How to take a screenshot on a Mac with a simple command or shortcut.

There are bound to be moments when you want to take a screenshot on your Mac, whether it’s to illustrate an app’s behavior, capture a moment in time, or share what your desktop looks like. Thankfully, macOS includes multiple ways to capture your screen, most of which only require a simple keyboard command or shortcut.

How to take a basic screenshot on a Mac

The simplest way to take a selfie on your Mac is to capture the entire screen. You need to remember a simple command.

Press Shift, Command, and 3 at the same time.

If you see a thorns in the screen corner, you can edit the image.

The photo is now on desktop.

If you want to copy a screenshot to the clipboard, hold Control.

How to capture a window or menu on a Mac

Sometimes you want to capture a selfie for a single app or a menu.

Find the app window or menu you want for your selfie.

Press Shift, Command, 4, and the spacebar at the same time. The mouse pointer can be changed to a camera.

Click on the window or menu you want .

If you see a thumbnail in the screen corner, you can edit the image.

How to capture part of the screen on a Mac

In some cases, you’ll want to capture particular parts of the screen on a Mac.

Press Shift, Command, and 4 at the same time. A crosshair will appear with numbers on the screen.

Hold, drag to select the screen area you want to capture.

Let go of the mouse or trackpad button to take the picture. You can press Esc to cancel the picture.