Learn how to take a screenshot on a Mac

You can capture the entire screen, a window, or just a portion of the screen.

How to take a full screen screenshot on your Mac

shift + cmd + 3

To take a screenshot, press and hold the following three keys together: Shift, Command, and 3.
If you see a thumbnail in the corner of your screen, click it to edit the screenshot or wait for the screenshot to save to your desktop.
Your Mac captures the entire screen and saves the screenshot as a file on the desktop. The file name will look like “Screen shot 2024-04-29 at 17:22:31 PM.png”.

How to make a partial screenshot on your Mac

shift + cmd + 4

Press and hold these three keys together: Shift, Command, and 4.
With your mouse or trackpad, drag the crosshair to select the area of the screen to capture. To move the selection, press and hold Space bar while dragging. To cancel taking the screenshot, press the Esc (Escape) key.
To take the screenshot, release your mouse or trackpad button.
If you see a thumbnail in the corner of your screen, click it to edit the screenshot or wait for the screenshot to save to your desktop. The file name will look like “Screen shot 2024-04-29 at 17:22:31 PM.png”.

How to make a screenshot of a window or menu

shift + cmd + 4 + space bar

Open the window or menu of which you want to make a screenshot.
Press and hold the following keys together: Shift, Command, 4, and Space bar. The pointer changes to a camera icon. To cancel taking the screenshot, press the Esc (Escape) key.
Click the window or menu to capture it. To exclude the window's shadow from the screenshot, press and hold the option key while you click.
If you see a thumbnail in the corner of your screen, click it to edit the screenshot or wait for the screenshot to save to your desktop. The file name will look like “Screen shot 2024-04-29 at 17:22:31 PM.png”.

Where is my screenshot

By default, the screenshots are saved to your desktop with the name ”Screen Shot [date] at [time].png.”, example: “Screen shot 2024-04-29 at 17:22:31 PM.png”.

In macOS Mojave or later, you can change the default location of saved screenshots from the Options menu in the Screenshot app. You can also drag the thumbnail to a folder or document.

How can I have a screenshot in my clipboard instead?

Hold the control key together with an of the combinations mentioned above. Your Mac will make a screenshot and copies it to your clipboard instad of saving it to a file.

To paste the screenshot from your clipboard into a document hold down the command key and press the v key. Your Mac will paste the screenshot that is in the clipboard into your document or image that you are editing.