How to Take a Screenshot on a Mac
The ability to take screenshots on your Mac can be valuable for several reasons. Screenshots capture a unique instant of time that can never be completely replicated. A screenshot can be instrumental in providing information to tech support if you experience an issue with your Mac or MacBook Pro. Some users like to take screenshots of interesting images they find while surfing the web. In this article, we are going to show you how to take a screenshot on a Mac and manipulate the images after they are taken.
How to take a screenshot on your Mac
| Type of screenshot | Command to use |
| Full screen: | Shift-Command-3 |
| Portion of the screen: | Shift-Command-4 and then select the area to be copied. |
| Open the Screenshot app: | Shift-Command-5 |
| Take a screenshot of a MacBook’s touch bar: | Shift-Command-6 |
| Take a screenshot without the keyboard: | Use the Screenshot app or the touch bar |
Let’s talk about how to screenshot on a Mac. It’s a relatively simple procedure, but there are some subtleties built into the process.
The full spectrum of screenshot functionality on an Apple computer is accessed with the Shift-Command-5 keystroke combination. This opens the Screenshot application, which can also be opened the same way as any other app from the Utilities folder.
Method 1. Using the Screenshot app
The following procedure details how to use the Screenshot app to take various types of screenshots.
- Open the Screenshot app with the Shift-Command-5 keystroke combination.
- Click a tool to select the type of screenshot you want to take. Your options are:
- Capture the entire screen;
- Capture a window;
- Capture a portion of the screen;
- Record the entire screen;
- Record a portion of the screen.
- Click the Capture or Record button to take the screenshot or start recording.
Method 2. Using the keyboard shortcuts
- Shift-Command-3 – Takes a screenshot of the entire screen.
- Shift-Command-4 – Takes a screenshot of a portion of the screen. Drag the rectangular section to capture the part of the screen you want to save.
- Shift-Command-6 – Takes a screenshot of your MacBook’s touch bar.
Method 3. Using the touch bar
New Apple MacBooks have a touch bar that can be customized to make specific commands easy to access. The following steps will enable you to take a screenshot directly from the touch bar.
Method 4. How to take a timed screenshot
- Open the Screenshot app with the Shift-Command-5 keystroke combination.
- Click Options and in the Timer section choose either a 5 or 10-second delay.
- Click Capture to begin the countdown. When the selected number of seconds have elapsed, a screenshot will be taken automatically.
Method 5. Third-party Mac screenshot apps
Third-party Mac screenshot apps offer additional flexibility and functionality that allows you to capture an image of your screen without using a keyboard. Users that take a lot of screenshots and need more than a simple screen capture should look into a third-party tool.
A third-party screenshot tool requires you to install a small application but pays you back with enhanced features macOS does not provide. Using a third-party screenshot app is a simple proposition that you will become comfortable with very quickly.
Some of the features to look for in a screenshot app are the ability to markup or annotate your screenshots, save them to different file formats, and export images directly to other apps or Cloud platforms. If you need to share screenshots with colleagues, a third-party tool is essential for enhanced productivity.
Here’s an overview of how to take screenshots using the following third-party apps.
Lightshot
- Download Lightshot for macOS.
- Open the app by clicking its icon.
- Select the area of the screen to copy.
- Annotate and markup the screenshot.
- Save the screenshot locally or to the Cloud where you can share it with others.
Skitch
- Install and launch the Skitch app.
- Click and hold the Skitch icon in the application dock.
- A snapshot menu appears from which you can choose to take various types of screenshots including fullscreen, crosshair, menu, and specific Windows. There are also keyboard shortcuts such as Shift Command 5 for a crosshair snapshot or Shift Command 6 for an image of the full screen.
- Capture the image and it will be opened in Skitch. Now you can annotate and share the screenshot with colleagues from within the app.
Nimbus – a Google Chrome extension
- Install the Nimbus Google Chrome extension.
- Click on the app’s icon to open it.
