Taking a screenshot on your MacBook is an essential skill, whether you need to capture a quick visual for work, share a funny moment online, or document something important on your screen. While the term “print screen” might be more familiar to Windows users, macOS offers a range of powerful and flexible screenshot tools. This guide will walk you through everything you need to know to take perfect screenshots on your MacBook, from capturing the entire screen to specific windows or portions.
Capture Your Entire MacBook Screen
The quickest way to grab a snapshot of everything visible on your display is using a simple keyboard shortcut.
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Press and hold these three keys simultaneously: Shift, Command (⌘), and 3.
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Release all three keys at the same time.
You’ll hear a camera shutter sound, and a thumbnail of your screenshot will briefly appear in the bottom-right corner of your screen.
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Manage the Screenshot:
- Edit Immediately: Click the thumbnail before it disappears to open the screenshot in Markup, where you can crop, annotate, and share it instantly.
- Save Automatically: If you don’t click the thumbnail, the screenshot will automatically be saved to your desktop as a PNG file, named with the date and time.
Screenshot of MacBook screen capture process using Shift Command 3 keys
Capture a Specific Portion of Your MacBook Screen
Sometimes you only need to capture a part of your screen. macOS makes this easy with another convenient shortcut.
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Press and hold these three keys together: Shift, Command (⌘), and 4.
Your cursor will transform into a crosshair pointer.
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Select the Area:
- Click and drag the crosshair to draw a rectangle around the area you want to capture. As you drag, you’ll see the selected area outlined.
- Adjust Selection:
- Move the entire selection: While dragging, press and hold the Space bar to move the selection box without changing its size.
- Cancel: Press the Esc (Escape) key at any time to cancel the screenshot.
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Release the mouse or trackpad button to take the screenshot.
Similar to capturing the entire screen, you’ll see a thumbnail for quick editing or the screenshot will save to your desktop.
Diagram showing the key combination Shift Command 4 for capturing a portion of the screen on MacBook
This method is perfect for capturing specific content like a chat window, a section of a webpage, or just a part of an image.
Capture a Specific Window or Menu on MacBook
To capture just a single window or a dropdown menu, follow these steps:
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Open the window or menu you wish to screenshot. Make sure it’s active and on top.
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Press and hold Shift, Command (⌘), and 4, then press the Space bar once.
The crosshair pointer will change into a camera icon.
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Select the Window or Menu:
- Click on the window or menu you want to capture. The selected window will be highlighted.
- Include/Exclude Shadow: To capture the window without its shadow, press and hold the Option (⌥) key while clicking.
- Cancel: Press the Esc (Escape) key to cancel.
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Click to take the screenshot of the selected window or menu.
Again, a thumbnail will appear for editing, or the screenshot will save to your desktop.
This method is ideal for capturing application windows, dialog boxes, or specific menus without any background clutter.
Screenshot of a Safari browser window on macOS Big Sur, capturing only the window
Discover the Screenshot App for Advanced Options
For more control and features, macOS offers the Screenshot app.
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Open Screenshot App: Press Shift, Command (⌘), and 5 simultaneously. Alternatively, find “Screenshot” in the Utilities folder within your Applications folder.
A small toolbar will appear at the bottom of your screen, offering various screenshot and screen recording options:
- Capture Entire Screen: Takes a screenshot of the entire display.
- Capture Selected Window: Allows you to select a specific window to capture.
- Capture Selected Portion: Lets you draw a selection area for capture.
- Record Entire Screen: Starts recording a video of your entire screen.
- Record Selected Portion: Starts recording a video of a selected area of your screen.
- Options: Provides settings to choose where to save screenshots, set a timer for capture, and more.
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Choose Your Option: Click on the desired screenshot type or recording option from the toolbar.
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Customize Settings (Optional): Click “Options” to adjust settings like save location, timer, and whether to show mouse clicks in recordings.
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Capture or Record: Follow the on-screen instructions based on the option you selected. For example, for “Capture Selected Portion,” you’ll drag to select an area, and then click “Capture” in the toolbar.
The Screenshot app provides a more feature-rich interface, especially useful if you frequently take screenshots or need screen recordings.
Finding and Managing Your Screenshots
By default, all screenshots are saved to your Desktop.
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File Naming: Screenshots are named “Screen Shot [date] at [time].png”. Screen recordings are named “Screen Recording [date] at [time].mov”.
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Quick Access: You can drag the thumbnail that appears after taking a screenshot to quickly move or share it.
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Locate in Finder: If you can’t find your screenshots on the desktop, open Finder, and in the menu bar, go to Go > Desktop, or click “Desktop” in the Finder sidebar.
Pro Tips for MacBook Screenshots
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Save to Clipboard: To save a screenshot directly to your clipboard instead of as a file, hold down the Control key while using any of the screenshot shortcuts (e.g., Control-Shift-Command-3). You can then paste the screenshot directly into applications.
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Screenshot App Customization: Explore the “Options” in the Screenshot app (Shift-Command-5) to customize your screenshot workflow, such as changing the default save location or setting a capture timer.
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Thumbnail Management: If you hover your mouse pointer over the screenshot thumbnail, it will stay on screen longer, giving you more time to interact with it.
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App Restrictions: Some applications, like Apple TV, may prevent screenshots of their windows due to content protection.
Mastering screenshots on your MacBook is straightforward with these tools and shortcuts. Whether you need a quick screen grab or more advanced capture options, macOS provides everything you need to efficiently “print screen” and share your visuals.
