Take a screenshot on a mac: Fastest Method To Do It

The easiest and fastest way to print screen on Mac. Capture screenshots and Mac screens in a few simple steps: here’s how

Print Screen Mac: how to make screenshots

I receive many requests every day, here I am pleased with all Teknologya readers with a simple and fast way to print screen on any Mac computer.

In a few simple steps you can capture screenshots and screenshots on any Mac by pressing a combination of keys on the keyboard.

In fact, to make print screens on Mac, it is not necessary to download any additional programs.

The operating system of Apple already integrates an excellent tool that allows to capture screens (whole or partial) on Mac and then to make print screens.

But let’s not waste time and go straight to the point.

The best way to do print screen on Mac – ONLY FOR MOJAVE

If you’ve already upgraded your Mac to the latest version of the operating system, press Shift-Command (⌘) -5 on the keyboard to view all the controls necessary to capture snapshots and record screenshots.

By pressing these keys together, you will open the program that allows you to do print screen on Mac and you can choose whether to acquire:

the whole screen
a window
a selection
or you can even record a screen movie

But let’s go into more detail.

Make print screens of the entire screen on Mac

If you want to capture the whole screen of your Mac:

Click on the on-screen controls. The pointer changes into a camera
Click on each screen to capture it or click on Acquire in On-Screen Controls
Use the thumbnail to edit, share, save or perform other actions

Make a single window print screen on Mac

If instead you want to capture only a part of the screen, such as a window:

Click on the on-screen controls. The pointer changes into a camera
Click on a window to take a snapshot. To exclude the shadow of the window from the snapshot, hold down the Option key (⌥) while clicking
Use the thumbnail to edit, share, save or perform other actions

Make print screens of a screen selection on Mac

Click on the on-screen controls
Drag to select the area of the screen to be scanned. To move the entire selection, drag it from the inside
Click Capture in on-screen controls
Use the thumbnail to edit, share, save or perform other actions

Edit, share and save a screen captured on Mac

After taking a snapshot (so after making a print screen), you’ll briefly display a thumbnail in the lower right corner of the screen.

If you do not do anything or scroll the thumbnail to the right, the snapshot is automatically saved.

If you click on the thumbnail, you can open the snapshot and then edit it using the editing tools in the toolbar. Alternatively you can share it on the main social networks or wherever you prefer.

You can also drag the thumbnail to move the snapshot to another location, such as in a document, an email, a Finder window, or the Trash.

If you click on a snapshot while holding down the Ctrl key you can see more options. For example, you can change where you want to save the snapshot, open the snapshot in an app, or delete the snapshot without saving it.

Change the Mac print screen settings

Click Options in the on-screen controls to change these settings:

Save in: Choose where to save snapshots automatically, such as Desk, Documents, or Clipboard.
Timer: choose when to take the snapshot (immediately, 5 seconds or 10 seconds after clicking for capture).
Show floating thumbnail: Choose whether to display the thumbnail.
Remember last selection: choose whether to make predefined the selections you made the last time you used this tool.
Show mouse pointer: Choose whether to show the mouse pointer in the snapshot.

The best way to do print screen on Mac – FOR MOJAVE AND PREVIOUS VERSIONS OF THE OPERATING SYSTEM

Capture the entire screen

Press Shift-Command-3: the snapshot is saved on the desktop as a .png file.

Acquire a window

Press Shift-Command-4
Press the space bar. The pointer changes into a camera
Click on a window to take a snapshot
To exclude the shadow of the window from the snapshot, hold down the Option key (⌥) while clicking
The snapshot is saved on the desktop as a .png file

Acquire a selection of the screen

Press Shift-Command-4
Drag to select the area of the screen to be scanned. To move the entire selection, drag it while holding the space bar
After releasing the mouse or trackpad button, the snapshot is saved to the desktop as a .png file

Acquire the Touch Bar

If you have a Mac with Touch Bar and macOS Sierra 10.12.2 or later, press Shift-Command-6 to capture the items currently shown on the Touch Bar. The snapshot is saved to your desktop as a .png file.

You can also customize the Control Strip area in the Touch Bar to include a Snapshot button.

More information on print screens for Mac

Before closing the article, here are some other additional information that will surely come in handy:

When you save automatically the instant, the Mac automatically calls it “Snapshot date to now.png”
To cancel capturing a snapshot, press the Esc key before clicking to capture
To save the snapshot to the clipboard instead of the desktop, you can hold down the Ctrl key as you click to capture. Or use the thumbnail or Options to change the save location
You can open snapshots with Preview, Safari, and other apps where you can edit or view images. Preview allows you to export the snapshot to a different format, such as JPEG, PDF or TIFF
Some apps, such as DVD Player, may not allow you to take snapshots of their windows
The snapshot controls in MacOS Mojave are the same as the Screen Snapshot app, which is located in the Utilities folder, in the Applications folder. This replaces the Snapshot app of previous versions of macOS.