Tuesday, May 03, 2011

Tell About It Tuesday: Screen Shots on a Mac

I learned something a few weeks ago that is too good not to share with my fellow Mac users/lovers. I can't help you PC folks. Sorry. 


How to take a screen shot on your Mac:
Press Command + Shift + 3. You'll hear the click of the camera lens (unless you have your sound turned off) and a photo file (.png) will be saved. Mine are saved to my desktop, but on our super old iBook4 they're saved to photos. Use the Today menu in Finder if you need help finding yours after you take it.
[I opened my photo with Preview and used it to edit out all my top secret classified information in this screenshot.]
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How to capture only part of the screen on your Mac:
Press Command + Shift + 4. A cross-hair target thingy will appear on your screen. Move it where you want it on your screen, then drag it over the area you want to capture. When you release your hold on the trackpad/mouse then you'll hear the lens of the camera click and the image is saved to your computer.

COOL, huh?

Perhaps you already knew this, but I did not and I've already found it to be useful...and fun....and pointless. Here are a few of my recent screen captures...

I know enough of you use a Mac for me to share this because my StatCounter tells me what percentage of readers use which browser. See? Interesting, no?


These are some of my recent StatCounter search results. I told you I had no idea that this post would generate so many blog hits.

(By the way, I LOVE Preview, and I especially love the quick photo editing features!)

Here's a screen shot from iTunes. I imported my Camelot cd on Sunday because I woke up singing "It's May, it's May, the SNOWY month of May" only to discover it wasn't on my iPod!  
(BTW, my husband prefers the original lyrics to that song. Of course he does.)

A sampling of random pictures/albums in iPhoto...

And in case my husband wonders what I might want for my birthday, I might use this feature to send him some not-so-subtle hints....


So there ya go. Mac lovers, do you have a favorite Mac tip or shortcut? Do tell. 

4 comments:

SZM said...

Ooh, I love the white iphone! You can take a screen shot on the iphone as well and upload it to iphoto. Press the on/off button on the top of the phone and the circular one below the bottom of the screen. Fun to take screen shots of text message convos!

Angie @ Flibbertigibberish said...

I had to Google this shortly after I got my Mac (can't remember why) and I LOVE it! It's easy on a PC - you press the "Print Screen" button on the top row. But I don't know if you can select what you want, which is awesome.

I'm eager to read if any commenters have further tips, because I still feel like such a newbie with my Mac!

And our contract is up on September. Gary and I are both eyeing those iPhones and trying to figure out how to justify them. I need one so I can play Words with Friends. Don't you think that's an excellent reason?

sara said...

I have had a Mac for over a year and did not know this....thanks!!!

Anonymous said...

Wow! That is cool. I've seen where people have done that. I just never knew how they did it. I'm like Sara. We have always had a Mac.(except for an unfortunate stint in the 90s)I feel so smart now.