and saves it as a file on the desktop.
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6) How can I take a screenshot using Preview?
In case you don't remember keyboard shortcuts, then you also have an option of taking a screenshot on Mac using Preview.
Just for information, Preview is built-in image and PDF viewer in the macOS. You can view and print images and PDF files.
See the info-graphics below showing how to use Preview for taking a full or partial or window screenshot.
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7) Where are my Screenshots stored?
All your Screenshots are by default saved on the desktop in Mac OS X v10.6 and later as .png image format files.
The image file will be names as 'Screen Shot date at time.png.'
as an example 'Screen shot 2020-08-29 at 08.45.00 AM.png'
So you can look at the screenshot file on your desktop or alternatively from the Finder.
– Simply Double click on the screenshot file to open and share it with Preview.
– Right click the file and choose Open With
– or drag and drop the file, to open and share it with another app.
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8) How can I change screenshot file format to JPG or TIFF or GIF or PDF?
Yes, you can change the default file format PNG to other formats such as JPG, TIFF or GIF or PDF.
Well by default Mac uses PNG format to store the file on desktop, however sometimes you wish to change this default for various reasons.
As an example say you are using a MacBook Pro Retina or some other 4K monitor, the screenshots can be as large as 5 to 8 MB. And may cases if you wish to send it over email or upload to some government websites etc, you need lighter file sizes and wish to get the screenshots as JPG rather than PNG.
Tip : [ Go for JPG since that is a common type and will output smaller image size than default PNG. ]
So there are TWO options to do this.
Option 1 – Simple to execute
With Preview Option which I have explained earlier ( Click to jump there ) you get an option to save your screenshots in JPG, TIFF, PDF, and other file formats.
Option 2 – Difficult to execute, but changes image file format default permanently on Mac
You can change the default PNG format using a simple terminal command.
Step by Step guide
1) To find the Terminal, Go to Applications -> Utilities. Or use search to find 'Terminal'.
2) copy/paste following command inside the terminal window and press enter (return)
defaults write com.apple.screencapture type jpg
Tip : If your Mac asks for user password, just go ahead and enter it.
3) Restart the system to get the changes applied.
3) Alternatively – In case you don't want to reboot the system, use following command in Terminal window and press enter (return).
killall SystemUIServer
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4) You are done. Now all the further screen captures (print screen) will be saved to JPG format.
Note : In case you wish to change the image file format again, repeat steps above by changing the file format name in command line. as an example defaults write com.apple.screencapture type PNG
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9) How to copy the screenshot directly to clipboard instead of desktop save?
Sometimes you want to directly copy the screenshot directly to other application, so to avoid one step of picking up file from desktop, you have an option to directly copy the screenshot to your clipboard.
1) Hold down Cotrol key together with any of the combinations given above.
For an example,
Use Control + Command ⌘ + shift + 3
Instead of
Command ⌘ + shift + 3
2) Now the screenshot will be directly copied to the clipboard (instead of saving it as a desktop file).
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10) How to paste image from clipboard into a document or something?
Hold down Command ⌘ Button + V
This is similar to the Windows paste option using Control + V, here on Mac too, Command + V, pastes the screenshot on the clipboard directly into a document or image you are currently editing.
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11) How to take screenshots using the command line ('Terminal')?
1) To find the Terminal, Go to Applications -> Utilities. Or use search to find 'Terminal'.
2) copy/paste following command inside the terminal window and press enter (return)
First command will provide you screen capture
man screencapture
OR if you wish to introduce delay in screen capture, then use below command
screencapture -T 10 ~/Desktop/screenshot.png
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12) How to take screenshots in MacOS Mojave?
with the MacOS Mojave update. (Also get to know the new Stacks and dark mode.) you can use the new screenshot tool and keyboard shortcut.
Command ⌘ + shift + 5
Press Command ⌘ + shift + 5 which will bring up a small panel at the bottom of your display with screen capture options as shown in the above image. You can simply drag this screenshot panel at suitable location on the screen.
You will get Screenshot buttons, Video recording buttons, and an Option button with sub-options as given below –
- Screenshot Options
- Capture the entire screen,
- A window or
- A selection of your screen
- Video-recording buttons
- Record your entire screen or
- A selection of it
- Options Button
- Save your screenshot to
- Desktop,
- Documents,
- Clipboard,
- Mail,
- Messages or
- Preview
- Set a 5-10-second delay
- Save your screenshot to
On the left of this control panel you will get an X button to close the panel, or alternatively just hit the Escape key to exit out from Screenshot menu.
