How to take a screenshot with Mac and Windows: keyboard shortcuts

For take a screenshot on Mac and PC Windows There are various possibilities, ranging from key combinations to the use of utilities available on Apple and Microsoft desktop operating systems. On Mac, you can take advantage of shortcuts to capture the entire screen or portions of it, for example, or the Screenshot application, which provides an intuitive interface for managing screenshots and screen recordings. Even for those who have a computer running Windows it is possible to use special keyboard shortcuts or the Snipping Tool utility. Let’s see in detail how to use all these tools.

How to take screenshots on Mac

Let’s start by seeing how to take screenshots on mac. Apple’s desktop operating system, macOSoffers the possibility to proceed via key combinations and through the utility Screenshots.

Key combinations

The key combinations (or keyboard shortcuts if you prefer) are the quickest way to take screenshots on Mac. We list them below.

• shift+cmd+3: allows you to take a screenshot of the entire screen.
• shift+cmd+4: allows you to take a screenshot of a portion of the screen, as after pressing the combination, a viewfinder appears through which you can select the area to capture. Once you release the selection, the screenshot is actually produced.
• shift+cmd+4+spacebar: offers the possibility of taking screenshots of a specific window, as once these keys are pressed, the pointer icon becomes a camera which, if passed over a window, allows its contents to be captured when the mouse is left clicked .

• shift+cmd+5: launches the Screenshot application, which we see below.

Application Screenshots

If you prefer to take screenshots using a more “visual” approach, call up theScreenshot application. You can do this by going to Launchpad > Utilitieslooking for it via Spotlight or by pressing shift+cmd+5. After opening this utility, select one of the icons located in the toolbar that will be displayed on the screen, so as to choose from the 5 available functions: Capture the entire screen, Capture the selected window, Capture the selection, Record your entire screen And Record your selection.

From the menu Optionswhich is present in the Screenshot toolbar, define any timers, saving settings and various options. Finally, capture the screen by clicking Acquire or Record (based on the option chosen previously).

How to take screenshots with Windows

As for the take screenshots with Windowslet’s see how to use it keyboard shortcuts and the utility Snipping tool.

Key combinations

As for the key combinations to use on Windows, here are the ones you will find useful for making screenshots.

• Stamp (sometimes written PrtScn): By pressing this single key (which is usually found to the right of the row of function keys on a keyboard with a numeric keypad) you can capture the entire screen and copy it to the clipboard. If the key Print/PrtScn on your PC keyboard it is located along the row of function keys, to use it you may also need to press the key Fn. If there is no Print button, you can use the combination FN + Windows key + spacebar.
• Windows+Print: using this combination, however, instead of taking a screenshot of the entire screen and copying it to the clipboard, you will save it directly in the “Screenshot” folder of the PC.
• Alt+Print: by pressing these keys you can capture the active window on the screen, copying it to the clipboard.
• Windows+Shift+S: launch the application Snipping Toolwhich we see below.

Snipping Tool application

As for taking screenshots via the Snipping toolwhich is ideal for capturing portions of the screen, recall it by pressing the keys Windows+Shift+S or by searching for the utility in the menu Start.

Then select the icon camera or that of rectangle with the + to select the various capture modes available (e.g. window, full screen, free figure, etc.), click on the button + New and draw the area to capture or select the window to “screenshot” (based on the option chosen previously). Using the editing functions available in Snipping Tool, you can then customize the screenshot as you see fit.