Quick Screenshot Key Commands in Mac OS X

Wednesday, February 13, 2008 ~ 4:20 pm

Every designer knows that at some point during a project there will screenshots, and lots of them. Third party applications often get this job, but if you are a Mac user (10.3 and later), you have another option built right into the OS. That option comes in the form of key commands, and the key commands come in three flavors:

1. If you want a file saved to the desktop for later editing use Shift+Command(Apple)+3 for the whole screen and Shift+Command(Apple)+4 for a selection.

2. If you want a screenshot that can be pasted directly into Photoshop/Illustrator/Etc. use Shift+Control+Command(Apple)+3 for the whole screen and Shift+Control+Command(Apple)+4 for a selection. Then go back to your application and paste it right in!

3. If your want just a window and need to be precise press Shift+Command+4 just like you would for a selection, then hit the space bar. Your cursor will turn into a camera. From there just click on the window you want. It can even be covered by another window and it will only include the window you picked. This also works with the control key added if you want to past it directly into an application.

I don’t know when I ran across these, but they are such a time saver.

For all the Windows users out there, is there anything like this for Windows? We’d love to know. Leave us a comment with your tips and tricks.

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Posted by in Design ~ Tutorials ~ (3) Comments ~ (0) Trackbacks

allan branch
February 14, 2008

Whoa! Great Tip - Copy & Paste to PS/AI, Awesome!

February 22, 2008

You asked if there was a Windows way to do this? Well as far as I know you can press the “Print Screen” button on the top right of the keyboard, this takes a snapshot of your entire screen. Then you can just go to Edit>Paste if you are in Photoshop, if you don’t have Photoshop you can also use the generic Paint program and Edit>Paste it there. If you want to do a screen grab of just the highlighted window, you can use “alt” along with “print screen” to just get a picture of the highlighted window.
Hope this helps,

March 03, 2008

How long have you been using a Mac? Those screen shot keys have been around as long as I can remember, predating OS X, OS 9… way back in the days on MacOS 6.0.x (and earlier). And Windows has had their equivalent almost as long, too.

But thanks for posting it, though… I needed a reminder after being away from a Mac for so long…

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