Sunday, January 13, 2008

Tip: Take screenshots with keyboard shortcuts (Mac)













Mac OS X offers a quick and application-free way of taking screenshots of just about anything.

Here's a rundown of the keyboard shortcuts.

  • Command-Shift-3:
    Take a screenshot of the screen, and save it as a file on the desktop
  • Command-Shift-4, then select an area:
    Take a screenshot of an area and save it as a file on the desktop
  • Command-Shift-4, then space, then click a window:
    Take a screenshot of a window and save it as a file on the desktop
  • Command-Control-Shift-3:
    Take a screenshot of the screen, and save it to the clipboard
  • Command-Control-Shift-4, then select an area:
    Take a screenshot of an area and save it to the clipboard
  • Command-Control-Shift-4, then space, then click a window:
    Take a screenshot of a window and save it to the clipboard
When a using the first set of shortcuts (with #4), the screenshot will be saved to the desktop as a PNG file.

If you need to do any extra cropping afterwards, simply open the images in Preview, crop, and re-save them.

Also check out the freeware application Backdrop for masking any desktop icons, desktop backgrond, or other clutter before taking the screenshot.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

I know this is an old post, but I googled: How can I take screenshots on a Mac computer? and this was the first page onscreen. You've totally saved me. Thanks a lot!!!!

xoCIGARS.com said...

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rajesh said...

I have an imac G4, and would like to restore it to its original settings like when you first got it.
Does any know how to do this?
F.Y.I. - I don't have the OSX discs so is there a way to do this without the discs?