Hover this icon over a window and you’ll see the window become shaded in blue. The crosshairs will turn into a camera icon. To use this shortcut, press Command + Shift + 4 first, then tap the Spacebar. Note that before you click, the pixel count displayed beneath the crosshair represents the pixel coordinates of your display (with 0, 0 representing the top-left of your screen), while after you click and begin to drag, the pixel count represents the size of the selected area.Ĭommand + Shift + 4 + Spacebar: Take a screenshot of the selected window. Simply position the crosshair in one corner of the area you’d like to capture, click and hold the mouse or trackpad, and drag to paint the area you will capture. Pressing this shortcut will turn your mouse cursor into a crosshair with pixel information. If you have multiple displays, a separate full-screen screenshot will be created for each display.Ĭommand + Shift + 4: Take a screenshot of a defined area. Each of these can be triggered with a keyboard shortcut:Ĭommand + Shift + 3: Take a screenshot of the entire screen.

There are three primary screenshot types in OS X: capture the entire screen, capture the selected window, or capture a defined area. The Basicsīefore we get in to the customizable settings for screenshots, let’s go over a few basics on exactly how to take screenshots (experienced users can skip this section). Thankfully, nearly every aspect of OS X screenshots can be customized using the Terminal app. OS X features powerful built-in tools for taking screenshots, but the default format and location of the captured images may not be suitable for every user. The Complete Guide to Mac OS X Screenshots

Mac screen shot