Capturing a Screen Shot on Your Mac

These days, so much of our communication takes place over the Internet or via e-mail. One of the things I love doing is helping others learn more about how to use their computers (especially their Macs, of which I am a big fan). A feature that I have used to help my fellow Mac geeks is Mac OS X's built-in screen capture function. This is a way users can take a snapshot of their screen or part of their screen and then use it in presentations, on their Web sites or as an e-mail attachment to a friend. Also these files can be saved in a couple of different formats.

Suppose that you needed to capture what is showing on your screen for a presentation or for a friend. You have two options to accomplish this. You may either take a snapshot of the entire viewing area or you may highlight and take a picture of a particular area. Let's start with the first option. If you want to take a snapshot of your entire viewing area, press the control, shift and the number 3 keys simultaneously. At this point you will hear the sound of a camera. Now if you go to your Mac's desktop you will find that a .pdf file is now there. By default it will be named "Picture 1". You can highlight it and press Return to rename it. Double-click this new file to open it in Preview. You will see a snapshot of your entire screen just as you had when you pressed the key combination.

But suppose you only wanted a portion of your screen. To do so, press control, shift and the number 4. At this point your cursor will become a crosshairs symbol. Now left-click and hold and then drag the cursor over the area you wish to highlight. You sill see the selected area turn a slight gray. Once you release the mouse button you will hear the same camera sound effect and the new file will be placed on your desktop for you to view, rename, save, or trash.

With both of these screen capture options there are a number of ways to save them. The default format is .pdf which is ideal for sending via email or for saving on a disk or flash drive for taking it with you and viewing the file elsewhere. But there are other formats that it can be exported to depending on your needs. Double-click your screenshot and let it open in Preview. Now from the File menu select Export. A window will open that looks much like a Save As window. Here you can not only rename and save the item, but you can also choose a new location for it. But the most powerful part of the export function is choosing from a number of different formats. At the bottom of the window you will see the Format drop-down box. Select the arrows to view the different format types. You will see everything from JPEG to PNG to TIFF formats. Whatever your need you should be able to find a format that suits you here. There is even a Photoshop format for those of you who wish to do further editing to the screenshot you have created.

Here's one last tip: The Mac OS allows you to also change the keyboard shortcut used to activate the screen capture function. From blue Apple pull-down menu in your menu bar, select System Preferences. Select "Keyboard and Mouse" and then choose the "Keyboard Shortcuts" tab. You will see that the Screen Capture section tops the list. To change the keyboard shortcut, double-click the item and then press the key combination on your keyboard that you wish to choose. You will see it change to the new combination in the list. Once you are finished you can simply quit System Preferences.

Now the next time you need to use what's on your screen in a presentation or to send to a friend, you can use this great function. I hope this tutorial has helped you and that it makes you a more efficient and proficient Mac user.