- Choose the type of screenshot you wish to take from the menu.
- Click the Checkmark to save the image.
- Click the pencil icon to annotate the screenshot.
- Click Done to save the screenshot to your desired location.
Where are Mac Screenshots saved?
By default, any screenshot you take on your Mac is saved to the macOS Desktop. If you are in the habit of taking a lot of screenshots, this default will quickly lead to a very cluttered desktop. If you’re not satisfied with this outcome for a screenshot on Mac, the next section of this article should interest you.
Change Where Your Mac Screenshots Are Saved
You can change where your Mac screenshots are saved with the following simple procedure.
- Open the Screenshots application with the Shift-Command-5 keystroke combination or by opening the app from the Utilities folder.
- Click on Options at the bottom of the App’s screen.
- Select the location in the Save to portion of the menu. You can choose to save to the Clipboard, Documents, or other predefined locations. You can also select Other Location and choose the folder in which you want your screenshots to be saved.
How to Edit a Screenshot on Mac
Depending on how you plan to use a screenshot, you may need to edit it for a variety of reasons. Mac screenshots are saved as a.PNG file and you might want to change the format. We’ll show you how to do that as well as how to crop the image or change its dimensions using the macOS Preview application.
Preview is the default app for opening images, so you can also just click on the image if you haven’t changed the default. If you have, open it by right-clicking on it and selecting Preview.
- Open the screenshot in Preview.
- Open the Tools Menu.
- Click on Adjust Size to change the dimension and resolution of the screenshot.
- Click on Annotate to make annotations to the screenshot.
- Click on Rectangular Section to select a portion of the screenshot and then select Tools Crop to crop the image. After making your changes, click Edit and save the modifications.
If you want to save the screenshot in a different format, use these steps while in Preview:
- Select File Export.
- Choose the format, filename, location, and filter you want to use for the new image.
What to Do if I’m Having Problems with Screen Capture on Mac
It can be frustrating to attempt to take a screenshot on your Mac and find out it’s not working for some reason. Fortunately, there are multiple actions you can take to resolve this issue.
Solution 1. Try restarting your Mac
Your Mac can start performing inefficiently if it hasn’t been restarted in a while. This can affect the performance of your apps and may impact your ability to perform a print screen on your Mac. A simple restart may resolve this problem.
Solution 2. Check the keyboard shortcuts
Make sure the keyboard shortcuts for the Screenshot app are turned on with the following procedure.
- Go to System Preferences Keyboard Shortcuts.
- Select Screenshots from the menu in the left panel.
- Make sure that the shortcuts are active or click the checkbox next to them to activate the screenshot shortcuts that have been turned off.
Solution 3. Verify where your screenshots are being saved
It’s possible that you have simply forgotten where you are saving your screenshots. To find out where you are saving your screenshots use this procedure:
- Open the Screenshot application with the Shift-Command-5 keystroke combination or by opening the app from the Utilities folder.
- Click on Options at the bottom of the App’s screen.
- View the location screenshots are saved to in the Save to portion of the menu.
How to Increase Efficiency When Taking Screenshots on a Mac
You can increase your efficiency when taking a screenshot on your Mac in three ways.
- Use the Screenshot shortcuts. They are called shortcuts for a reason. Using them will save time that would be spent opening the Screenshot app.
- Save the screenshots to a custom location so you don’t need to move them after they are taken.
- Change the screenshot file format to avoid having to update the item after the fact. To do so, you need to use the Terminal app and enter the following command, changing file format to the image format of your choice: defaults write com.Apple.screencapture type; killall SystemUIServer
Conclusion
Whatever reason you have for wanting to take and edit screenshots on your Mac, we hope that you have found this article informative. There is a lot of powerful native functionality available in macOS Big Sur and its predecessors. Using the Screenshot app, you can easily capture all or part of your screen. Then use Preview to edit the image and save it to a different format if you like. You can even perform some simple annotation on the images with Preview. Have fun taking your screenshots!
