To take a screenshot in Mac OS X Apple has built in some very simple key commands that will give you exactly what was displayed on your screen when the screenshot was taken.

The most basic key command is command + shift + 3. This will take a screenshot of the entire screen and store it as a file on your desktop. To take a screenshot of a select area of the screen, press 4 instead of 3. A less known key command to take a screenshot of a specific item - a window, icon, the dock, the menu bar - press space bar immediately after command + shift + 4. The icon will change from the cross hair for selecting an area, to a camera and the outline of the object the command will capture.

All of the aforementioned commands will create a file on your desktop. To copy the screenshot directly to the clipboard hold down control while performing the key commands.

Included is a list of the key commands and their function:

• command + shift + 3   :   take a screenshot of the entire screen and save it to the desktop;
• command + shift + control + 3   :    take screenshot a picture of the entire screen to the clipboard;
• command + shift + 4   :   take a screenshot of a selection and save it to the desktop;
• command + shift + control + 4   :   take a screenshot of a selection to the clipboard;
• command + shift + 4 and then press space   :   take a screenshot of an object and save it to the desktop
• command+ shift + control + 4 and then press space   :   take a screenshot of an object to the clipboard.

This entry was posted on Saturday, March 29th, 2008 at 10:38 am and is filed under Tips. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.