How to Screenshot on Mac in 2025 – 12 Easy Ways (Shift‑Cmd‑5 & More)
Need a quick Mac screenshot or screen recording? This guide covers every built‑in shortcut from Shift ⌘ 3 to the touch bar! plus pro tips for editing, saving to PDF and sharing.
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Capture the entire screen
Press Shift ⌘ 3. A PNG preview appears in the bottom‑right; click on it to enlarge the image. You can then annotate by using the in‑built simple editor (click the small "Pencil" icon in the top right corner to enable the editor toolbar along the top).
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Capture a selected area
Press Shift ⌘ 4, drag to highlight the region, then release. Tap the Spacebar to switch to window mode.
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Use the Screenshot tool (Shift ⌘ 5)
Shift ⌘ 5 opens Apple’s Screenshot toolbar with options for static grabs and screen recording. Click Options › Save to › Clipboard to bypass desktop clutter.
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Screenshot the Touch Bar
On MacBook Pro models with Touch Bar, press Shift ⌘ 6 to save a PNG of the entire Touch Bar.
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Take a timed screenshot
Inside the Screenshot tool, pick Options › Timer › 5 seconds (or 10 s) before hitting the capture button—perfect for dropdown menus.
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Record video of your screen
In the Screenshot toolbar choose Record Entire Screen or Record Selected Portion. To stop recording from the menu‑bar click this "⏹︎" icon or press ⌘ Control Esc.
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Capture a specific window
Press Shift ⌘ 4, tap Spacebar, then click the window. A drop‑shadow PNG lands on your desktop.
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Copy a screenshot straight to the clipboard
Hold Control while pressing any shortcut above (e.g. Control Shift ⌘ 4) and paste into Messages, Mail or Slack.
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Save screenshots directly as PDF
Take the shot, then open the PNG in Preview › File › Export as PDF. Or hold Control for clipboard‑to‑Preview quick‑save.
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Change the default save location
Open the Screenshot toolbar (Shift ⌘ 5) › Options and pick Documents or a custom folder to keep your desktop tidy.
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Use a third‑party app for scrolling screenshots
macOS still lacks more advanced features like scrolling capture. Try CleanShot X for one‑click scrolling.
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Take a screenshot from Preview
Open the Preview App click › File › Take Screenshot using the menu options identical to the Screenshot tool! Handy if you forget the shortcuts.