Here‘s how to take a screenshot on Mac or Windows PC
A simple guide on how to take screenshots on a Mac or Windows PC.
Credit: Getty Images
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What You Need:
- A Mac or PC
- The Lightshot application for PC (highly recommend)
- A positive attitude
Time Needed
Easy Whether it’s reporting a technical problem to IT or emailing an image to a friend, screenshots are a part of life. It’s pretty easy to do on a Mac, but PC is a different story. I wouldn’t say it’s difficult, but it’s not as intuitive as you’d expect. There are a couple of different ways to take screenshots depending on what you’re trying to capture. So, without further ado, here are some helpful tips to get you started:
How to take a screenshot on a Mac
How to take a screenshot of the entire screen
Whether you’re showing off your cool Star Wars-themed desktop background or just capturing content, taking a snapshot of the entire screen is pretty straightforward on a Mac. Once you’ve entered the command, you’ll hear a snapshot sound, which indicates that you’ve successfully taken a picture of the whole screen. 2. Locate the screenshot (.png file) on your desktop
Your screenshot will automatically appear on your desktop. It’ll be a.png file named “Screen Shot” with the date and time. 3. Open the file and gaze lovingly at your masterpiece
How to capture a selected area of the screen
This is great if you’re looking to capture something specific, like a hilarious meme or a poignant passage from a personal blog. 2. Drag to select the area you wish to capture. Release the mouse or trackpad to take a screenshot
To cancel, press the ESC key on your keyboard or select cancel on the Touch Bar (if you’re using a MacBook Pro). When you release, you should hear a snapshot sound. 3. Locate the screenshot (.png file) on your desktop
How to capture a window
- Press shift command 4. The pointer will turn into a tiny cross
- Press the space bar. The crosshair will turn into a camera
If you’re using a MacBook Pro, select the camera icon on the Touch Bar. 3. Click the touchpad or mouse. To cancel, press the ESC key or select cancel on the Touch Bar 4. Locate the screenshot (.png file) on your desktop
How to capture a menu
You can adjust the size of the gray box by moving the tiny cross around. 4. Locate the screenshot (.png file) on your desktop
How to capture a screenshot of the Touch Bar
Not the most exciting image in the world, but there you go. 2. Locate the screenshot (.png file) on your desktop
How to take a screenshot on a PC
How to take a screenshot of the entire screen
Capturing a screenshot isn’t as intuitive on PC as it is on Mac, but it’s still pretty easy to do. First we’ll go over how to do it without installing any third-party programs, but we highly recommend you scroll down and check out Lightspot, a free app that brings Mac-style functionality to Windows 10. Lightspot really does a bang up job of eliminating those extra steps.
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To capture a screenshot of your whole screen and save it to the clipboard so you can paste it later, press the Print Screen key on your keyboard
Typically, the Print Screen key is to the right of the function keys. Depending on your keyboard, it may also be listed as “PrtScn.” 2. If you want to capture the window you’re currently using, hold down the alt key and and press Press Screen. Any other programs you may be using will be left out of the shot.
How to find/save your screenshot
- Select the Windows Start button on the bottom left corner of your screen
- Select Applications
- Open Paint. Yes, this archaic tool still exists
- Press control V to paste your screenshot from the clipboard
How to edit/crop your screenshot
You can chose a rectangular outline or a free-form outline. 3. Drag to select or outline the area you’d like to keep 4. Click on the Crop button in the toolbar
How to use Lightshot (highly recommended)
Lightshot is a free screenshot app for PC and Mac. It’s a blessing, really, especially if you’re a PC user, as you don’t have to mess around with Paint or open up additional programs. In other words, it brings Mac-style screenshot functionality to Windows 10. 2. To take a screenshot, you can either press the print screen key on your keyboard or click the Lightshot icon on the bottom right of your screen. When you take a screenshot, the screen will dim slightly 3. Click and drag to highlight the area you want to capture 4. Release the mouse/trackpad to edit, upload, social media, and so on
Take Better Screenshots on Your Mac With These 5 Apps
Check out these Mac screenshot apps if you’re unsatisfied with the built-in screenshot function in macOS.
