Taking screenshots is more than just capturing your screen — it's about communicating ideas, reporting bugs, saving inspiration, or just sharing that perfect meme with your team. I take dozens of screenshots daily (probably hundreds, but who's counting? 😅), and I've learned that the right tools can make this simple task either a joy or a pain.

While Apple's built-in screenshot tools are helpful, they could be better (looking at you, Spotlight!). I'm always looking for ways to make simple tasks even simpler, and taking screenshots should be both fast and delightful.

In this guide, I'll show you every way to capture your Mac's screen. We'll start with basic keyboard shortcuts, explore the built-in screenshot app, and then I'll show you how Raycast makes everything better and easier.

Let's start with the essentials. These are the shortcuts you'll want tattooed on your brain (please don't actually get them tattooed... or do, we won't judge):

Capture the Whole Screen

Want to save everything on your Mac's screen? Here's the easiest way:

Press Shift Command 3 on your Mac keyboard
A small thumbnail preview will pop up in the corner of your screen
Click the thumbnail to mark up your screenshot, or wait for it to save to your desktop
Quick tip: Hold Control to copy to your clipboard instead of saving a file

Capture Part of the Screen

Need to screenshot just a specific area? This is perfect for capturing just what you need:

Press Shift Command 4
Watch your mouse cursor turn into a crosshair
Click and drag to select the portion of your screen you want
Let go to save the screenshot
Need to move the selection? Press the spacebar while dragging
Want to start over? Hit the Escape key

Pro tip: Hold Control while capturing to copy straight to your clipboard — perfect for quick sharing!

Capture a Specific Window

Perfect for documenting apps or sharing specific UI elements:

Press ⌘ Shift 4, then Space
Your cursor becomes a camera icon
Hover over any window to highlight it
Click to capture the window
The screenshot includes a subtle shadow by default

Pro tip: Hold Option while clicking to capture the window without the shadow effect.

By default, all screenshots save to your desktop as PNG files with the filename format "Screenshot [date] at [time].png".

Built-in Advanced Techniques

While the basic shortcuts are great for quick captures, macOS includes a Screenshot Utility that unlocks even more capabilities. Let's dive into the advanced features that will level up your screenshot game.

The Screenshot Utility Panel

Press ⌘ Shift 5 to reveal a control panel at the bottom of your screen. This modern interface provides access to all screenshot features in one place:

The toolbar offers five capture modes:

Capture Entire Screen: Take a shot of everything you see
Capture Selected Window: Grab a specific window with or without shadow
Capture Selected Portion: Draw a precise selection
Record Entire Screen: Create a video of your full display
Record Selected Portion: Record a specific area

Pro tip: When recording a portion of your screen, you can resize the recording area using the handles on the selection outline before starting.

Advanced Options

Click "Options" in the toolbar to customize your screenshot experience:

Save to: Choose where screenshots are saved (Desktop, Documents, Clipboard, or other locations)
Timer: Set a 5 or 10-second delay to capture menus or other temporary UI elements
Show Mouse Pointer: Include or exclude the cursor in your screenshot
Remember Last Selection: Perfect for capturing the same area repeatedly
Show Floating Thumbnail: Toggle the preview that appears after taking a screenshot
Default Save Location: Change where your screenshots are automatically saved

Touch Bar Screenshots

If you're still on a Macbook Pro with a touch bar (I love vintage Macs, but can't say I miss the touch bar), there's a dedicated shortcut:

Press ⌘ Shift 6 to capture the current content displayed on your Touch Bar
The screenshot saves to your desktop just like other capture methods

Pro tip: The Screenshot Utility remembers your last-used settings, making it perfect for repetitive screenshot tasks. Pin the toolbar to a corner of your screen by dragging it if you're taking multiple screenshots.

Screen Recording

The Screen Recording feature is particularly useful for creating tutorials or reporting bugs:

Select either "Record Entire Screen" or "Record Selected Portion"
Click the record button (or press Return)
To stop recording, click the stop button in the menu bar or press ⌘ Control Esc
A video file will save to your chosen location

Pro tip: To record audio with your screen recording, click Options and select a microphone from the menu.

Become a Screenshot Pro

The built-in Mac screenshot tool is fine, but you know what's better? A screenshot tool that lets you stay in flow. Let me show you how we've improved the screenshot experience with Raycast. We've reimagined everything about how you capture, find, and use screenshots on your Mac.

