The Tools for Taking a Screenshot

August 30th, 2006 · 1 Comment

I know that in OS X I’m spoiled by many ways of doing a screenshot.

The built in functions include grabbing the entire screen, you can simply press Command-Shift-3, this will save the shot to your desktop in the default file format of PNG. To grab an area of the screen, press Command-Shift-4, then click and drag the cursor to mark the area you want to capture.

You want more? Here’s the full list of key combos:

Key Combination — Result
Command+Shift+3 — Capture entire screen and save as a file
Command+Control+Shift+3 — Capture entire screen and copy to the clipboard
Command+Shift+4 — Capture dragged area and save as a file
Command+Control+Shift+4 — Capture dragged area and copy to the clipboard
Command+Shift+4 then Space — Capture a window, menu, desktop icon, or the menu bar and save as a file
Command+Control+Shift+4 then Space — Capture a window, menu, desktop icon, or the menu bar and copy to the clipboard

The Mac has a million hidden key combos, you just have to get used to it.

The Grab App is also available, but not worth the effort. Much better is the commercial Snapz Pro X 2; but why pay for something when you can get it for free. The wonderful widget that should be on every Mac is Screenshot Plus. Damn it’s sweet and covers all your normal screenshot needs.

If you want to capture a whole website that scrolls off the bottom of the window then use Paparazzi!. For post grab processing then use Imagewell (yes it also does screenshots too) or if you need more power then go for GIMP. All free of course.

Windows goes one better and a hundred worse. It has the print screen key, which dumps a copy of the entire desktop to the clipboard - Command-Shift-3 on Apple. Print screen does not save the file and lets face it MSPaint doesn’t cut it.

Try the cheap but commercial WinSnap that will save shadows and rounded corners in Windows XP. Something I’ve not seen before; does a free version exist? I’ve not seen one but I’m not exactly a Windows guy anymore. For post processing on XP you have the commercial PSP and the free GIMP.