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macOS has a useful built-in screenshot tool. It works well and gets the job done for most cases. However, sometimes you need slightly more advanced features to take the screenshots you need on your Mac. You may want to crop the screenshots you’ve taken, annotate them, and save them where you want to. For this, you’ll need an upgrade to third-party screenshot software.
In this guide, we’ll show you the five best screenshot tools for macOS.
Skitch
Skitch is the best overall third-party app for taking screenshots on your Mac. It’s free to download and use, and is developed by Evernote. If you’re an Evernote user, you can enjoy additional benefits by using the two apps together.
With a variety of useful annotation features, Skitch makes taking screenshots and editing them easy. Open the app and, on the left panel, you’ll see options to add arrows, text, shapes, and markings (along with the option to change the color and thickness). You can find the option to crop the screenshot here too.
However, with Skitch, you can’t take screenshots on the lock screen. But this isn’t a big deal: you can still use the native macOS screenshot tool to take lock screen screenshots and edit them later with Skitch. To do this, open Skitch, go to File Open on the menu bar, and select the image you want to edit.
Download: Skitch (Free)
Shottr
Shottr is a super-lightweight screenshot app for your Mac. This app is a great option for users who can’t download apps using the Mac App Store. Shottr sits quietly in your menu bar, showing an S icon. Open it and you’ll see a wide variety of features.
This screenshot app makes it to the top of our list as it offers typically paid features for free. Some examples of this include scrolling screenshots, annotations, on-screen zoom in or out, and OCR. All these features are only available in paid versions of most other screenshot apps.
Atop everything, Shottr is easy to use. With shortcuts like Shift Cmd 1 and Shift Cmd 2, you can take full-screen and selected area screenshots in a split second. And once you take a screenshot, Shottr’s image manipulation mode opens, which allows further editing.
Download: Shottr (Free)
Snagit
Snagit is the best paid software to take screenshots on a Mac. This app is full of advanced features that allow more screenshot manipulation than most of the free software out there.
With a wide variety of annotation features, Snagit allows you to deeply customize your screenshot. You can select different fonts, add details to the text (like shadows and colors), and even play with the text’s opacity. It’s a mini Photoshop.
And, in addition to the standard three types of screenshots (full-screen, selected area, and active window), you can also take scrolling screenshots with Snagit. If you’ve been manually combining multiple images to make a longer screenshot, Snagit automates this for you with the scrolling screenshot feature.
Other features like OCR (optical character recognition, which allows you to copy text directly from images) and screen recording make Snagit even more unique.
Though it’s a bit expensive, Snagit comes with a 30-day money-back guarantee. So, if you feel you don’t need such a tool after using it once, you can get your money refunded. There’s also a free trial you can take advantage of.
Snagit is betst for people who need to make advanced presentations with their screenshots. If you want a simpler tool, consider Shottr.
Download: Snagit (62.99, free trial available)
Monosnap
Monosnap is another simple screenshot editing solution for Mac users that you can easily grab from the App Store. By simply hiding in the menu bar for easy access, Monosnap works similar to other apps on this list.
How To Uninstall Lightshot Screenshot from Mac OS
There are various kinds of software that you can install on your Mac, and it is quite easy to manage those apps on macOS. You can get an app from Mac’s App Store, discs or other websites, and then install it by dragging the app icon to the Applications folder or running the provided installer in the disk image or package file. Once you do not want to keep an app on your Mac, you can uninstall Lightshot Screenshot by multiple methods.
Struggling to uninstall unneeded applications from your Mac computer? Having trouble in removing the entire application components around the system? This tutorial will show you how to effectively uninstall Lightshot Screenshot in macOS or Mac OS X.
