Take a screenshot on your Mac (Updated for mac OS Big Sur)

You can capture the entire screen, a window, or just a portion of the screen.

How to take a screenshot on your Mac

1. To take a screenshot, press and hold these three keys together:
   Shift, Command, and 3.
2. If you see a thumbnail in the corner of your screen, click it to edit the screenshot. Or wait for the screenshot to save to your desktop.

How to capture a portion of the screen

1. Press and hold these three keys together: Shift, Command, and 4.
2. Drag the crosshair to select the area of the screen to capture. To move the selection, press and hold Space bar while dragging. To cancel taking the screenshot, press the Esc (Escape) key.

3.  To take the screenshot, release your mouse or track pad button.

4.  If you see a thumbnail in the corner of your screen, click it to edit the screenshot. Or wait for the screenshot to save to your desktop.

Where to find screenshots

By default, screenshots save to your desktop with the name ”Screen Shot [date] at [time].png.”

How to change default location of screenshots on your Mac

You can change the default location of saved screenshots from the Options menu in the Screenshots App,  You can also drag the thumbnail to a folder or document.

How to change the quality of screenshot on your Mac

The screenshots are saved as PNG files using lossless compression (meaning smallest size while keeping quality the same); there's isn't a possible better-quality screenshot. You could consider enlarging (zooming in) the area you are trying to capture before taking a screenshot