Jan 24, 2017 How to take a screenshot: A simple, step-by-step guide to how to take a screenshot on Mac, Windows, iPhone, iPad, and Android. Here are all the different ways to take screenshots. Apr 12, 2016 Many times we feel the need to send and share screenshots from our iPhone and Mac computers. We often want to save a screenshot of a game, a bug or sometimes conversations to send them later. Here is a how-to guide to get you familiar with taking a screenshot. Taking screenshots on iPhone. Saving a screenshot on an iPhone is very easy and handy. For macOS Mojave or above versions users Hit the Shift-Command-5 keys (Keyboard Shortcuts) together, and you will see the capture controls. Choose Capture Entire Screen from the displayed options. Doing this will immediately change the pointer to a camera icon.
Aug 09, 2019 You can try to take screenshot of your MacOS Mojave with some inbuilt features. Press Command + Shift + 5 on your keyboard to bring up the screenshot toolbar. Click on one of the following: Capture Entire Screen, Capture Selected Windows, or Capture Selected Portion to capture exactly what you want. Mar 20, 2020 Start by Opening the macOS Screenshot utility by using CMD+Shift+5 Keys. Another way of accessing the screenshot utility in macOS is to open up your spotlight and then type in ‘Screenshot’ and then launch the app; Once the screenshot Utility is up and running, click on the options at the far right of the window. Download Lightshot Screenshot for macOS 10.7 or later and enjoy it on your Mac. Allows you to capture any part of your Mac screen. After capturing you can upload picture to prntscr.com server and get nice short link like You can share your screens via Twitter or Facebook.
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Use CleanShot X for all your screen recording needs.
For many new Apple users, particularly those who are migrating from Windows and are used to that Prt Scrn (Print Screen) button, the answer to the question of how to screenshot on Mac isn’t immediately obvious.
Although it only takes pressing a couple of keys to take a screenshot on Mac, the fact remains that Mac screen capture is something that hasn’t historically felt all that intuitive. For example, in addition to different key commands for screenshotting windows vs. smaller selections, recording video of your screen for a long time was only possible through QuickTime Player.
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Although macOS Mojave has changed much of this, how to screenshot on Mac remains a heavy-hitting search query, as not everyone uses the latest version of macOS. Below you’ll find more information on taking a screenshot on Mac (and capturing video), as well as some useful tools to make your Apple screenshot life easier.
Exploring Mac Screenshot Basics
As there’s no dedicated button for print screen on Apple products, there are a few different commands associated with screen capture on Mac that vary slightly depending on your setup.
It makes sense to divide the world of how to take a screenshot on a Mac into pre and post-Mojave, since it was with this iteration of macOS that Apple really revolutionized their Mac screenshot command system.
1. Pre-Mojave Mac screenshot commands
If for whatever reason you don’t want to upgrade to Mojave then you’ll need to familiarize yourself with a couple of key Mac screenshot shortcut options:
- ⌘ + Shift + 3
- ⌘ + Shift + 4
The first of these commands is probably the easiest to get to grips with and the quickest one to take advantage of when taking a screenshot on Mac, as it captures the entire screen at once. If you’re using multiple screens, it takes a screenshot in Mac OS for every screen you’re using simultaneously.
The second of the commands represents a slightly more nuanced way to take a snapshot on Mac. Rather than capturing your entire screen, it prompts you to select the area you want to capture. If you follow it up with a press of Space, it allows you to choose the window you want to screencap instead.
Overall, while these commands do let you print screen on Mac, they feel sort of like an afterthought rather than a fully fledged feature of macOS. With so many people looking into how to screenshot on Mac, it’s not surprising that Apple recently decided to make it a little more clear how to screenshot in Mac OS Mojave.
2. Post-Mojave Mac screenshot command menu
In addition to the above commands, which still work for Mojave users, there’s now an option for them that’s very much in keeping with the existing format of how to print screen on Mac — ⌘ + Shift + [Number].
If you’re a Mojave user, you can use ⌘ + Shift + 5to bring up a screen capture menu that will allow you to:
- Capture Entire Screen
- Capture Selected Window(s)
- Capture Selected Portion
- Record Entire Screen
- Record Selected Portion
At the right-hand side of this menu there’s also Options that lets you (among other things) select where your MacBook screenshot and video output is saved.
