How to Print Screen on a Mac
What is known as “Print Screen” in the Windows world is called screen captures or screenshots in Mac OS X. You’ve probably noticed there is no ‘Print Screen’ button on a Mac keyboard, this is to both simplify the keyboard and also because it’s unnecessary. Instead of hitting a “Print Screen” button, you’ll hit one of several keyboard combination shortcuts, depending on the exact screen capture action you want taken.
How to Print Screen to a file on the desktop in Mac OS X
The basic functionality of taking a screen capture of a window or desktop in Mac OS X takes an image and dumps it to a file on the Mac desktop. Each uses the pressing of Command and Shift keys concurrently as the basis for execution, followed by a number:
- Command+Shift+3: takes a screenshot of the full screen (or screens if multiple monitors), and save it as a file to the desktop
- Command+Shift+4: brings up a selection box so you can specify an area to take a screenshot of, then save it as a file to the desktop
- Command+Shift+4, then spacebar, then click a window: takes a screenshot of a window only and saves it as a file to the desktop
How to Print Screen to the Clipboard on a Mac
This functions a lot more like Print Screen in the Windows world. If you want to do the equivalent of Print Screen to the clipboard so that you can paste it into another app, these are the commands you’d want to use:
- Command+Control+Shift+3: take a screenshot of the entire screen (screens if multiple monitors), and saves it to the clipboard for pasting elsewhere
- Command+Control+Shift+4, then select an area: takes a screenshot of selection and saves it to the clipboard for pasting elsewhere
- Command+Control+Shift+4, then space, then click a window: takes a screenshot of a window and saves it to the clipboard for pasting
Remember that the Command key on some older Mac keyboards has an Apple logo on it like this , but newer Mac keyboards will say ‘command’ on them. The command key is located next to the spacebar.
I was inspired to write this post because a colleague just posed this question to me: “Why is there no Print Screen button for Mac?”. I always cringe a little when I hear people talking about printing the screen in Mac OS because it’s a phrase straight from the world of Windows PC’s. With so many people switching to new Mac’s its no wonder the terminology is still prevalent. Once you show someone how to perform the screen capture with a keystroke they understand why there isn’t a need to over complicate the keyboard with unnecessary buttons.
Some other helpful tips for recent Mac switchers regard Internet Explorer for Mac and understanding the Mac Task Manager.
You are perpetuating ignorance by using the Microsoft terminology
You are an elitist
Being one that used the Print screen button multiple times daily, I really like it being a button. Must admit that I like the fact that mac os makes print area and print window so easy, though.
Yep – the reason for having the print screen is for something called searchability. You don’t need to ask how to do print screen on windows because there is a button. There are arguments for both, but neither is right. The snipping tool is better than this.
I am using a dual program which allows me to use MAC and Windows at the same time. the program is called VMware Fusion. However as my MAC doesnt have a print screen button, this also does not enable to print screen on my windows using the tips u have provided. Please help.
Your just an extreme Mac Fanboi
You appear to have very little intelligence backing up your ridiculous accusations. Perhaps if you can provide something as damaging as your comment, but actually useful, people would be inclined to read your opinions, since they wouldn’t then be toxic stupidity.
…Thanks…shall I call you an extreme hateboy A.K.A. idiot?
Shut up so rude im guessing you dont know how to grow upp ! -.-
iGenius is what’s known as a forum troll. You sensitive types should learn to ignore trolls instead of getting butthurt over a drive-by comment.
“to over complicate the keyboard with unnecessary buttons”
“over complicate the keyboard”
“over complicate”
Wait…
“press Command+Control+Shift+4, then select an area” > “press Print Screen”
Sorry, hipster. You lose on this one.
^this. The fact is I have to look it up on the internet every time I need to print screen. Maybe if I print-screened everyday I’d eventually remember it, but apple’s completely unintuitive keybinds are flat out retarded and made by contortionists who think needing to press 5 keys at the same time is easy and natural.
Second this: the simple fact that I needed to google for how to print-screen or screen-capture on a Mac clearly notes that the “Mac Way” is not *the* best way… Macs excel in many things, but if you try to push this as a “feature”, don’t be so surprised to be called Fanboy… Thanks for the info, but would be much better just the info without the “Mac-way-is-better” thing…
ditto….!
this is the dumbest thing ever – having to press 4 keys at the same time to accomplish the same thing as pressing “print screen”….
And they say they are doing this to simplify the keyboard??? How about simplify my life? Why did I have to google just to accomplish this???!
yeah but then when u print screen u usually have to crop so its probably quicker typing command+shaft+4 than pushing pint screen, open word, paste, crop, (copy).
LOL I was thinking the exact same thing. The warped mind of mac fanatics (aka smart phone and consumer zombies) are mind boggling. Yes Command + Control + Shift + 4 is simpler than “Print Scrn.” Also this FAILED for me because my dumb mac can’t save to the desktop.
THIS useless RANT made on a Mac.
I have a Logitech wireless tablet keyboard for my Ipad 2. Is there way to do a screen capture on this keyboard? There is no print screen option. I tried the commands you suggested above just to troubleshoot, but I got nothing.