From the options button you can choose location to save your screenshot – as Desktop, Documents, Clipboard, Mail, Messages or Preview, as well as set a 5-10-second delay when you want to capture a disappearing tool-tip or menu.
Once you capture the screenshot, you get a floating thumbnail at the bottom, in case needed you can switch-off this preview. Take a screenshot on mac computer. If you Click this Floating Thumbnail, you will get a Markup View preview window with all of the markup tools. So you can annotate screenshots without needing to open Preview or delete it simply.
Tip: you can choose to show your mouse pointer in a screenshot or video.
How to Change Mojave's Default Screenshot Location?
See image above for reference
Go to 'Options' button >> Change saving location using the toggle near the top of choices (Desktop / Documents / Mail / Messages / QuickTime Player / Other Location …)
Use above menu to change the place where you wish to save your screenshots, as an example click 'Other Location' from that list, to get open/save dialog box to select where you want future screenshots to be saved.
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13) How to edit screenshots?
Office 2016 mac license. You can open the screenshots with Preview, Safari, and other apps and then view them or edit too.
Step-by-step Guide to edit an image on Preview
1) Double click to open a screenshot with Preview.
2) Rotate :
Rotate button is indicated by a curved arrow and is located at the upper right part of the window.
You can Click the 'Rotate' button to rotate the screenshot orientation 90 degrees.
3) Adjust Size:
'Tools' is located in the top menu bar and will open a box with options to adjust the width, height or resolution.
Open the 'Tools' menu and select 'Adjust Size'.
4) Crop:
Click the 'Select' tool located in the upper toolbar, click and drag to select the area of the image that you wish to crop. Then select 'Crop' from the 'Tools' menu in the top menu bar.
5) Adjust Color:
Open 'Tools' and select 'Adjust Color'. A new pane will appear with sliders to adjust the exposure, contrast, highlights, shadows, saturation, temperature, tint, or sharpness.
6) Annotation [pen tool, shapes, or text insert]
Annotation tools button is located in the upper right corner of the window. This gives you access to annotation tools, such as a pen tool, shapes, or text insert.
7) Save the edited screenshot:
Open the 'File' menu and select 'Save As' to save your changes. You will be prompted to name the screenshot and browse for a save location. Clicking 'Save' will confirm your changes.
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14) How to Customize Mac Screenshot Shortcuts? Hotkey!
I really get annoyed to press so many keys to get one screenshot! It is the most stupid thing to cross fingers to reach so many keys!! So thought on defining hot keys on mac which I like or feel more convenient for daily operations.
So here I suggest you to use the Mac's excellent keyboard hotkey mapping function to create your own screenshot shortcuts.
Step-by-step guide to customize screenshot keys on Mac
1) Go to System Preferences > Keyboard > Shortcuts.
2) You will see list on the left hand side of screen (see image snap below), from the list select Screen Shots
3) Now you will see the Mac's screenshot options on right hand side of window (see image snap below) with their default keyboard shortcut combinations.
4) Select the screenshot command you want to modify and double click and press new combination as desired.
5) You are done 🙂 Close the System Preferences window and carry on with your screenshots!
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15) How to Fix Screenshot on Mac Not Working Error?
New Mac Pro 2018
15.1 — Restart your Mac
Press the Power button (or press 'Control + Eject') and, when a dialog box appears, click the Restart button.
Choose the 'Apple key' and then click 'Restart'.
Press 'Control + Command + Eject' (or 'Control + Command + Power' button)
15.2 — Check the screenshot shortcuts
Go to 'System Preferences' > 'Keyboard & Mouse' > 'Keyboard Shortcuts' > check whether the shortcuts are activated or not under Screen Shots, and also check that they have not been assigned to something else.
15.3 — Use Grab to take a screenshot on Mac
Try using the pre-installed Grab on Mac to take a screenshot of a partial section of the screen, an individual window, or the entire screen.
Go to 'Applications' > 'Utilities' > find and open 'Grab' > 'Capture' > choose to take a specific screenshot
15.4 — Take a screenshot using Preview – This topic is already covered previously Jump to Topic
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16) How to transfer the screenshot from Mac to iPhone?
Once you take a screenshot, you can sync these new images to yout iPhone.
Best and easiest way is to use AirDrop to transfer screenshot from Mac to iPhone or vice versa.
1) Turn on AirDrop,
2) Turn on Bluetooth Wi-Fi connection on both iPhone and Mac,
3) Go to the Photos application on Mac, and then choose to share the specific screenshot with iPhone via AirDrop.
Read Apple official guide on How to use Airdrop?
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To write this article, I have taken an extensive reference from Apple official website ( Source)