Screenshot Magic

We built a dedicated screenshot extension that comes with Raycast and adds two features that will change how you think about screenshots forever:

Paste Recent Screenshot: Just captured something? Hit a hotkey, and bam — it's pasted wherever you need it. No more digging through files or clicking thumbnails. It's like magic! ✨
Search Your Screenshots: This is my favorite part. Raycast automatically reads and indexes all the text in your screenshots. Just type any word you remember seeing in the image, and we'll find it instantly. It's like having a superpower for your screenshot library! 🚀

The Ultimate toolset

We love CleanShot X (who doesn't?), and we've made the integration even better. There are two ways to use CleanShot X with Raycast:

1. The CleanShot X ExtensionInstall

Install our dedicated CleanShot X extension to access all your favorite features right from Raycast:

Capture Fullscreen/Area/Previous Area/Window: Different modes for capturing your screen.
Scrolling Capture: Capture content beyond the screen view.
Capture Text (OCR): Use OCR to capture text from your screen.
Browse History: Access your entire screenshot history without leaving Raycast
All the Features: Everything you love about CleanShot X — annotations, screen recording — right at your fingertips

CleanShot X extension

Pro tip: Assign a hotkey to your most-used CleanShot X commands in Raycast for lightning-fast access!

2. Direct AI Integration

Here's something cool: we've partnered with CleanShot X to make something magical. When you take a screenshot with CleanShot X:

Hit ⌘ R in any CleanShot X window
Your screenshot instantly appears in Raycast AI chat
Ask AI to analyze it, extract text, or get suggestions

It's like having a smart assistant for every screenshot you take. Want to extract text from an image? Analyze a chart? Get suggestions for improvements? Just capture and hit ⌘ R — it's that simple.

Streamline your workflow

Think about your current screenshot workflow:

How much time do you spend looking for that one screenshot?
How often do you need to copy text from an image?
How many clicks does it take to share a screenshot?

With Raycast, all of this becomes effortless. Every screenshot you take is:

Instantly Searchable: Find any screenshot by remembering a word that was in it
Always Available: Access your entire screenshot history with a keystroke
AI-Powered: Get instant analysis and text extraction
Part of Your System: Combine with other Raycast commands for ultimate productivity

Ready to upgrade how you take screenshots?

Download Raycast and stay in flow.

Download

Frequently Asked Questions

Still here huh? Let me answer some common questions about taking screenshots on your Mac. I get these a lot, and they're super important to get right!

How do you Ctrl screenshot on a Mac?

Here's the thing — on Mac, we use Command (⌘) instead of Ctrl for screenshots. Think of it as Mac's special sauce! Here are the shortcuts you'll want to remember:

⌘ Shift 3: Capture your entire screen
⌘ Shift 4: Capture a selected area
⌘ Shift 5: Open the screenshot toolbar
⌘ Shift 6: Capture the Touch Bar (if your Mac has one)

Pro tip: Want to copy instead of save? Hold Control with any of these shortcuts to send your screenshot straight to the clipboard!

How to cut and snip on Mac?

The snipping tool on Mac is actually built right in! Here's how to use it:

Press ⌘ Shift 4
Your cursor becomes a crosshair
Click and drag to select exactly what you want
Let go to capture that area

Need to adjust your selection? Press the spacebar while dragging to move the entire selection around. Made a mistake? Just hit Esc to start over.

How do I do a screen shot?

The quickest way to get started is:

Press ⌘ Shift 3 to capture your entire screen
Look for the thumbnail in the bottom-right corner
Click the thumbnail to edit, or wait for it to save to your desktop

That's it! Once you're comfortable with this, you can explore the other shortcuts for more specific captures.

Why can't I take a screenshot on Mac?

If your screenshots aren't working, don't worry! Here are the most common issues and how to fix them:

Storage Full: Check if your Mac has enough storage space
Wrong Permissions: Make sure Raycast (or your screenshot app) has screen recording permission in System Settings → Privacy & Security
Keyboard Shortcuts: Verify your shortcuts aren't being used by another app
Save Location: Check if your save location is valid and accessible

Still having trouble? Try these fixes:

Restart your Mac (yes, it really does fix things sometimes!)
Check System Settings → Keyboard → Shortcuts → Screenshots
Make sure your Desktop and Documents folders are available

Pro tip: Using Raycast? Make sure you've granted screen recording permissions during setup. You'll only need to do this once!

How to Screenshot on Mac: The Complete Guide for 2024