Screen Capture On Mac Keyboard Windows

What You Need:

Jul 21, 2020 You can also screenshot an entire window on Mac Credit: Apple How to screenshot a window or menu on Mac. To capture a single window or menu, press SHIFT-COMMAND-4-SPACE. Apr 27, 2020 There still ways to capture screenshots in Windows with your Mac keyboard. With the help of a series of keystrokes, you can quickly perform the same function as pressing the Print Screen key. To take a screenshot of the entire screen, just press fn + Shift + F11. To take a screenshot of the active window, just press Option + fn + Shift + F11.

  • A Mac or PC
  • The Lightshot application for PC (highly recommend)
  • A positive attitude

Whether it's reporting a technical problem to IT or emailing an image to a friend, screenshots are a part of life. It's pretty easy to do on a Mac, but PC is a different story. I wouldn't say it's difficult, but it's not as intuitive as you'd expect. There are a couple of different ways to take screenshots depending on what you're trying to capture. So, without further ado, here are some helpful tips to get you started:

How to take a screenshot on a Mac

How to take a screenshot of the entire screen

  1. Press shift + command + 3 to take a picture of the entire screenWhether you're showing off your cool Star Wars-themed desktop background or just capturing content, taking a snapshot of the entire screen is pretty straightforward on a Mac. Once you've entered the command, you'll hear a snapshot sound, which indicates that you've successfully taken a picture of the whole screen.
  2. Locate the screenshot (.png file) on your desktopYour screenshot will automatically appear on your desktop. It'll be a .png file named 'Screen Shot' with the date and time.
  3. Open the file and gaze lovingly at your masterpiece

How to capture a selected area of the screen

  1. Press shift + command + 4. The pointer will turn into a tiny crossThis is great if you're looking to capture something specific, like a hilarious meme or a poignant passage from a personal blog.
  2. Drag to select the area you wish to capture. Release the mouse or trackpad to take a screenshotTo cancel, press the ESC key on your keyboard or select cancel on the Touch Bar (if you're using a MacBook Pro). When you release, you should hear a snapshot sound.
  3. Locate the screenshot (.png file) on your desktop

How to capture a window

  1. Press shift + command + 4. The pointer will turn into a tiny cross
  2. Press the space bar. The crosshair will turn into a cameraIf you're using a MacBook Pro, select the camera icon on the Touch Bar.
  3. Click the touchpad or mouse. To cancel, press the ESC key or select cancel on the Touch Bar
  4. Locate the screenshot (.png file) on your desktop

How to capture a menu

  1. Open the menu
  2. Press shift + command + 4. The pointer will turn into a tiny cross
  3. Drag to select the area you want to captureYou can adjust the size of the gray box by moving the tiny cross around.
  4. Locate the screenshot (.png file) on your desktop

How to capture a screenshot of the Touch Bar

  1. Press shift + command + 6Not the most exciting image in the world, but there you go.
  2. Locate the screenshot (.png file) on your desktop

How to take a screenshot on a PC

How to take a screenshot of the entire screen

Capturing a screenshot isn't as intuitive on PC as it is on Mac, but it's still pretty easy to do. First we'll go over how to do it without installing any third-party programs, but we highly recommend you scroll down and check out Lightspot, a free app that brings Mac-style functionality to Windows 10. Lightspot really does a bang up job of eliminating those extra steps.

  1. To capture a screenshot of your whole screen and save it to the clipboard so you can paste it later, press the Print Screen key on your keyboardTypically, the Print Screen key is to the right of the function keys. Depending on your keyboard, it may also be listed as 'PrtScn.'
  2. If you want to capture the window you're currently using, hold down the alt key and and press Press Screen. Any other programs you may be using will be left out of the shot.

How to find/save your screenshot

How to take screen capture on mac
  1. Select the Windows Start button on the bottom left corner of your screen
  2. Select Applications
  3. Open Paint. Yes, this archaic tool still exists
  4. Press control + V to paste your screenshot from the clipboard
  5. Select the floppy disk icon to save

How to edit/crop your screenshot

  1. Open Paint
  2. Click on the Select button in the toolbarYou can chose a rectangular outline or a free-form outline.
  3. Drag to select or outline the area you'd like to keep
  4. Click on the Crop button in the toolbar

How to use Lightshot (highly recommended)

  1. Install Lightshot or add the Chrome extension

Lightshot is a free screenshot app for PC and Mac. It's a blessing, really, especially if you're a PC user, as you don't have to mess around with Paint or open up additional programs. In other words, it brings Mac-style screenshot functionality to Windows 10.
2. To take a screenshot, you can either press the print screen key on your keyboard or click the Lightshot icon on the bottom right of your screen. When you take a screenshot, the screen will dim slightly
3. Click and drag to highlight the area you want to capture
4. Release the mouse/trackpad to edit, upload, share on social media, and so on

Taking a screenshot on a Mac® is as easy as on a PC—when you know the keyboard shortcuts to do so.

There are plenty of key commands in macOS® you might want to use for screen capture. Today, we’ll break down the six best shortcuts for screenshots that any Mac user NEEDS to know—plus the one useful application that accomplishes all that and more with just one click.

