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.