What should you do before uninstalling Lightshot Screenshot:
First of all, don’t rush to drag Lightshot Screenshot to the Trash. Before you start the uninstallation, you are supposed to quite the app if it is running, otherwise the uninstall may fail or trigger error message. There are several options for you to exit out of Lightshot Screenshot:
- (1) Right click on its icon on the Dock, and choose the Quit option;
- (2) Bring Lightshot Screenshot to the desktop, and choose Quit option from the Apple menu;
- (3) Launch the Activity Monitor from Dock, Launchpad or Spotlight type Lightshot Screenshot in the search box select the process pertaining to Lightshot Screenshot click the “X” button on the upper left corner click Quite in the pop-up dialog (if that fails, choose Force Quite).
After that you can carry out a clean uninstall either automatically or manually.
Perfectly Uninstall Lightshot Screenshot within Simple Clicks
There are many Mac utilities that claim to help hunt down all application files and delete them for you. If you do not want to dig down the system for removing Lightshot Screenshot, you can turn to a professional uninstall tool to accomplish the task effortlessly.
Here we would like to recommend Osx Uninstaller, a lightweight yet powerful app designed for all level users to perfectly remove problematic, stubborn or malicious apps. To completely uninstall Lightshot Screenshot and remove its vestiges, you just need to do 3 simple steps: launch select uninstall. Take a quick look at how it works.
Step 1: launch Osx Uninstaller
Download Osx Uninstaller, install it on your Mac, and click to launch this tool.
Step 2: choose Lightshot Screenshot app
Select Lightshot Screenshot icon in the interface, and click Run Analysis button to run a scan.
Step 3: perform the uninstall
Review the components belonging to Lightshot Screenshot that are scanned out, click Complete Uninstall button, and then click Yes in pop-up dialog to uninstall Lightshot Screenshot.
Once the removal is complete, click Back to Interface button to re-scan your Mac. So that’s it. The whole process may last less than one minute to complete. Osx Uninstaller is featured with intuitive interface, streamlined process and powerful engine, which enable all-level users to easily and fully delet Lightshot Screenshot from the Mac.
Manual Approaches to Uninstall Lightshot Screenshot on Mac
To uninstall Lightshot Screenshot without using 3rd party tool, you can adopt the conventional means. Besides, if you do not log in as an administrator user, you will be prompted to enter an administrator’s name and password when trying to delete an app by the steps below.
For the apps installed from Mac’s App Store:
- Click the Launchpad icon on the Dock, and then type Lightshot Screenshot in the Search box.
- As the target app appears, position the pointer over its icon, then press and hold until the icon starts to jiggle. And click the Delete button appearing in the app icon.
- Click Delete in the pop-up dialog to confirm the uninstallation of Lightshot Screenshot.
If you want to reinstall the app, just launch App Store and install it again from there. No Delete button showing on the app icon? It means you can not uninstall Lightshot Screenshot through Launchpad. Below are two additional uninstall approaches you can adopt.
For the apps not installed through App Store:
- Open the Finder on your Mac, and click on the Applications folder on the sidebar.
- Search and locate Lightshot Screenshot in the Applications folder, then drag its icon with your mouse to the Trash icon (located at the end of the Dock), and drop it there.
- Right click on the Trash, choose Empty the Trash, and click on Empty Trash again.
There are other options to uninstall Lightshot Screenshot from Applications folder: (1) right click on Lightshot Screenshot, and choose Move to Trash option from the contextual menu; (2) select Lightshot Screenshot, head to the File menu on the top bar, and choose the Move to Trash option.
Warning : once you empty the Trash, all the things inside including Lightshot Screenshot will be permanently deleted from your Mac, and the act is irrevocable. So make sure that you have not mistakenly placed any files in the Trash before carrying out the empty step. As for emptying the Trash, you can also choose File menu Empty Trash option.