One thing I did not learn from this is… How to PRINT SCREEN on a mac. I did learn how to save the screen to a file or to the clip board. Si I guess I then carry the desktop into the meeting and pass it around to every one.
I suppose the opposite of ignorance is propriety and smugness. All you mac fan-kids can do is disparage Microsoft, which — by the way — will always be the gold standard in general computing software. Just accept it: People want to press a “Print Screen” button instead of memorizing six button combinations. Who knew? Lol.
[...] understand why there isn’t a need to over complicate the keyboard with unnecessary buttons. Original Post Details [...]
Nah no need to complicate the keyboard. Just complicate the users life!
I hate Windows in more ways than will fit in this lowly text box [sic] but I _do_ feel that Alt+PrtScreen is in a sense a bit more user friendly than [... uhoh better
Copy&PasteYank&Put that...] Command+Control+Shift+4, then space, then click a windowBy the way Compiz on linux makes it way better: Super+Leftmousedrag (aka. Windows+Leftmousedrag). But then on linux you have a wide range of options. I bet there is a tool that supports just the same insane keyboard shortcuts as Mac provides. That way, you can all get rid of that annoying extra key
[...] of the above instructions are borrowed from our print screen on a Mac [...]
Yeah….that’s intuitive. I still like Macs, but the “how to” guide is as thick as the freakin tax code!
On my machine it does not save file on Desktop. It lets me select the area, but does not save anything. The clipboard is also empty.
I run 10.6.4.
Thanks, this was very helpful. I didn’t have access to my Mac referance books at the moment so this helped in a pinch.
[...] is taking ‘print screen‘ quite literally. It’s Friday, what did you [...]
THANK YOU!! REALLY HELPFUL
Regarding: “Once you show someone how to perform the screen capture with a keystroke they understand why there isn’t a need to over complicate the keyboard with unnecessary buttons.” — You must be joking! — I am an Elementary school teacher. My SECOND graders need to capture screen to clipboard as part of my curriculum exercise. You think this is EASIER than pushing one button. Get real — their little hands can’t even reach all the keys they need to press at the same time. You Mac people are brainwashed.
A KEYSTROKE? Surely you mean 3 or 4 keystrokes… Do you know what disingenuous means? Agree with MoAmie; do you not subscribe to the K.I.S.S. principle- if not, why not? Come on, ONE dedicated key for such an essential function??
Having been a PC user since the Trash80 days, I’ve only dabbled with mac’s over the years, but now made the full blown switch to a Mac Mini – love it!
Help topics such as the print screen function, a snap to find online. Wanting to print a satellite image from google maps I found the command, shift, 4 very useful. since I only wanted a specific part of the image. I crop and save the image all in one step was awesome.
The PC print screen may have a unique button on the key board, but you’d still have to paste that image in another program, then crop what you wanted, save that, then print. So the one button method for the pc isn’t one step by any stretch.
Thanks again for posting the help topic.
“What is known as “Print Screen” in the Windows world is called screen captures or screenshots in Mac OS X. You’ve probably noticed there is no ‘Print Screen’ button on a Mac keyboard, this is to both simplify the keyboard and also because it’s unnecessary. Instead of hitting a “Print Screen” button, you’ll hit one of several keyboard combination shortcuts, depending on the exact screen capture action you want taken.”
But simply hitting my ‘print screen’ button on my archaic Windows machine is clearly so much harder than hitting 3 buttons simultaneously!
Ridiculous nonsense written by a mac snob who seems to want to say anything to cast Windows machines in a bad light.
I believe your are missing the crux –that it is simplifying the keyboard, not the command.
Oh really? Care to explain the F13-F19 keys? The ones they put in the place of that cumbersome print screen? If apple wanted to simplify the keyboard, why did they put a spurious key in its place?
Ahem, why is that nobody cited the fact that using the System Preferences, in the Keyboard control panel one can redefine which keys and which “chords” are assigned as shortcuts to a function? Pick up a function key that you don’t need and assign it to the screen capture…
[...] known as it should be especially for recent iPhone converts. I run into the question of how to Print Screen on a Mac rather frequently too, but while the Mac may require a key combo to remember, iOS is even easier. [...]
EXCELLENT!!!! thank you very much!! I’ve been wracking my brain trying figure out how to take a SS on my mac… Also thanks for cutting out all the BS and getting right to the point
how do i retrieve the photo?
Where do these images go to? Like on a windows print screen and open microsoft paint and press Ctrl V (paste) and i’d have the picture. How do i do this on a mac?
Thank you
~Kory
hey! I have a mac kee bord, but not mac computer, and it does’nt work…
on my computer eveything is different with the keybord,
f.ex i have to put alt + 2 to get @
I’ve tried the Command Shift 3 and I hear it “take the photo” but when I try to paste it into my email, it does nothing. What am I doing wrong?
[...] way (over command-shift-3) to take screen captures (if you’re from the PC world, think print screen for Mac). To use it, open up your Terminal.app and try typing screencapture -iW ~/Desktop/screen.jpg. It [...]
