Mac Guides

Beginner

3 min read 5 stepsApril 21, 2026Verified April 2026

How to Take a Screenshot on a Mac

Three reliable keyboard shortcuts for capturing what is on your Mac screen, with tips on where the picture is saved.

At a Glance

Capture the whole screen

~15s

Hold Shift + Command + 3 at the same time. You will hear a camera shutter sound. The picture appears as a thumbnail in the bottom-right corner and saves to your desktop a few seconds later.

Capture just part of the screen

~15s

Hold Shift + Command + 4. The mouse pointer turns into a small cross. Click and drag across the part of the screen you want to capture, then let go. Only that rectangle is saved.

Capture one window only

~15s

Hold Shift + Command + 4, then tap the spacebar once. The pointer turns into a camera icon. Move it over any window on your screen — that window highlights in blue — and click. The window is captured without any clutter around it.

Open the screenshot toolbar

~15s

Hold Shift + Command + 5 for the full screenshot toolbar. This gives you buttons for full screen, window, selection, and even screen recording (a video of what you do on screen). Click Options to change where screenshots save.

Edit or share right from the thumbnail

~15s

As soon as you take a screenshot, a small preview appears in the bottom-right corner for about 5 seconds. Click it to open a quick editor where you can draw, crop, or tap the share button to email it.

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Taking a screenshot means making a picture of whatever is on your screen right now. It is one of the most useful skills on a computer — it lets you show a grandchild exactly what error message you are seeing, save a confirmation number from a purchase, or keep a copy of a recipe that might disappear from a website later.

On a Mac, screenshots are built in. You do not need to download anything. There are three main shortcuts to remember, and they all start by holding down Shift and the Command key together (Command is the key with the little looped square symbol, right next to the space bar).

The Mac saves screenshots straight to your desktop by default. If you take a few in a row, the desktop gets cluttered — that is normal. The file names look like "Screenshot 2026-04-21 at 3.15.47 PM.png." You can drag these into emails, attach them to messages, or drop them into a folder for safekeeping.

In the bottom-right corner of the screen, right after you take a screenshot, a little thumbnail preview floats for a few seconds. If you click it, a small editor opens where you can draw arrows, circle things, and crop the picture before saving. If you ignore the preview, it saves on its own.

One thing that trips people up: the shortcuts use numbers across the top of the keyboard — the 3, 4, and 5 keys. Not the number pad on the right side of a full-sized keyboard. If nothing happens when you press the shortcut, check that you are using the top row of numbers.

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Official Resources

Apple Support How-To Geek — Mac Apple Support YouTube

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