Fast Capture Screenshot Using by Lightshot Tool on Windows & Mac
For the apps coming with dedicated uninstaller:
It should be pointed out that, some large software that are integrated deeply with macOS may be hard to get rid of by the aforementioned methods. Luckily that kind of applications usually come with a dedicated uninstaller to help users effectively uninstall the main app as well as associated plugins, files, or bundled software.
When you locate Lightshot Screenshot in the Finder and find it is in a folder, then scroll through the application’s folder to check if it comes with the dedicated uninstaller. If there is an application with the name of Uninstall, just double click to launch the specialized uninstaller, and follow the onscreen instructions to complete the removal of Lightshot Screenshot.
If you are still no sure how to uninstall Lightshot Screenshot properly, you may visit its official website and look for downloadable uninstaller or uninstall instructions there.
How to Manually Delete Lightshot Screenshot Leftovers
Most applications do not run background processes or change system settings files, and their preferences and support files left after the uninstallation may not do much harm to your system. However, for the large, problematic, or malicious software, you may need to clear up the associated components scattered around macOS after you uninstall Lightshot Screenshot. If you are trying to remove corrupted components, reinstall Lightshot Screenshot, or reclaim disk space, it becomes necessary to remove all the items pertaining to Lightshot Screenshot.
Lightshot Screenshot components include the app itself, preferences files, supporting plugins, bundled program and sometimes kernel extensions. To fully detect those remaining files, there are two locations (/Library and ~Library) you can explore on drive. The first is at the top level of the hard drive and the second is inside your Home folder.
Lightshot Screenshot Basic Overview MacAppStore [MAC]
Delete Lightshot Screenshot components in /Library
- Open the Finder, head to the Menu Bar, and select Go Go to Folder…
- Type the path of the top level Library on hard disk: /Library, and hit Enter key.
- In the following set of folder locations, search for the items whose names contain the keyword(s) of Lightshot Screenshot or its vendor: /Library, /Library/Caches, /Library/Preferences, /Library/Application Support, /Library/LaunchAgents, /Library/LaunchDaemons, /Library/PreferencePanes, /Library/StartupItems
- Identify the matched files and folders, and then move them all to the Trash.
Some of those related items may not be so obvious to find and locate manually. You could do a web search about the exact components and default locations for Lightshot Screenshot. Experienced users can utilize the Terminal app to seek out and remove app fragments.
Remove Lightshot Screenshot components in ~/Library
- Go ahead to open up the user library inside home folder: ~/Library.
- Type the keywords of Lightshot Screenshot in the Search Bar, and then click on “Library” button.
- Identify matched items in results, right click on them and choose Move to Trash.
- Empty the Trash after deleting all Lightshot Screenshot remnants. If you are prompted that an item is “in use and cannot be deleted”, reboot your Mac and try to empty the Trash again.
Notice : Before removing files or folders in search results, make sure to identify the accurate components of Lightshot Screenshot, because mistakenly deleting other apps’ files (or system settings files) may trigger malfunction of affected apps or even your system.
Manually detecting and deleting Lightshot Screenshot remnants could be risk-taking, time-wasting and low-efficient. We notice that many Mac user have difficulties in tracking down the Lightshot Screenshot vestiges, and also the final result of uninstallation may not be so satisfying as expected. Incomplete/unsuccessful uninstallation often happens especially when you are tackling corrupted, stubborn, notorious, or malicious applications. If you are looking for a hassle-free way to perfectly uninstall Lightshot Screenshot, we highly recommend you to utilize an professional, reputable uninstall tool to handle the task painlessly.
To sum up, this post offers multiple ways to uninstall Lightshot Screenshot from Mac computer. Each option has its own advantages and requirements. If you prefer to get rid of Lightshot Screenshot smoothly and without any trouble, Osx Uninstaller is undoubtedly a good helper. If you insist on removing Lightshot Screenshot on your own, the manual approaches also work well.
