Screen Capture for Macintosh

On the Macintosh, there are six options for screen capture. Half of these options save the capture to a file on the hard drive, while the other half copy the capture to the Clipboard to be pasted into another program. (The Clipboard is a hidden part of memory that saves recently copied information for later use.)

Capturing the Entire Screen to a File

1. While holding the [Open Apple] key (between [Option] and [Space Bar]) and the [Shift] key, press [3].
2. This will save a new picture on the main directory of your hard drive named Picture 1, Picture 2, etc.
3. You can open the new picture in any image editor program to change it.

Capturing a Portion of the Screen to a File

1. While holding the [Open Apple] key and the [Shift] key, press [4].
2. Your cursor will turn into a box tool. You must define a box that will contain the contents of the screen you wish to save. Click on the screen in a corner of the box you want to create, and drag the cursor to make the box.
3. This will save a picture of the selected portion of the screen on the main directory of your hard drive named Picture 1, Picture 2, etc.
4. You can open this new picture in any image editor to change it.

Capturing a Window to a File

1. Turn [Caps Lock] on.
2. While holding the [Open Apple] key and the [Shift] key, press [4].
3. Your cursor will turn into a bullseye. Click on the window that you want to capture.
4. This will save a picture of the selected window on the main directory of your hard drive named Picture 1, Picture 2, etc.
5. You can open this new picture in any image editor to change it.

Capturing the Entire Screen to the Clipboard

1. While holding the [Open Apple] key, the [Shift] key, and the [Control] key, press [3].
2. This will copy the contents of the entire screen to the Clipboard.
3. Open an image editing program, and paste the picture into it using the Paste shortcut or by choosing Paste under the Edit.
4. Edit the picture as necessary, and save it when you are finished.

Capturing a Portion of the Screen to the Clipboard

1. While holding the [Open Apple] key, the [Shift] key, and the [Control] key, press [4].
2. Your cursor will turn into a box tool. You must define a box that will contain the contents of the screen you wish to copy. Click on the screen in a corner of the box you want to create, and drag the cursor to make the box.
3. Open an image editing program, and paste the picture into it using the Paste shortcut or by choosing Paste under the Edit.
4. Edit the picture as necessary, and save it when you are finished.

Capturing a Window to the Clipboard

1. Turn [Caps Lock] on.
2. While holding the [Open Apple] key, the [Shift] key, and the [Control] key, press [4].
3. Your cursor will turn into a bullseye. Click on the window that you want to capture.
4. This will copy a picture of the selected window to the Clipboard.
5. Open an image editing program, and paste the picture into it using the Paste shortcut or by choosing Paste under the Edit.
6. Edit the picture as necessary, and save it when you are finished.

Quick Reference