How Do I Print Screen On My Apple Laptop

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From crafting a clever visual joke to reporting problems to tech support, taking a screenshot is a useful trick to know on your computer. Thankfully, taking a screenshot (or screen grab) on OS X is incredibly simple. These are the commands to take different kinds of screenshots on your Macbook or other Mac computer.

1

Hold down the keys: Command + Shift + 3 You should hear a brief camera sound. This is the most basic screenshot: it will take a picture of your whole screen at that moment.
2

Find the screenshot as a png file on the desktop with the name Screenshot time/date.

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1

Hold down the keys: Command + Shift + 4 Your cursor will turn into a small reticule with pixel coordinate numbers to the lower left.
2

Click and hold your mouse or trackpad and drag the cursor to select a rectangular area you wish to screenshot. You can press the Esc key to start over without taking the photo.
3

Release the click to take the picture. Again, your file will be saved on your desktop.

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1

Hold down Command + Shift + 4 + Space. This will turn your cursor into a small camera icon and whatever window you are hovering over will be highlighted blue.
2

Highlight the window you want to screenshot. To find the right window, you can cycle through your open applications with Command + Tab or use F3 to array all your open windows. Press Esc to cancel without taking a photo.
3

Click the highlighted window. Find your file on the desktop.

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1

Hold down the Ctrl key and perform any of the above commands. This will save your screenshot to the clipboard instead of as a file on the desktop.
2

Paste the screenshot into a word processing document, an email or an image editor by holding down keys Command + V or selecting Paste from the Edit menu.

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1

Launch Preview. Find it in the the applications folder of the Finder, and double click on its icon.
2

Open the File menu and move your cursor over Take Screen Shot.
3
Select From Selection, From Window, or From Entire Screen
- From Selection will turn your cursor into a reticle. Click and drag across the rectangular area you wish to capture.
- From Window will turn your cursor into a camera icon. Highlight the window you want to capture and click.
- Entire Screen will start a countdown. Arrange your screen how you want it captured and wait for the timer to run down.
4

Save your new image. The screenshot will immediately open up as an untitled Preview image window. Open the file menu and select Save. Type a name, select a location and file type, and click Save.

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Add New Question

Question

Which of these works better if I want to crop, fix or alter the screenshot to post on social media?

Paulo Gonçalves

Community Answer

Capture select area.
Question

How can I capture a web page that does not display in its entirety in the window?

Try saving the web page as a PDF document. To do this, simply click the Print button like you would if you were trying to actually print it out. In the destination field, select 'Save as PDF'.
Question

How do I cancel the screenshot function?

Adam Hendi

Community Answer

To cancel the screenshot program, I usually hit the ESC key (located in the top left corner of the keyboard).
Question

Why isn't method two working for me?

Make sure that you are pressing down on all three buttons at the same time (Command + Shift + 4). Otherwise the method won't work.

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Video

If you are taking a screen shot of your browser window, make sure you don't have any tabs open you don't want other people to see.
The screenshot is saved to the same clipboard that text is saved to when you copy and paste text.

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About This Article

Article SummaryX

To take a screenshot of the entire screen of a MacBook, press the Command key, the Shift key, and the number 3 key at the same time. You'll find your screenshot file on the desktop. To take a screenshot of a single window, such as your web browser, press the Command key, the Shift key, the number 4 key, and the Spacebar at the same time. When the cursor turns to a tiny camera, click the window you want to capture. The file will be saved to your desktop. If you just want to capture one particular area of the screen, press the Command key, the Shift key, and the number 4. Your regular mouse cursor will turn into a crosshair. Click and drag the crosshair to select the part of the screen. Release your finger from the mouse or trackpad button to take the screenshot. The final image will be saved to your desktop. For more tips, including how to take a screenshot in Preview, read on!

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