Take a screenshot on Mac

You can capture the entire screen, a window, or just a portion of the screen.

• Capture the entire screen

• Capture a portion of the screen

• Capture a window or menu

• Capture using the Screenshot app

• Find your screenshots

Capture the entire screen

1. To take a screenshot, press and then release these three keys together: Shift, Command, and 3.

2. If you see a thumbnail in the corner of your screen, click it to edit the screenshot. Or wait for the screenshot to save to your desktop.

Capture a portion of the screen

1. Press and then release these three keys together: Shift, Command, and 4. The pointer turns into a crosshair.

2. To select the area of the screen to capture, click and hold your mouse or trackpad button while dragging the crosshair. Then take any of these actions:

   • To take the screenshot, release the mouse or trackpad button.

   • To cancel the screenshot, press the Esc (Escape) key.

   • To move the area you selected without changing its size, press and hold Space bar while dragging.

     

3. If you see a thumbnail in the corner of your screen, click it to edit the screenshot. Or wait for the screenshot to save to your desktop.

Capture a window or menu

1. Open the window or menu that you want to capture.

2. Press and release these three keys together: Shift, Command, and 4. Then press and release the Space bar. The pointer changes to a camera icon.

   • To cancel taking the screenshot, press the Esc (Escape) key.

   • To take the screenshot, click the window or menu to capture it. To exclude the window's shadow from the screenshot, press and hold the Option key while you click.

     

3. If you see a thumbnail in the corner of your screen, click it to edit the screenshot. Or wait for the screenshot to save to your desktop.

Capture using the Screenshot app

In macOS Mojave 10.14 or later, you can also use the Screenshot app to take a screenshot. To open the app, press Shift-Command-5. Or find the Screenshot app in the Utilities folder of your Applications folder.

The Screenshot app includes an Options menu from which you can:

• Set a screenshot timer

• Choose where screenshots are saved

• Choose whether to show the floating thumbnail after taking a screenshot

• Choose whether to show the mouse pointer in your screenshot

• On supported Mac models using macOS Tahoe 26 or later, choose the capture format:

  • SDR (Most Compatible) to capture in standard dynamic range using the PNG image format

  • HDR to capture in high dynamic range using the HEIF image format

Learn more about the Screenshot app

Find your screenshots

• By default, screenshots save to your desktop with the name ”Screen Shot [date] at [time].” You can change the default save location in the Options menu of the Screenshot app.

• Instead of waiting for the screenshot to be saved to your desktop, you can drag the thumbnail that appears in the corner of your screen, then drop it in another location.

• To save a screenshot to the Clipboard instead of your desktop, Control-click the screenshot thumbnail that appears in the corner of your screen, then choose Save to Clipboard from the shortcut menu that appears. Or press Control in addition to the other keys you press to take the screenshot. For example, instead of pressing Shift-Command-3, press Control-Shift-Command-3.

Learn more

• How to record a video of the screen on Mac

• In macOS 27 Golden Gate or later with Siri AI (Beta) turned on, you can ask Siri questions about what's on your Mac screen. Press Command-Shift-Space bar to ask about the active window or Command-Shift-6 to ask about a portion of the screen. Learn about what's on your Mac screen with Siri AI.

• If you hold your mouse pointer over the screenshot thumbnail, the thumbnail remains onscreen until you act on the thumbnail or move the pointer away.

• Some apps, such as the Apple TV app, might not let you take screenshots of their windows.