The Mac has evolved over the years, but one thing that’s remained constant, as far as we can remember, is how to take a screenshot on MacOS. So, whether you have the newest MacBook laptops, iMac all-in-ones or the Mac Mini and Mac Studio desktops. Here are three basic methods to get a screen capture using Mac keyboard shortcuts. You can use a fourth method if you still have an older MacBook Pro with the Touch Bar. MacOS also gives you a fair number of options to easily save, delete and open the screenshot for markup.
We’ve also tested these tips to confirm they work in MacOS Sequoia, the latest operating system update. Note that the methods we’ve mentioned below are keyboard shortcuts, so you can press those keys simultaneously to take a screenshot.
Watch this: How to take Mac screenshots
Method 1: Cmd-Shift-3
This keyboard shortcut captures a screenshot of your entire screen.
Method 2: Cmd-Shift-4
Use this keyboard combo to turn your cursor into a crosshair, which you can drag to select a portion of your screen to capture. Release the mouse button or trackpad to take the shot.
You have a number of other options after hitting Cmd-Shift-4.
Press and release the spacebar: The crosshair turns into a little camera icon, which you can move over any open window. Click on your desired window to take a screenshot of it. A screenshot captured by this method features a white border around the window with a bit of a drop shadow.
Press and hold the spacebar (after dragging to highlight an area but before releasing the mouse button or trackpad): This locks in the shape and size of the selection area but lets you reposition it on the screen. It’s very handy if your initial selection area is off by a few pixels; just hold down the spacebar to reposition it before releasing the mouse button to snap a screenshot.
Hold down the Shift key (after dragging to highlight an area but before releasing the mouse button or trackpad): This locks in each side of the selection area made with the crosshairs save the bottom edge, letting you move your mouse up or down to position the bottom edge.
Without releasing the mouse button, release the Shift key and hit it again to reposition the right edge of your selection area. You can toggle between moving the bottom edge and right edge by keeping the mouse button or touchpad engaged and pressing the Shift key.
Method 3: Cmd-Shift-5
A shortcut command introduced back in MacOS Mojave in 2018, Cmd-Shift-5 calls up a small panel at the bottom of your display with your screen capture options. Three screenshot buttons let you capture the entire screen, a window or a selection of your screen.
Likewise, the two video-recording buttons let you record your Mac screen or a selection of it. On the left is an X button to close the screenshot panel, but you can also just hit the Escape key to exit.
Your CMD-Shift-5 options.
On the right side is an Options button. It lets you choose where to save your screenshot — Desktop, Documents, Clipboard, Mail, Messages, Preview or Other Location, and set a 5- or 10-second delay so you can line up items that might otherwise disappear when you engage your screenshot tool.
By default, the Show Floating Thumbnail option is enabled, which puts a little preview thumbnail of your just-captured screenshot in the lower-right corner of your screen, similar to the screenshot procedure with iOS. Unlike on your iPhone, you can turn off this preview thumbnail on your Mac. Lastly, you can choose to show your mouse pointer in a screenshot or video.
If the screenshot panel is in your way, you can grab its left edge and drag it to a new spot on your screen.
Bonus for Touch Bar MacBooks: Cmd-Shift-6
If you’ve got an older MacBook Pro with the Touch Bar, you can also take a screenshot of what’s currently showing on the Touch Bar. Just hit Cmd-Shift-6 to take a very wide and skinny screenshot of your Touch Bar.
Longtime Mac screenshotters may be slow to adopt the Cmd-Shift-5 shortcut, but I find myself using it more for the ability to annotate screenshots without needing to open Preview, and quickly delete screenshots that I know immediately I messed up. The 5- and 10-second delay options are also useful and appreciated additions.
How to edit and save screenshots on Mac
After capturing your screenshot, you have several powerful editing tools at your disposal. If you embrace the Floating Thumbnail, you’ll gain quick access to Markup tools to annotate your screenshot.
Quick editing with Floating Thumbnail
You can swipe the Floating Thumbnail away or just let it slip away on its own, and it’ll be saved to the spot where you last saved a screenshot. Click the Floating Thumbnail and it’ll open in a Markup View preview window (but not Preview) with all of the markup tools you get in Preview.
You can right-click the Floating Thumbnail to bring it up in a bigger window, and then click the Markup logo (a pencil tip surrounded by a circle) to bring up the options. The Markup tool will let you:
- Save the screenshot to your desktop, Documents folder or clipboard.
- Open it in Mail, Messages, Preview or Photos.
- Show in Finder.
- Delete.
- Open it in the Markup preview window described above.
- Close (and save).
Using basic Markup tools
You can do basic editing with the markup tools. Wondering how to crop a screenshot on Mac? Markup will let you do that. The toolbar will show you the options at the top right side. You can:
- Click the sketch tool to draw on your screenshot.
- Select the shape tool to add arrows, boxes or circles.
- Add text by clicking the text tool (choose colors and line thickness from the formatting menu).
- Use the selection tool to move or resize your additions.
- Rotate, crop or add a description to the image.
- Share the image.
Just click Done to save the screenshot.
Advanced editing with Preview
You can use Preview for more editing tools for the screenshot. Open the image in Preview by either clicking the Share button in the Markup window and clicking Preview or by opening the image from the saved location in the Finder app.
- Use the Adjust Size option under Tools to resize the image.
- Use the Adjust Color option under Tools to adjust the color settings like exposure, contrast, saturation and more.
- Select Annotate to access additional markup features.
Additionally, Preview has all the Markup tools on the toolbar. When you are done, you can export the screenshot to different formats using File > Export or Export as PDF or click Save.
Mac screenshot FAQ
How do you edit a screenshot on a Mac?
To edit a screenshot on a Mac, you can click the floating thumbnail that appears after taking a screenshot and click the Markup logo at the top right to summon the Markup toolbar. For more advanced editing, open in Preview by clicking the Share button and clicking Preview. You’ll find more tools under the Tools button at the top.
How do you share a screenshot from a Mac?
The fastest way to share a screenshot is by dragging the floating thumbnail directly into apps like Messages or Mail. If the thumbnail disappears, find your screenshot on the desktop (it saves as “Screenshot [date] at [time].png”) or the last location you saved your screenshots to, and share it like any other file — either by dragging it into an app or using the Share menu. You can also click the Share button in the Markup toolbar while editing.
