Mac screenshot guides
Practical guides to capturing, annotating, redacting and sharing screenshots on macOS — shortcuts, save locations, blur, OCR and more.
How to take a screenshot on a Mac
Every way to capture your Mac screen: the built-in shortcuts, the screenshot toolbar, window and menu capture, and what to do once you need to annotate or redact.
Mac screenshot keyboard shortcuts
Every macOS screenshot shortcut in one table, including the modifier keys that work while you are dragging a selection, and how to rebind them.
How to capture a window, a menu or a hover state
Window capture, dropdown menus that close the moment you press a shortcut, tooltips that vanish — three awkward captures and the way through each one.
Where do Mac screenshots go?
Screenshots land on the Desktop by default. Here is how to move them to a folder of your choice, change the file format, and stop the thumbnail preview from getting in the way.
How to annotate a screenshot with arrows and numbered steps
Markup that people actually understand: where to point an arrow, when to number steps instead, and how to keep annotations editable after you save.
How to blur sensitive information in a screenshot
Blur, pixelate or cover — which one is actually safe, why a blurred password is not always unreadable, and how to redact a screenshot on a Mac before you send it.
How to copy text out of an image on a Mac
Live Text, Preview, and screenshot OCR on macOS — how to get selectable text out of a picture, including text on screen that refuses to be selected.
How to make a screenshot look presentable
Padding, a background, rounded corners and a shadow — the four adjustments that turn a raw capture into something you can put in a document, a slide or a post.
How to share a screenshot as a link
When a link beats an attachment, what to check before you upload a screenshot anywhere, and how anonymous expiring links work in Shotcake.