How to screenshot on a Mac: every shortcut, and what to do when one fails.
Press Shift-Command-3 to capture the whole screen. Press Shift-Command-4 and drag to capture part of it, or press Space after Shift-Command-4 and click a window to capture only that window. Shift-Command-5 opens the Screenshot app, with screen recording, a timer and a choice of where files go. Add Control to any of these and the image goes to the clipboard instead of a file. Screenshots save to the desktop as PNG files by default. Everything below is checked against Apple's own documentation for macOS Sonoma 14, Sequoia 15 and Tahoe 26.
How screenshots work on a Mac
macOS has two ways in. The keyboard shortcuts take a picture immediately: Shift-Command-3 for the whole screen, Shift-Command-4 for a region or a window. The Screenshot app, opened with Shift-Command-5 or from Applications then Utilities, puts a small toolbar on screen with three still-image tools, three recording tools and an Options menu. Apple has kept both since macOS Mojave, so the same keys work on every Mac running Sonoma, Sequoia or Tahoe.
After a capture, a thumbnail floats in the bottom-right corner for a few seconds. Click it to mark up or share the image, drag it straight into a document or message, or swipe it away to save at once. If you ignore it, the file lands on the desktop as a PNG named Screenshot with the date and time; recordings are saved as .mov. On supported Macs running macOS Tahoe 26 you can also choose HDR capture, which saves HEIF instead of PNG.
The one rule worth memorising is the Control key. Holding Control with any capture shortcut skips the file entirely and puts the image on the clipboard, ready to paste with Command-V into Slack, Mail or a bug report. On macOS 26 that copy also appears in Spotlight's clipboard history for as long as your retention setting allows.
Every way to take a screenshot on a Mac
Shift-Command-3: the entire screen
Press and release Shift, Command and 3 together. The whole display is captured at once, and with more than one display connected you get one file per screen. A thumbnail appears in the corner; click it to edit, or wait and the file saves to your desktop. This is the shortcut to use when you want everything on screen, or when you are not sure yet what part you will need and would rather crop later in Preview.
Shift-Command-4: a region you drag
Press Shift-Command-4 and the pointer becomes a crosshair. Drag over the area you want and release the mouse or trackpad button to take the shot. While dragging, hold Space to move the selection without changing its size, which is the easiest way to fix a box you started in the wrong place. Press Escape at any point to cancel. Apple also documents this as the way to capture only some items of an open menu: open the menu first, then drag over the items.
Shift-Command-4, then Space: one window
Open the window first. Press Shift-Command-4, then press and release the Space bar. The pointer turns into a camera and the window under it highlights; click to capture just that window, with no desktop behind it. The window is captured with its shadow by default. Hold Option while you click to leave the shadow out, which gives a tighter image for documents. Some apps block window capture, and Apple names DVD Player as one of them.
Shift-Command-5: the Screenshot app
This opens a toolbar with tools for the entire screen, a selected window and a selected portion, plus three matching recording tools. The Options menu sets where files are saved (Desktop, Documents, Clipboard, Mail, Messages, Preview or any folder), a timer, whether the floating thumbnail appears, whether to remember the last selection and whether the pointer is shown. For recordings it adds a microphone choice. Stop a recording from the button in the menu bar; the file saves as .mov.
Control: straight to the clipboard
Add Control to any shortcut and nothing is saved as a file. Control-Shift-Command-3 copies the whole screen and Control-Shift-Command-4 copies a region or window. Then press Command-V wherever you want the image. You can also Control-click the floating thumbnail and choose Save to Clipboard. This is the fastest route for a screenshot that is going into a chat or an email rather than into a folder, and it leaves no clutter on the desktop.
Screenshot shortcuts on Mac, side by side
This table compares methods, not products, and the first four columns are already on your Mac. Read the row for the job in front of you. Shift-Command-3 is for everything on screen, Shift-Command-4 for a region or a window, and Shift-Command-5 for anything that needs a timer, a recording or a different save location. Shift-Command-6 captures the Touch Bar on Macs that have one.
The Coco column covers one narrower case: a screenshot that is going to another person and needs an arrow or a blurred name first. Coco's own capture, Control-Command-A by default, freezes the screen, lets you mark up the region with arrows, boxes, text or a mosaic brush, and ends with the result on your clipboard. It does not record video, and it does not do scrolling capture or text recognition. For those, the built-in tools or a dedicated app are the right choice.
| ⇧⌘3 | ⇧⌘4 | ⇧⌘5 app | Control + shortcut | Coco ⌃⌘A | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Captures the entire screen | |||||
| Captures a selected region | |||||
| Captures a single window | |||||
| Copies to the clipboard instead of a file | |||||
| Timer | |||||
| Screen recording | |||||
| Annotate before pasting | |||||
| Pixelate sensitive text | |||||
| Free with macOS |
Change where screenshots go, set a timer, and fix ones that won't save
Choose a save location
Press Shift-Command-5, open Options, and pick a location under Save to, or choose Other Location for any folder. The choice applies to the keyboard shortcuts too. If you prefer Terminal, the community-documented command defaults write com.apple.screencapture location followed by a folder path, then killall SystemUIServer, does the same; the folder must already exist.