Capture a Screenshot of an Area

Figure 1 – Keyboard shortcut for taking a screenshot of part of a Mac screen

One of the most common needs for that “print screen” command on a Mac is when we need to capture a portion of the screen. It’s like a snipping tool for Mac. Be it an Instagram story, Twitter update, or part of a webpage to share with a colleague, you can screenshot any of those with just a few key combos.

(1) To capture a portion of the screen, do the following:

  1. Press Command-Shift-4 to change a pointer to a crosshair.
  2. Select the area of a screen you want to capture by moving and dragging the cursor.
  3. After releasing the mouse button, the screenshot will be saved as a PNG image on your desktop.

Figure 2 – Apple Support tweets the solution for screen capturing on Mac.

(2) To copy a portion of the screen to the clipboard, do the following:

  1. Press Command-Control-Shift-4 to change a pointer to a crosshair.
  2. Select the area of a screen you want to capture by moving and dragging the cursor.
  3. After clicking on the mouse, the screenshot will be saved to the clipboard.
  4. Select the application where you want to insert the captured image, such as Word, Skype, or Outlook.
  5. Press Command-V to paste the screenshot.

Capture a Screenshot of an Active Window

Figure 3 – The process of taking screenshots of an active application

If you need a screenshot of a specific application that you’re currently using, use this method. You can easily print screen an active window of any program, be it Safari, Chrome, Photoshop, or Microsoft Excel.

(3) To capture a screenshot of an active window, do the following:

  1. Press Command-Shift-4 to change a pointer to a crosshair.
  2. Tap on the spacebar on your keyboard. The cursor will change to a camera.
  3. Select the active application window you want to capture by moving your cursor.
  4. When you move the cursor over an application, the window will be highlighted.
  5. Click the mouse button on the window you want to capture. The screenshot will be saved as a PNG image on your desktop.

(4) To copy a screenshot of an active window to the clipboard, do the following:

  1. Press Command-Control-Shift-4 to change a pointer to a crosshair.
  2. Tap on the spacebar on your keyboard. The cursor will change to a camera.
  3. Select the active application window you want to capture by moving your cursor.
  4. When you move the cursor over an application, the window will be highlighted.
  5. Click the mouse button on the window you want to capture. The screenshot will be saved to the clipboard.
  6. Select the application where you want to insert the captured image, like Word, Skype, or Outlook
  7. Press Command-V to paste the screenshot.

Capture the Entire Screen

Figure 4 – Keyboard shortcut for capturing the entire screen on a Mac

(5) To capture a screenshot of a whole page, do the following:

  1. Press Command-Shift-3 to take a screenshot of the whole screen.
  2. The screenshot will be saved as a PNG image on your desktop.

Print Screen Shortcut On Mac Keyboard

Screen capture on mac keyboard windows button

(6) To copy a screenshot of a whole page to the clipboard, do the following:

  1. Press Command-Control-Shift-3 to copy the whole screen.
  2. The screenshot will be automatically saved to the clipboard.
  3. Select the application where you want to insert the captured image, like Word, Skype, or Outlook
  4. Press Command-V to paste the screenshot.

Mac App for Taking Screenshots

Figure 5 – Parallels Toolbox: The ultimate Mac application for screen and video capturing

Sometimes, remembering all the dozens of shortcuts to take a Mac screenshot is not our main priority. All we need is a simple application that has everything ready for us with just one click.

Parallels® Toolbox Screen and Video Pack is the best Designed to help optimize your workday, it has all the important tools for everyday needs, such as screen and video capturing, video converter, YouTube video downloader, and more.

You can try Parallels Toolbox without any obligations and decide for yourself whether a small introductory price is a fair cost for all the time saved.

Where to Find Screenshots on a Mac

Screen Capture On Mac Keyboard Windows Insert Key

Figure 6 – The primary location for all screenshots on a Mac is the desktop

Once you’re done taking them, where do screenshots on a Mac go?

Normally, screenshots are saved as PNG images (titled with the current date and time stamp) right on the desktop. The format looks as follows: “Screen Shot 2018-07-04 at 12.25.36.png”. Alternatively, a user can copy Mac screenshots to the clipboard by adding Control to the key combination and then pasting it right in the needed document. Here at Parallels, we practice this often—we love taking a MacBook® screenshot and sharing it with coworkers. It’s an easy and quick way to effectively communicate what we see on our end.

What to Do if Screen Capture on Mac Is Not Working

Screen Capture On Mac Keyboard Windows 10

The shortcuts for screen capturing may not work for a few reasons. One of the most common ones: they are simply disabled.

To fix that, do the following:

  1. From the Apple menu in the top left corner, open System Preferences and click on the Keyboard.
  2. In the new window, click on Shortcuts.
  3. Find Screen Shots in the left menu.
  4. Check if the shortcuts are active and have the same key combos you type.
  5. To change a shortcut, select it and click the new key combination.

Screen Capture On Mac Keyboard Windows 8

If the shortcut is working but screenshots turn out blank, the reason is often copyright issues with the third-party application on the screen. To solve that, use the Parallels Toolbox application for screen capturing.