In other words, anyone looking for an easy answer to the question “how do you screenshot on a Mac?” could do a lot worse than considering an upgrade to Mojave in order to streamline the process.
3. Third-party Mac OS screenshot apps
You might notice that, even with the inclusion of ⌘ + Shift + 5 Mac screen capturing menu, the options for taking a Mac screenshot remain pretty basic. If you’re looking for a snipping tool for Mac that can do a little more, you may need to turn to a third-party developer.
CleanShot X is unbeatable here. The app toolkit is tailored for 50+ different changes, which makes it an ultimate screen capturing tool for Mac. You can use CleanShot X to capture screen — whether it’s a window, full screen, area, or even scrolling content, as well as record video.
While capturing anything on your desktop, you can choose to hide all desktop clutter and disable desktop notifications in one click. Once you have your clean screenshot, open it from the overlay window that pops up, and start editing. You can add annotations, blur specific parts, or draw — CleanShot X will help you customize virtually anything.
A few not-so-obvious yet cool features to mention are self-timer, screenshot pinning, and internal cloud. Want to capture something with a delay? CleanShot X has a self-timer that will help you pick the right moment. If you want your screenshot to be visible on the screen, pin it to desktop. Finally, save your screen captures to the internal CleanShot Cloud and get shareable links in a flash.
If you’re looking for something with a little more emphasis on screen recording, Capto could be the ideal solution for you. In addition to recording video, or just taking a snapshot on Mac, you can also annotate and edit captures via an intuitive iMovie-esque interface.
Capto does wonders for software walkthroughs. And given its strong visual component, it’s also perfect for those with auditory shyness who would rather add captions than a voiceover. Capto’s built-in organizer is pretty helpful for keeping track of your screenshots too.
Mac OS screenshot organization
![Macos Macos](https://boygeniusreport.files.wordpress.com/2015/03/windows-10-on-yosemite.jpg?quality=98&strip=all)
If you take a lot of screenshots then you’re probably way too used to your Downloads folder or Desktop being clogged up with images that have filenames like “Screen Shot 2019-XX-XX at 21.36.15”.
Unfortunately, this inelegant and cluttered outcome is the default Mac screenshot shortcut. Not particularly helpful for keeping all of your images in check, especially when macOS is prone to heavily abbreviating filenames.
While it’s possible to use Finder in conjunction with Preview to view all of your caps, that still isn’t a particularly satisfying visual experience. One of the best solutions is Inboard, which functions like a private Pinterest for your desktop and allows you to tag and filter all of your screenshots for later use.
Inboard takes care of the design savvy out there too with a feature that connects your Dribbble account to import all your likes for digestion at a later date.
But even once you’ve solved the question of how to do a screenshot on a Mac, sharing those screenshots with, say, colleagues or friends isn’t necessarily the easiest thing to do.
Rather than emailing files back and forth, or having to upload everything to a public Google Drive, you might consider a solution like Dropshare. As the name suggests, it makes sharing screenshots (and other files) as simple as dropping them into the relevant area.
Dropshare connects with a range of major third-party cloud apps, but you can also lean on proprietary Dropshare Cloud if you prefer, which is helpful if you want to keep your Mac screen capture sharing separate from your other sharing activity.
The future of how to take a screenshot on a Mac
As you can see from above, learning how to screenshot on Mac isn’t particularly difficult, and screen capture on Mac is now easier than ever thanks to the addition of a dedicated MacBook screenshot and video capture menu in macOS Mojave.
It’s clear from this new feature that Apple understands the issue of how to print screen on Mac is one that has been, to put it lightly, unintuitive in the past, so you can likely expect to see further tweaks to the process in the future.
In the meantime, there are some excellent options in the snipping tool for Mac market that facilitate the process and offer a range of diverse features you won’t find among those built-in options for taking a screenshot on Mac.
Best of all, you can try all the apps mentioned here: CleanShot, Capto, Inboard, and Dropshare absolutely free with a 7-day trial of Setapp, a Mac platform with over 150 essential apps for any task at hand. Now you’re all set for your screenshotting game.
It would be of no surprise that most Mac users send dozens of screenshots every day. Not least because screenshots are easy to create on Mac and can give so much context with so little effort.
