The fastest way to capture your screen on Mac

Mac has a built-in screenshot tool called Screenshot that opens with a keyboard shortcut and lets you capture your whole screen, a window, or just a portion. Press Shift + Command + 5 to open it. A toolbar appears at the bottom of your screen with five buttons: capture the entire screen, capture a selected window, capture a selected portion, record the entire screen, or record a selected portion. Click the button you need, then click Capture or Record. Your screenshot saves to your desktop by default, and recordings save as .mov files.

If you want the screenshot to go to your clipboard instead of your desktop — so you can paste it directly into an email or document — hold Control while you press Shift + Command + 5, then take your screenshot as usual. The file won't appear on your desktop; it will be ready to paste.

Key Takeaways

  • Press Shift + Command + 5 to open Mac's built-in Screenshot tool, which handles both still images and video recordings.
  • Choose whether to capture your entire screen, a single window, or a specific area by clicking the appropriate button in the toolbar.
  • Hold Control while using the shortcut to send your screenshot to your clipboard instead of saving it as a file on your desktop.
  • Screenshots save as .png files and recordings save as .mov files in your Downloads folder or desktop, depending on your settings.
  • The Screenshot tool also lets you set a timer before capture, which is useful for including your cursor or capturing menus that disappear.

Capturing just part of your screen

When you press Shift + Command + 5 and click the "Capture selected portion" button (the third icon), your cursor changes to a crosshair. Click and drag to draw a rectangle around the area you want to capture. As you drag, the dimensions appear in the center of your selection so you can see exactly how large the area is. Release the mouse to take the screenshot.

If you make a mistake before releasing the mouse, press Escape to cancel and start over. After you release the mouse, a thumbnail appears in the corner of your screen for a few seconds. Click the thumbnail to edit the screenshot before it saves — you can crop it further, add a sketch, magnify part of it, or add text. If you do nothing, it saves automatically after a few seconds.

Recording your screen with audio

Press Shift + Command + 5 and click either "Record entire screen" or "Record selected portion" (the fourth or fifth button). If you choose the selected portion, drag to define the area you want to record. A red recording indicator appears at the top of your screen, and a toolbar shows at the bottom with options to stop the recording or adjust microphone settings.

To include audio from your microphone or system sounds, click the microphone icon in the toolbar before you start recording. Choose "Built-in Microphone" to record your voice, or "Internal Audio" to record system sounds like music or video playback. You can select both. When you are ready, click the red record button or press Space to start. Press Space again or click the red indicator at the top to stop recording. The file saves as a .mov video file on your desktop.

Changing where screenshots and recordings save

By default, screenshots go to your desktop and recordings go to your Downloads folder. To change this, open Screenshot (Shift + Command + 5), then click Options in the toolbar. A menu appears with a "Save to" section. Click the current location — usually "Desktop" — and choose a different folder like Documents, Downloads, or any other folder on your Mac.

You can also choose to save to the Clipboard instead, which means the file won't appear as a separate file at all — it will only be available to paste into another program. This is the same as holding Control while you take the screenshot, but it sets the default so you don't have to remember the modifier key each time.

Using a timer to capture menus and cursors

Some screenshots are harder to take because the thing you want to capture disappears when you move your mouse. Menus close when you click away, and the cursor itself vanishes if you try to photograph it. The Screenshot tool has a timer to solve this. Press Shift + Command + 5, click Options, and look for "Timer". Choose 5 seconds or 10 seconds. When you click Capture or Record, a countdown appears on your screen. You have that many seconds to position your menu or get your cursor where you want it before the screenshot happens automatically.

The timer is also useful if you need to step away from your keyboard. Set it for 10 seconds, click Capture, then move to where you want to be in the frame before the screenshot takes itself.

Taking a screenshot of a single window

Press Shift + Command + 5 and click the "Capture selected window" button (the second icon). Your cursor changes to a crosshair, and as you move it over different windows on your screen, each window highlights with a blue border. Click the window you want to capture. The entire window — including its title bar and shadow — saves as a screenshot. This is faster than manually selecting a portion if you want to capture a whole process window without the desktop around it.

If you hold down the Space bar while using the window capture tool, you can switch between capturing the window and capturing the selected portion mode without closing the tool. This is useful if you start to select a window but change your mind and want to draw a custom rectangle instead.

Editing screenshots before they save

After you take a screenshot, a thumbnail appears in the corner of your screen for a few seconds. Click it to open the editing panel. You can crop the image by dragging the corners, add a sketch with the pen tool, add text, add a shape, or magnify a section. The toolbar at the top of the editing panel shows all these options. When you are done editing, click Done to save the changes, or click outside the panel to discard your edits.

If you missed the thumbnail, you can still edit the screenshot by opening it from your desktop or the folder where it saved, then right-clicking it and choosing "Open With" > "Screenshot". This opens the same editing panel. You can also drag a screenshot into Preview, the built-in image viewer on Mac, to make more detailed edits like resizing, rotating, or adjusting colors.

Frequently Asked Questions

Where do my screenshots go if I don't change the save location?

Screenshots save to your desktop by default, where they appear as .png files with names like "Screenshot 2024-01-15 at 2.30.45 PM". Recordings save to your Downloads folder as .mov files. You can change both locations in the Screenshot tool's Options menu.

Can I take a screenshot without the cursor showing up?

The cursor will not appear in your screenshot unless you specifically include it. If you want the cursor to show, open Screenshot, click Options, and toggle on "Show mouse pointer" before you capture. By default, this is off.

What is the difference between saving to clipboard and saving to desktop?

Saving to clipboard means the screenshot exists only in your computer's memory and is ready to paste into another program — it does not create a file on your desktop. Saving to desktop creates an actual file you can find, rename, move, or email later. Use clipboard when you only need the image once; use desktop when you want to keep it.

Can I record my screen with audio from both my microphone and the system at the same time?

Yes. Open Screenshot, click the microphone icon in the toolbar, and you will see options for "Built-in Microphone" and "Internal Audio". Check both boxes to record both your voice and system sounds like music or video playback in the same recording.

How do I take a screenshot on an older Mac that does not have Shift + Command + 5?

Older Macs use Shift + Command + 3 for the entire screen and Shift + Command + 4 for a selected portion. These still work on newer Macs too. If you have a very old Mac without the Screenshot app, these keyboard shortcuts open a crosshair tool that works the same way.