Screen Capture Mac Os X Mojave Os
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How to Capture And Manage Screenshots on macOS

The screen capture feature, called a screenshot, is very handy when you need to capture the screen of your Mac to show the content on it to others. By making a screenshot, you get a good quality digital image of your Mac's display. Depending on the key combination, you can make a whole display screenshot or choose a region of your screen to capture. Nowadays, all smart devices like computers and smartphones have a built-in screen capture function, so you don't need to worry about installing a third-party screen capture app.

The first screenshots were created around the 1660s with the first interactive computers. Tough the screenshots were not the same as they are now. Back then, computers did not universally have built-in functionality for capturing screenshots, and the screen capture function would only capture the content of the screen but not the appearance.

The possibility to make screenshots of an active application window began with the Mac OS X Panther. The cursor would turn into a small camera icon by pressing Command + Shift + 4 + Spacebar, and the window under the cursor would be highlighted. Then the click on the mouse or trackpad would capture the screenshot of the highlighted element.

Record your screen using Apple’s QuickTime Player If you haven’t upgraded to Mojave, then you can record everything that’s currently happening onscreen screen using the QuickTime Player, which comes pre-installed on macOS: Open a new “Finder” window. Navigate to “Applications” and launch the QuickTime Player. Mojave adds a brand-new screen capture shortcut: ⌘+⇧+5: You’ll need to get to know this command, as it’s the one you use to access Mojave’s new screenshot tools. If you're running macOS Mojave or later, you can press Shift-Command-5 to invoke the screen capture panel, click on Options and choose 'Other Location' to choose a destination. A relatively new shortcut command introduced in MacOS Mojave (2018), this combination calls up a small panel at the bottom of your display with your screen capture options.

An application called Grab (a program in macOS with the purpose of taking screenshots of a selected area of the screen, a whole window, an entire screen, and make timed screenshots) would make a screenshot and pop it up in a window for you to copy to the clipboard or save it as a TIFF (Tag Image File Format). An alternative app that is integrated into Mac's operating system as well as Grab called Preview has the same capture options, but it opens the screenshot immediately in a new window.

With the 10.14 Mojave operating system, users got a revamped screenshot utility called the Screenshot app (previously known as Grab). This utility toolbar shows up when you press Command + Shift + 5 keys on your keyboard, and it allows you to choose options to take screenshots and capture modes. With this application, you can change where the taken screenshot is saved. You can also record your Mac's screen in full-size of the chosen region.

As briefly mentioned above, macOS users can take a screenshot or a chosen area. By pressing Command + Shift + 3 keys on your keyboard, you will make a screenshot of an entire screen. By pressing Command + Shift + 4 on your keyboard, you will make a screenshot of your chosen area on the screen. These screenshots are by default saved on the user's desktop, but if you hold down the Control key on your keyboard while making either of the screenshots mentioned above, the screenshot will be copied to the clipboard.

You can also capture screenshots and save them to files using a shell utility called 'screencapture' in the Terminal app or shell scripts. You cannot take screenshots while the DVD Player is running.

When you take a screenshot, your Mac, by default, will save it in PNG (Portable Network Graphics) format as it can retain the quality of the created image. The downside is that the PNG format images tend to be large. Sometimes it might be more convenient to use a format that takes less storage space, for example, like a JPEG (Joint Photographic Experts Group) format.

Below you will find detailed steps on how to change screenshot format, change the default location, disable screenshot thumbnail preview, and more.

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Four Ways You Can Take Screenshots

There are four ways you take screenshots. You can take a screenshot of the entire screen, a selected area, an open window and by using screenshot tools.

Screenshot fullscreen

To capture the entire screen of your Mac, simultaneously press Command + Shift + 3 keys on your keyboard.

Screenshot a Selected Area of The Screen

1. To capture a chosen area of the screen, simultaneously press Command + Shift + 4 keys on your keyboard.
2. When you see your mouse cursor change to a crosshair, release the keys and select an area on your screen that you want to capture.

If you select the wrong area, you don't have to press the Esc key and start selecting again. If you press and hold the Space key, you can move your selection. To change the selected area only in one direction, press and hold the Shift key. To increase or decrease the sides of the chosen area in proportion, press the Option key.

Screenshot an Open Window

1. You can screenshot an open window by simultaneously pressing Command + Shift + 4 keys on your keyboard.
2. Let go of the keys when you see your mouse cursor change to the crosshair and then press the Space bar once.
3. When you see a camera icon, hover over a screen that you want to capture and click on it.

Using this screen capture method, you can screenshot even the Dock or the upper menu bar.

Capture Using Screenshot Tools

If you don't want to remember all the above options and you think it's a hassle, you can always use the screenshot tools. You can do all of the above-mentioned options with it. To open screenshot tools, simultaneously press Command + Shift + 5 on your keyboard. Choose what you want to screenshot and click on 'Capture'.

You can also use screenshot tools with the Screenshot app:

1. Open Finder.
2. Go to 'Applications'.
3. Scroll down until you see the Utilitiesfolder. Click on it.
4. Find and click on 'Screenshot'.

How to Change Screenshot Format Using Terminal

As mentioned above, when you take a screenshot, it is automatically saved as a PNG image. To change the screenshots' default format, choose a format you want to change to and follow the steps.

Change the format to JPEG:

1. Open Terminal from Launchpad, Finder, or Spotlight.
2. In the Terminal window, enter the command line: defaults write com.apple.screencapture type jpg

3. Restart your Mac.

Change the format to TIFF:

1. Open Terminal from Launchpad, Finder, or Spotlight.
2. In the Terminal window, enter the command line: defaults write com.apple.screencapture type tiff

3. Restart your Mac.

Change the format to PDF:

1. Open Terminal from Launchpad, Finder, or Spotlight.
2. In the Terminal window, enter the command line: defaults write com.apple.screencapture type pdf

3. Restart your Mac.

Change the format to GIF (Graphics Interchange Format):

1. Open Terminal from Launchpad, Finder, or Spotlight.
2. In the Terminal window, enter the command line: defaults write com.apple.screencapture type gif

3. Restart your Mac.

Change the format back to PNG:

1. Open Terminal

Screen Capture Mac Os X Mojave