How to print screen on Mac

Is there a Print Screen key on a Mac?

No. Instead, macOS uses shortcuts with Shift and Command. One difference from Windows: by default a Mac saves the screenshot as a file on the desktop rather than copying it to the clipboard. To copy it instead, add Control to the shortcut, as shown below.

How to print screen on Mac with shortcuts

• Shift-Command-3: the whole screen.
• Shift-Command-4: a part of the screen. The pointer becomes a crosshair: drag over the area and let go. Hold the Space bar while dragging to move the frame, press Esc to cancel.
• Shift-Command-4, then Space bar: one window or menu. The pointer becomes a camera: click the window. Hold Option while clicking to leave out the window’s shadow.
• Shift-Command-5: the Screenshot app with all the tools and options.

After a shot, a thumbnail appears for a few seconds in the bottom-right corner of the screen. Click it to crop the picture or add arrows and text, or swipe it to the right to save it right away. If you do nothing, the file is saved on its own.

Need scrolling screenshots or text recognition? See Snipping Tool for Mac for what’s built in and which apps add more.

Use the Screenshot app

1. Press Shift-Command-5. You can also open Screenshot from Applications › Utilities.
2. In the panel at the bottom of the screen, click one of the capture tools: the entire screen, a window or a portion of the screen. For a portion, drag the frame and its edges to the area you need.
3. Click Capture. For a window, move the pointer over it and click the window.

The same panel records the screen as a video. Its Options menu adds a timer, shows or hides the mouse pointer and the floating thumbnail.

Where screenshots are saved and how to change it

By default screenshots go to the desktop as PNG files whose names start with “Screenshot” followed by the date and time. To save them elsewhere:

1. Press Shift-Command-5.
2. Click Options.
3. Under Save to, choose a place such as Documents, or click Other Location and pick a folder.

The keyboard shortcuts use the new place too. If the desktop is already full of old screenshots, select them and move them to a folder or to the Trash.

Copy a screenshot to the clipboard

Hold Control together with the usual shortcut: Control-Shift-Command-3 copies the whole screen, Control-Shift-Command-4 copies the part you select. No file is saved. Paste the picture with Command-V into a message, an email or a document.