I recently mentioned how to grab a screen shot of an application window on Windows XP. On Mac OS X you can also capture a screen shot of a window but its definitely is not as simple as Windows since it does not come with a Print Screen key. Mac OS X comes with a Grab utility (under Applications | Utilities | Grab) which an capture the whole screen, a selected window, or a selected rectangular area of your screen.
You can also grab a screen shot by using the Preview application. Open the Mac OS X Preview application and select the File | Grab | Window menu to capture a screen shot of a selected application window.
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6 Comments
Nope!
Screen capture under Mac OS X is actually simpler than under Windows (in my humble opinion), because it saves directly to a file – you don’t have to open Paint, paste, and save. And you don’t have to use Grab! You just have to know what the keyboard shortcuts are.
The full list (blatantly stolen from http://guides.macrumors.com/Taking_Screenshots_in_Mac_OS_X):
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
Hope this helps!
Actually, there is much more easier way to grab screenshot.
Just hit Cmd Shift 3 for whole screen or Cmd Shift 4 for rectangular area or Cmd Shift 4 then hit space to grab window.
@Chris, @Ilya – Wow, I certainly did not even think that there was a shortcuts for that. Thanks for the correction, this is going to save me time and hassle when creating screenshots.
Even better is trying to get a hold of a Skitch invite (http://plasq.com/skitch) and your screenshot is on the internets in no time. ;)
Grab is still a useful program if you need to use the Timed feature. Allows you to setup before taking a snapshot.
Also the command line utility: screencapture is good for any scripting screencaptures.
I’ve used Skitch for some time now. I really appreciate the ability to edit screenshots using Skitch moreover the ability to edit native OS X screenshots using Preview. The example screenshots helped me differentiate the different keyboard shortcut combinations – How to capture screenshots in Mac OS X with keyboard shortcuts