5 Tips for Taking Faster Screenshots on Apple’s Mac

By Prajith

| Updated: Monday, October 3, 2016, 11:11 [IST]

Apple's macOS allows its users to capture screenshots in multiple ways. While the keyboard shortcuts let you take a screenshot within seconds, the other ways take a little longer comparatively.

5 Tips for Taking Faster Screenshots on Apple’s Mac

That being said, each way has its own advantage over others. In this article, we will tell you about the different ways in which you can take a screenshot in Apple's Mac. In addition to that, we will also tell you which way is quicker and which one is more customisable.

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The Command Plus Shift Plus 3 way

This is the quickest way on macOS to capture a screenshot. All you have to do is press the command, shift, and 3 (the numeric key) at a time to capture the entire screen. The captured screenshot will be saved on the desktop as a .PNG file.

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Use Command Plus Shift Plus 4

To capture a particular portion of the screen, press command + shift + 4. As soon as you press these keys, a crosshair will pop on your screen, which can be dragged across the portion you want to include in your screenshot.

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Press Command Plus Shift Plus 4 Plus Spacebar

If you have multiple windows open on your screen and are willing to capture only a specific window use this command. On pressing command, shift, 4, and spacebar simultaneously, a camera icon will show up. Move the camera icon over the window you intend to capture and click on it.

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Use Grab, the inbuilt screenshot app

Why do we need an extra app to capture a screenshot when the keyboard shortcuts can serve the same purpose, you ask? Well, apart from providing the three options stated above, the Grab app allows you to set a timer for a screen capture. Just type Grab in the Spotlight search to access this app.

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Use the Terminal to customise screenshots

You can't exactly capture a screenshot using the Terminal. However, it can help you customise things like the screenshot's name, its file type, or its save location. Use the below commands to customise each of its behaviour.

To change the screenshot's file type:

defaults write com.apple.screencapturetype [type]

killall SystemUI

Note: Replace [type] with JPG, BMP, PDF, TIF, or PNG depending upon the requirement.

To change the screenshot's file name:

defaults write com.apple.screencapturename [file name]

killall Sys

Note: Replace the [file name] with whatever the name you'd like to use.