How to Take iPad Screenshots Using Keyboard Shortcuts
Using an iPad with a hardware keyboard provides access to several keyboard shortcuts to quickly take screen shots on iPad. These keystrokes offer a consistent and quick way to take a screenshot on iPad without your fingers having to leave the keyboard to use the other approaches of the Home / Power button iPad screenshot method or the Power / Volume button approach to taking screenshots on iPad Pro.
If you’re an iPad user who is also a Mac user, you will likely find these screenshot keyboard shortcuts to be familiar to you as they are the same as the keystrokes to take screenshots on Mac.
2 iPad ScreenShot Keyboard Shortcuts
Remember, you must have an iPad hardware keyboard connected to iPad to be able to use these keyboard shortcuts. Any iPad keyboard case, Apple Smart Keyboard, Bluetooth keyboard, or external keyboard accessory connected to the iPad will do the job.
Command Shift 3 – Take iPad Screenshot and save it to Photos / Camera Roll
Pressing Command Shift 3 concurrently will snap a screen shot of whatever is on the iPad display, and then save it to the Photos app Camera Roll.
Screenshots can be easily found in iOS by going to the Screenshots Photo Album.
Command Shift 4 – Take iPad Screen Shot and open it instantly in Markup
Hitting Command Shift 4 keys together on iPad will take a screenshot of whatever is on the iPad display, and then immediately open the screenshot into the Markup image editor.
The Markup image editor of iOS allows you to crop photos, use simple drawing tools, place text onto the image, draw shapes onto the image, and more.
It’s worth mentioning that some iPad keyboards even have dedicated screenshot buttons, typically in the function row as the F4 key. For example the Omoton keyboard has a dedicated screen shot button, which operates a bit like the Print Screen button in the PC world. But even if the keyboard does not have a dedicated screenshot button (and most don’t) then you can use the Command + Shift + 3 and Command + Shift + 4 methods to take screen captures, and it doesn’t matter what the iPad model is either as long as it has a physical keyboard connected to the device.
The keyboard method of capturing the screen is quite handy, particularly if you use an iPad keyboard case or a iPad as a desk workstation setup. Of course you can still use the iPad Pro screenshot method of pressing Volume Up and Power or the iPad with Home button screenshot method of pressing Home and Power too, even if the keyboard is attached to the iPad.
This is obviously aimed at screenshots, but you can also record the screen of iPad (or iPhone) if needed, though there is not currently a keystroke to quickly implement that feature.
Know of any other helpful iPad keyboard screenshot tricks? Share with us in the comments below!
Wow iOS is so primitive lol
That’s a great tip. Note, however that command + shift + 3 actually achieves the same effect as the usual power + volume up (or power + home button on older iPads). Namely, on modern versions of iOS either method will take a screenshot and display a thumbnail on the bottom left corner of the screen for a few seconds which can be tapped on to open the screenshot editor. If no action is taken, the screenshot will indeed automatically be stored in photos. On older versions of iOS, on the other hand, there was no editor and pressing power + home button immediately stored the screenshot in photos.