So when (admittedly very rarely) you see the screenshot not working, Macs provide you with a few ways to fix the issue. Additionally, some third-party apps might make all the resetting work even more seamless. Let’s go through the process step by step.
How to take screenshots on Mac properly
Before diving into all the ways to correct screenshot on Mac not working, it would be beneficial to recap how screenshots are supposed to work to establish a foundation to start from.
There are a few options for taking a screenshot on your Mac:
- Using keyboard shortcuts. ⌘ + Shift + 3 will automatically take a screenshot of your whole screen. ⌘ + Shift + 4 will let you select an area (can switch to the app-window screenshot by hitting Space). ⌘ + Shift + 5 will take an app-window screenshot.
- Launching the Screenshot app located in the Applications ➙ Utilities folder, which will bring up the screenshot-ing menu without using your keyboard.
- Opening Preview and selecting File ➙ Take Screenshot and then choosing one out of three options there.
Below, we’ll discuss the ways to resolve any errors that could come up from using either of these options.
Configure all the keyboard shortcuts
If you’re trying to hit ⌘ + Shift + 3 (or 4, or 5) and nothing is happening, it could mean that your keyboard settings somehow got reset.
To check whether it’s keyboard shortcuts to blame for screen capture not working, Macs have a special menu:
- Go to System Preferences ➙ Keyboard.
- Navigate to the Shortcuts tab ➙ Screenshots.
- Make sure that all the boxes are checked and that shortcuts are set properly.
- If you need to change any shortcuts, just double-click on the existing one and type in your new key combo.
- Uncheck and then recheck the boxes again.
Restart and update your macOS
In some cases, misappropriated keyboard shortcuts are not the reason for the screenshot on Mac not working. The next step here is to simply restart your Mac by clicking on the Apple icon in the menu bar and selecting Restart, since it could be a system glitch.
If the restart didn’t help either, see whether there’s an update to your current macOS available. Quite often Apple releases fixes for known bugs and your situation might fall in that camp:
- Open System Preferences ➙ Software Update.
- Click Update Now if there’s a new macOS version available.
- Follow all the prompts to install (usually takes around 30 minutes).
Try resetting your Mac’s NVRAM
The options described above methodically rule out the problem with misplaced shortcuts and your macOS. The next level is to go down even deeper, to the internal settings of what’s literally inside your Mac.
Non-volatile random-access memory (or NVRAM) is responsible for low-level processes within your Mac. Very rarely, an issue may arise with some settings deep in the operating system, which might then manifest themselves as screenshot on Mac not working, for example.
Macos Screenshot Of Window
Anyway, resetting NVRAM is easy, non-destructive, and might actually fix the situation:
- Turn off your Mac (Apple icon ➙ Shut Down).
- Turn it back on and press ⌘ + Option + P + R for about 10–20 seconds, or after you hear the second startup sound. In Macs 2018 and later that have the T2 security chip, you can release the keys after the Apple logo disappears for the second time. Ready!
Get rid of all system junk in seconds to fix shortcuts
The combination of reconfiguring the keyboard shortcuts, restarting your Mac, and resetting NVRAM should work for 90% of screenshot not working Mac issues. The other 10%?
Truth is there are so many settings in your Mac that can misfire: user logs, cache files, language preferences, disk images, login items, improperly installed updates — it would take you hours and lots of frustration to check and correct everything. Gladly, there’s an app that can do it all for you in seconds.
Macos App Store
CleanMyMac X is an optimization utility that keeps your Mac essentially brand new, by thoroughly scanning all user- and system-generated files, with a click of a button. And, by the way, it’s notarized by Apple.
Here’s how to instantly clean your system junk with CleanMyMac X:
- Open the CleanMyMac X app (or download for free first).
- Navigate to the System Junk tab in the sidebar.
- Click Scan.
- Review Details and uncheck anything you don’t want to touch (Note that CleanMyMac X doesn’t delete any of the essential system files or ones that you’ve created).
- Hit Clean.
Notice how many errors and clutter your Mac used to carry?
Macos Screenshot Shortcuts
That’s it! A few clicks and now your MacBook screenshot not working issue should be resolved once and for all. In addition, feel free to use CleanMyMac X to check for viruses with the Malware Removal feature, completely delete unneeded apps with Uninstaller, and so much more that you can find by simply exploring the sidebar. After all, having a top-notch Mac shouldn’t be hard.