Set a timer
In the same Options menu, choose a delay under Timer. The countdown starts when you click Capture. A timer works best with Entire Screen or Selected Portion, because with window capture you still have to click the window when the countdown ends, and that click can close the menu or hover state you were trying to catch.
Change or turn off the shortcuts
Open System Settings, then Keyboard, then Keyboard Shortcuts, and choose Screenshots in the sidebar. Every capture shortcut is listed there and can be reassigned or switched off. If a shortcut does nothing at all, check here first, because another app may have claimed the same keys.
If screenshots are not saving
Open Shift-Command-5 and look at Options: if Save to is set to Clipboard, nothing will appear on the desktop by design. On a MacBook Pro with a Touch Bar, users on Apple Support Communities and Ask Different report that the Save to option shown on the Touch Bar during Shift-Command-4 is remembered and can override your chosen location; set it back to Desktop there.
Questions people ask about screenshots on a Mac
- What is the shortcut to screenshot on a Mac?
- There are three. Shift-Command-3 captures the entire screen. Shift-Command-4 turns the pointer into a crosshair so you can drag over a region, and pressing Space after it switches to capturing a single window. Shift-Command-5 opens the Screenshot app, which adds screen recording, a timer and a menu for where files are saved. On a MacBook Pro with a Touch Bar, Shift-Command-6 captures the Touch Bar itself. All of them save a PNG to the desktop by default, and adding Control to any of them copies the image to the clipboard instead. You can reassign every one of these in System Settings, under Keyboard, Keyboard Shortcuts, Screenshots.
- How do I screenshot only one window on a Mac?
- Bring the window to the front, press Shift-Command-4, then press and release the Space bar. The pointer becomes a camera and whichever window is under it is highlighted. Click to capture that window alone, with nothing behind it. macOS includes the window's drop shadow by default, which adds transparent margin around the image; hold Option while you click to capture the window without its shadow. Pressing Escape cancels. The same method captures the menu bar or an open menu, and the Screenshot app opened with Shift-Command-5 has a Capture Selected Window tool that does the same thing with the mouse.
- How do I copy a screenshot to the clipboard instead of saving it?
- Add Control to the shortcut you would normally use. Control-Shift-Command-3 copies the whole screen and Control-Shift-Command-4 copies a region, or a window if you press Space. Nothing is written to the desktop; press Command-V in any app that accepts images. You can also Control-click the floating thumbnail and choose Save to Clipboard, or set Save to Clipboard permanently under Options in the Screenshot app. On macOS Tahoe 26 the copied image also appears in Spotlight's clipboard history, opened with Command-Space and then Command-4, until your retention setting clears it.
- Where do screenshots go on a Mac?
- To the desktop, by default. Files are PNG images named Screenshot followed by the date and time, and screen recordings are .mov files named Screen Recording. Older Macs and older Apple help pages use the name Screen Shot. To change the folder, press Shift-Command-5, click Options and choose a location under Save to, or pick Other Location for any folder; the choice applies to the keyboard shortcuts as well. If nothing appears on the desktop after a capture, the most common reason is that Save to has been set to Clipboard, Preview or another folder.
- How do I take a delayed screenshot on a Mac?
- Press Shift-Command-5 to open the Screenshot app, click Options, and choose a delay under Timer. Then choose the area to capture and click Capture; the countdown runs and the shot is taken without another click. A timer is the standard way to capture a menu, a tooltip or a hover state that disappears the moment you press a key. It works most reliably with the Entire Screen and Selected Portion tools. With Capture Selected Window you still have to click the window after the countdown, and that click can dismiss what you were trying to capture.
- How do I record my screen on a Mac?
- Press Shift-Command-5 and choose Record Entire Screen or Record Selected Portion, or the window recording tool, from the right-hand side of the toolbar. Open Options first if you want narration and pick a microphone. Click Record to start. To stop, click the stop button that appears in the menu bar. The recording is saved as a .mov file in the location set under Save to, the desktop by default, and a thumbnail appears in the corner where you can trim it before it saves. QuickTime Player can also record the screen if you prefer working from an app window.
- Can I see screenshots I copied earlier?
- On macOS Tahoe 26, yes, for a while. Open Spotlight with Command-Space and press Command-4 to see your clipboard history, including copied images; from macOS 26.1 you choose in System Settings, Spotlight, whether items are kept for 30 minutes, 8 hours or 7 days. On Sonoma and Sequoia there is no built-in history, so a copied screenshot is gone the moment you copy something else. A clipboard manager such as Coco keeps every copy, text and images, until you clear it: press Shift-Command-V, press Space for a large preview, and Return to paste it back into the app you came from.
- Is there a screenshot tool that annotates before pasting?
- macOS has Markup, which opens when you click the floating thumbnail, so you can draw on a screenshot before saving it. The catch is timing: the thumbnail disappears after a few seconds, and the result is a file you then drag into a message. Coco's capture, Control-Command-A by default, freezes the screen, lets you drag a region or click a window, adds a toolbar with an arrow, rectangle, ellipse, line, pen, text and a mosaic brush that pixelates anything you drag over, and puts the finished image on the clipboard. Coco is $49 once at the launch price, $99 list, with a seven-day free trial.
Copy the prompt, or send it straight to the AI you already use — it drives Coco through the same commands you would type yourself.
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