Every now and then you get into the situation that you want to take a screenshot on your Mac. Sometimes to ask questions about a program or to show the new desktop background. There are several ways to do this on macOS.
Screenshots and screencasts with the Screenshot app
With the "Screenshot" utility, found under Applications > Utilities, you can create screenshots or even video recordings of the MacBook desktop with just a few clicks. The program can also be opened with the keyboard shortcut CMD + SHIFT + 5.
If you start the app, you will find an overlay with various buttons in the lower area. With these you can trigger the following actions:
- capture the entire screen as a screenshot (this also includes external monitors)
- record selected window
- record the selected area
- Record screen video (full screen)
- Record screen video (selected area)
The screenshot tool comes in handy for screen videos as it doesn't require any software to be installed separately. The screenshot app is also the right choice if you want to take a screenshot with a time delay, for example to show an action in another program. Here you can set that the screenshot is created with a delay of 5 or 10 seconds, for example.
For simple screenshots, however, there's a faster way than going through the Screenshot app: keyboard shortcuts.
Create screenshots on MacBook with keyboard shortcuts
As already mentioned, you can also work with keyboard shortcuts to create screenshots on the MacBook Pro, MacBook Air or any other Mac.
All you have to do is remember the following key combinations, one of which usually becomes your personal favourite:
- Full screen screenshot: CMD + SHIFT + 3
- Screenshot of a marked area: CMD + SHIFT + 4 → then click with the mouse pointer in one place, hold it down and draw a rectangle over the area that is to be photographed
- Create a screenshot of a window: CMD + SHIFT + 4 → then press the space bar and click on the corresponding window with the camera icon
Armed with these tips, you should definitely be able to take a screenshot on your MacBook Pro, MacBook Air, or any other Mac with ease.