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Screenshots on a Mac: every shortcut
Three shortcuts cover every case, and a fourth is there for the day you want to record your screen rather than photograph it. Here are the commands, where the images land, and what to do when nothing happens at all.
The ten-second answer
- Command + Shift + 3 captures the whole screen at once. The file lands on the desktop.
- Command + Shift + 4 turns the pointer into a crosshair: click and drag to grab an area. Press the Space bar afterwards to capture a whole window instead, cleanly cut out.
The shortcuts, from simplest to fullest
macOS has no Print Screen key like a PC. Everything goes through combinations, and they follow a logic: 3 for everything, 4 for a part, 5 to choose.
- Command + Shift + 3: the entire screen. With two displays, one file per display.
- Command + Shift + 4: an area, drawn by dragging the crosshair. Esc cancels.
- Command + Shift + 4 then Space bar: one specific window, with its drop shadow.
- Command + Shift + 5: the full toolbar, which adds screen recording and a timer.
Add the Control key to any of these and the image goes to the clipboard instead of being saved: Command + Control + Shift + 4, then Command + V to paste straight into a message or a document.
Where screenshots go, and how to change it
By default every screenshot becomes a PNG file on the desktop, named with the date and time. On an already-crowded desktop that gets out of hand quickly — the destination folder is changed once and for all.
- Change the folder: Command + Shift + 5, then Options, then pick a folder from the list or Other Location.
- Paste without saving: add the Control key to the shortcut and nothing is written to disk.
- Remove the drop shadow on window captures: hold the Option key as you click.
- Edit straight away: the thumbnail in the bottom right stays clickable for a few seconds and opens the quick editor, with cropping, arrows and highlighting.
The full table
Every combination reads the same way: Command and Shift as the base, a digit for the mode, Control on top to aim at the clipboard.
Command + Shift + 3
whole screen, saved as a file
Command + Shift + 4
an area drawn with the crosshair
Command + Shift + 4 then Space
a whole window, cut out
Command + Shift + 5
toolbar, recording and timer
Command + Shift + 6
the Touch Bar, on models that have one
Control + any of the above
to the clipboard, no file
Option while clicking
window without its drop shadow
Esc
cancel the capture in progress
Space bar then drag
move an area you already drew
Command + V
paste the screenshot from the clipboard
Nothing happens: where the fault lies
In most cases it is neither macOS nor a setting: it is a key that no longer responds. The shortcut needs four keys at once, so a single dead key is enough to stop everything — while that same key seems to work elsewhere.
- Test each key on its own in a text document: Command, Shift, then the digits 3, 4 and 5. A dead key shows up immediately.
- Check the shortcut has not been switched off: System Settings, Keyboard, Keyboard Shortcuts, Screenshots.
- Try a USB keyboard. If the capture works with it, the internal keyboard is at fault and not the system.
- If a key is stuck, sticky or dead after a spill, that is a part to replace: a single keycap, the whole keyboard, or the top case depending on the model.
On MacBook Pro and Air from 2016 onwards the keyboard is riveted to the top case and cannot be changed on its own. Read the model number engraved on the underside — an A followed by four digits — before ordering anything.
FAQ
Is there a Print Screen key on a Mac?
No, no Apple keyboard has one. Screenshots go only through Command + Shift + 3, 4 or 5. On a PC keyboard plugged into a Mac, the Print Screen key does nothing.
How do I capture a window without the wallpaper behind it?
Command + Shift + 4, then press the Space bar: the pointer becomes a camera and the window you hover over is captured on its own, cut out and with its shadow.
My screenshots are cluttering the desktop. Where else can they go?
Command + Shift + 5, click Options, and choose another destination folder. The setting sticks for every screenshot afterwards.
The capture works but the image is black.
That is content protection: some streaming apps prevent their window from being captured. The rest of the screen is captured normally, only the protected area stays black.
