Mac keyboard shortcuts for screenshots and screen recording
Press Command-Shift-3 (⇧⌘3) to capture the whole screen, Command-Shift-4 (⇧⌘4) to drag out an area, and Command-Shift-5 (⇧⌘5) to open the Screenshot toolbar, which also records the screen. Add Control to the first two and the picture goes to the clipboard instead of a file on your desktop. On a Mac with a Touch Bar, Command-Shift-6 (⇧⌘6) captures the Touch Bar.
That is the whole set. The rest of this page covers the extra keys that work in the middle of a capture, the Options menu, how to stop a recording from the keyboard, and how to show these shortcuts on screen when you are the one teaching them.
The shortcuts at a glance
| Keys | What it does |
|---|---|
| ⇧⌘3 | Saves a picture of the whole screen as a file |
| ⌃⇧⌘3 | Copies a picture of the whole screen to the clipboard |
| ⇧⌘4 | Lets you drag over an area, then saves it as a file |
| ⇧⌘4, then Space | Lets you click one window and saves just that window |
| ⌃⇧⌘4 | Same as ⇧⌘4, but copies to the clipboard |
| ⇧⌘5 | Opens the Screenshot toolbar: screenshots, screen recording, timer and options |
| ⇧⌘6 | Saves a picture of the Touch Bar (Macs with a Touch Bar) |
| ⌃⇧⌘6 | Copies a picture of the Touch Bar to the clipboard |
| ⌃⌘Esc | Stops a screen recording |
Files land on the desktop by default. Screenshots are named “Screenshot” with the date and time, and screen recordings are named “Screen Recording” and saved as .mov movie files. If you have more than one display, Command-Shift-3 saves one picture per display.
The clipboard versions are the ones worth building into habit. Command-Control-Shift-4 lets you grab part of a page and paste it straight into Messages, Slack or a document, with no file left behind on the desktop to clean up later.
Command-Shift-4: areas and windows
Command-Shift-4 turns the pointer into a crosshair. Drag across what you want and let go of the mouse or trackpad to take the picture. While you are still dragging, a few keys change the selection:
- Hold Space to move the whole selection without changing its size.
- Hold Shift to lock one edge, so only the width or only the height changes.
- Hold Option to grow the selection out from its center.
- Press Esc to cancel without taking anything.
For a single window, press Command-Shift-4 and then tap Space before you drag. The crosshair becomes a camera, and each window highlights as the pointer moves over it. Click to capture that window, complete with its shadow. Hold Option as you click to leave the shadow out, which is usually what you want for documentation. Press Space again to go back to the crosshair.
Window captures are tidier than areas because the edges are exact. They also work for menus: open the menu first, then press Command-Shift-4, then Space, and click the menu.
Command-Shift-5: the Screenshot toolbar
Command-Shift-5 opens a bar of buttons near the bottom of the screen. From left to right you get Capture Entire Screen, Capture Selected Window and Capture Selected Portion, then Record Entire Screen and Record Selected Portion. The same toolbar opens from the Screenshot app in Applications > Utilities, and from File > New Screen Recording in QuickTime Player (Control-Command-N).
The Options menu on the toolbar is where the useful settings live:
- Save to: Desktop, Documents, Clipboard, Mail, Messages, Preview, or Other Location (for recordings, QuickTime Player takes the place of Preview). The choice sticks, and Command-Shift-3 and Command-Shift-4 use it too, so this is how you stop screenshots piling up on the desktop.
- Timer: None, 5 Seconds or 10 Seconds. Handy when you need a menu open or a hover state showing at the moment of capture.
- Show Floating Thumbnail: the preview that appears in the lower-right corner after each capture.
- Remember Last Selection: reopens the toolbar with the same area selected, which is what you want when you record the same region again and again.
- Show Mouse Pointer: whether the pointer appears in the picture or recording.
- Show Mouse Clicks and Microphone: these appear when you choose a recording mode.
Recording the screen from the keyboard
- Press Command-Shift-5.
- Click Record Entire Screen, or Record Selected Portion and move or resize the frame to cover the area you want.
- If you are narrating, pick your microphone under Options.
- Click Record.
- When you are done, click the Stop button in the menu bar or press Command-Control-Esc.
The recording appears as a thumbnail, then saves wherever Save to points. Click the thumbnail before it goes to trim the start and end, which saves opening another app for the most common edit.
If you record the same tutorial setup often, turn on Remember Last Selection and keep the frame where it is. Your recordings then come out the same size, which matters when you cut several of them into one video.
The floating thumbnail, and when to turn it off
After every capture, a thumbnail slides into the corner of the screen. Click it to mark up a screenshot or trim a recording. Drag it into an email, a note or a Finder window to drop the file there. Swipe it to the right, or just wait, and it saves.
The thumbnail is handy for one capture and in the way for ten. Until it slides away, the file is not saved yet, so if you want the file in Finder straight after a capture, you wait for it first. If you take captures in quick runs, turn off Show Floating Thumbnail in the Options menu and every capture saves straight away.
Change or turn off the shortcuts
The shortcuts can be changed in System Settings > Keyboard > Keyboard Shortcuts, under Screenshots. The list uses plain names: Save picture of screen as a file, Copy picture of screen to the clipboard, Save picture of selected area as a file, Copy picture of selected area to the clipboard, and Screenshot and recording options. Untick one to turn it off, or double-click its keys and press new ones.
People usually do this for one of two reasons. Either another app wants Command-Shift-4 for itself, or they want the clipboard version on the easier keys, since that is the one they use most.
Showing these shortcuts while you teach them
Recording a tutorial about screenshots has an odd problem: the viewer sees a crosshair appear out of nowhere, and has no idea which keys made it happen. You can say the keys aloud, or type them as captions in the edit, but both take effort and are easy to miss.
Typebar puts the keys on screen as you press them. An on-screen keyboard lights up each key, and a keystroke pill names the shortcut, so pressing Command-Shift-4 shows “⇧⌘4 Screenshot Selection” in the corner of your video. In Settings > Recording, “Show when a screen recording starts” makes it appear on its own when you start recording and hide again when you stop.
Two things to know when you combine it with the Screenshot toolbar:
- Typebar’s board and pill appear in recordings like any window. If you use Record Selected Portion, place the overlay inside the frame you record, or it will not be in the video.
- For a clean still screenshot, hide it first with Control-Option-Command-K (⌃⌥⌘K), the same shortcut that shows it again.
Clicks are the other half of a tutorial. The toolbar’s Show Mouse Clicks marks each click in a recording; how to show mouse clicks in a screen recording compares it with the alternatives. For the full recording workflow, see how to show keystrokes in a screen recording on a Mac and showing the keys you press in a Command-Shift-5 recording.
Typebar is $9 once for up to 5 Macs, free for 24 hours with everything on, and runs on macOS 14 or later.
Questions
Where do screenshots go on a Mac?
To the desktop, unless you change it. Press Command-Shift-5, open Options, and choose a folder under Save to. Every screenshot shortcut follows that choice.
How do I take a screenshot straight to the clipboard?
Add Control: Command-Control-Shift-3 for the whole screen, Command-Control-Shift-4 for an area or window. Then paste with Command-V.
How do I stop a screen recording on a Mac?
Click the Stop button in the menu bar, or press Command-Control-Esc.
Can I screenshot just one window without its shadow?
Yes. Press Command-Shift-4, tap Space, then hold Option while you click the window.