Thanks!! (:
Macs are fail. Take it from the Dark lord.
for those wondering where your image.. please check you desktop… it should be a fail with the words Screen Shot
Thanks for these easy steps. I find this so much more user friendly than the print-screen command with the PC which forces me to open it in Paint and crop it. Now I can crop before I take the shot.
someone who doesnt know how to use a computer
“Print screen button is unnecessary?”
Yeah, right. Unlike Mac developers, PC developers understand that this is a command that most people use about every few months on average. Each time I need to do it, I have to google the directions and key combination. What could be a 5-second process turns into a 3-minute activity.
…Well, like you said, it’s a function that for most people isn’t going to be used every single day, so having a permanent key for it seems like a waste of space to me.
If you absolutely need to keep googling the directions every single time, then make a move to help yourself and practise it until you’ve got it memorised! Then it [i]will[/i] be a five-second process.
Well, damn, apparently we have no BBCode here. XD Well, that’s a little embarrassing…
I am running windows on a mac book pro in order to run some specific applicaitons — how do you take a screen shot while running windows on a mac book pro style keyboard?
just press F14
thanks for the info. this is great to know but seriously, they should just have a damn button for this.
i’m glad you are cringing…
head up arse
[...] I say screen shot, but those coming to the Mac from Windows often refer to this process as “Print Screen” thanks to the little button on their old PC keyboards. Unless you time the pressing of that [...]
For whole window:
SHIFT + FN + F11
For current window:
SHIFT + Alt + FN + F11
[...] How to print screen: Windows: http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows-vista/Take-a-screen-capture-print-screen Mac: http://osxdaily.com/2010/05/13/print-screen-mac/ [...]
ok thanks for the print screen tip, however how do I then paste it? (tried cmd v but that doesn’t work)
Ditto, it won’t paste into GIMP or Word.
Thanks for the helpful tips. I am a reformed PC user, I frankly will never go back. Mac is way to user friendly.
Sounds easy BUT it doesn’t work on my Imac
Most of the time I’ve gone to using “Grab” which is found in the “Apps” “Utilities” folder. It saves the captured area as a tiff in a location of your choosing.
As one who switched about 4 yrs ago, Grab has helped me not have to remember the mac kbd shortcuts.
[...] How to Print Screen on a Mac What is known as “Print Screen” in the Windows world is called screen captures or screenshots in Mac OS X. You’ve probably noticed there is no ‘Print Screen’ button on a Mac keyboard, this is to both simplify the keyboard and also because it’s unnecessary. Instead of hitting a “Print Screen” button, you’ll hit one of several keyboard combination shortcuts, depending on the exact screen capture action you want taken. [...]
We don’t need your opinion about how awful windows is and how completely ridiculous you think the “print screen” button is. Just tell us how to capture the screen on the mac.
Amen, brother. Pretty telling you have to GOOGLE how to use the stupid thing in the first place.
Although the tone of your article was obnoxious, your information was useful.
really? what kind of jackass claims “Command+Control+Shift+4, then space, then click a window” is more practical than 1-printscreen key? a mac fan – that’s who. macOS is a slow dumbed down interface for people with slow brains. may i suggest making all keys an apple symbol.
Just imagine the size of a keyboard that only has buttons as specific as the print-screen key… Now THAT would be a dumbed-down interface.
My god. The lengths folks will go to to make themselves believe Macs can do no wrong. Really? Three-key combinations are better than having a PRTSCRN key somewhere? Sure wouldn’t want to take the place of a necessary(?) key for ejecting DVDs?
This thread is a good example of the Dark Side of the Internet. What ever happened to civility??? The basic question is how to do a screen capture/screen shot – NOT is MacOS or Windows a better OS. I had to scroll through a huge stinking pile of venom to find a few helpful answers. Shame on you folks. And thanks to those who actually answered the initial query.
Hey Paul,
The article covers the basics of capturing screen shots in Mac OS X, is there any other question you had, or a way that something could be clarified?
[...] don’t have a “Print Screen” button like their Windows PC keyboard counterparts, but taking screenshots from a Mac that [...]
[...] functions and keys that are seemingly lost when using an Apple keyboard, including the Delete key, Print Screen, CTRL+ALT+DEL, volume adjustment, function toggle, and [...]
Yeah….. five keys at once is not simple. And like hell I’m going to do it.
So here is a simple single key solution for all of you that has a keyboard with the print screen key on it.
Step 1: Open System Preferences
Step 2: Click on Keyboard
Step 3: Click on the Keyboard Shortcuts tab
Step 4: Click on Screen Shots (it’s on the left in the list)
Step 5: Double click on the function you wish to map (the right side), it will turn into a text field, then tap your print screen key.
Congrats! You now have a print screen key again. No more finger twister.
Utterly absurd reasoning at the end with “over complicate the keyboard with unnecessary buttons.” Are you serious?
That’s completely counter-intuitive, but as i’m quickly learning, counter-intuitive is apple all over.