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 trackpad 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.

By pressing certain key combinations, you can do things that normally need a mouse, trackpad, or other input device. To use a keyboard shortcut, press and hold one or more modifier keys and then press the last key of the shortcut. For example, to use Command-C (copy), press and hold the Command key, then the C key, then release both keys.

How to capture a window or menu

  1. Open the window or menu that you want to capture.
  2. Press and hold these keys together: Shift, Command, 4, and Space bar. The pointer changes to a camera icon . To cancel taking the screenshot, press the Esc (Escape) key.
  3. Click the window or menu to capture it. To exclude the window's shadow from the screenshot, press and hold the Option key while you click.
  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.
Screen recording on mac shortcut keysScreen

Where to find screenshots

Mac

The screen capture shortcut on the Mac is one of the most useful tools I know. It grabs the screen and neatly places a.png file onto your desktop. But is this the highest quality screen capture you can get? Is it possible to get a higher resolution screen capture? Are there any ways to tinker with the settings of this command? The Macintosh operating system has always made it easy to capture a screen shot. A screen shot is an image of your computer desktop or an active window.

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

In macOS Mojave or later, you can change the default location of saved screenshots from the Options menu in the Screenshot app. You can also drag the thumbnail to a folder or document.

Learn more

  • In macOS Mojave or later, you can also set a timer and choose where screenshots are saved with the Screenshot app. To open the app, press and hold these three keys together: Shift, Command, and 5. Learn more about the Screenshot app.
  • Some apps, such as the Apple TV app, might not let you take screenshots of their windows.
  • To copy a screenshot to the Clipboard, press and hold the Control key while you take the screenshot. You can then paste the screenshot somewhere else. Or use Universal Clipboard to paste it on another Apple device.

QuickTime Player User Guide

Use your keyboard, trackpad, or Magic Mouse to quickly accomplish many tasks in QuickTime Player.

Basic tasks

Action

Shortcut

New movie recording

Option-Command-N

New audio recording

Shift-Command-N

New screen recording

Control-Command-N

Open file

Command-O

Open location using a URL

Command-L

Open Image Sequence

Shift-Command-O

Close window

Command-W

Save file

Command-S

Duplicate

Shift-Command-S

Minimize window

Command-M

Show Movie Inspector

Command-I

Show export progress

Option-Command-P

Movie playback

Action

Shortcut

Play or pause

Space bar

Play or pause all movies

Command-Return

Stop playback and go back one frame

Left Arrow

Stop playback and go forward one frame

Right Arrow

Go to the beginning of a movie

Option-Left Arrow

Go to the end of a movie

Option-Right Arrow

Cycle through rewind speeds

Command-Left Arrow

Cycle through fast-forward speeds

Command-Right Arrow

Cycle through custom rewind speeds (1.1x to 2.0x)

With the movie playing, Option-click the rewind button . Each click increases the speed by .1x (for example, 1.1x, 1.2x, and so on).

Cycle through custom forward speeds (1.1x to 2.0x)

With the movie playing, Option-click the forward button . Each click increases the speed by .1x (for example, 1.1x, 1.2x, and so on).

Turn volume up

Up Arrow

Turn volume down

Down Arrow

Turn the volume up to the maximum level

Option-Up Arrow

Turn the volume down to the minimum level

Option-Down Arrow

Loop the movie

Option-Command-L

Mac

Movie playback gestures

Action

Gesture

Scrub forward

While paused, swipe two fingers up or right

Scrub backward

While paused, swipe two fingers down or left

Skip forward

While playing, swipe two fingers up or right

Skip backward

While playing, swipe two fingers down or left

Fast forward

On a Force Touch trackpad, increase or decrease pressure to control speed

Rewind

On a Force Touch trackpad, increase or decrease pressure to control speed

Volume up

Over the volume control, swipe two fingers up or right

Volume down

Over the volume control, swipe two fingers down or left

Change the view

Screen

Action

Shortcut

Enter full-screen view

Command-F

Exit full-screen view

Command-F or Esc

Display movie at actual size

Command-1

Fit the movie to the screen

Command-3

Fill the screen with the movie

Command-4

Display the movie in panoramic mode

Command-5

Increase the movie size

Command-Plus Sign (+)

Decrease the movie size

Command-Minus Sign (-)

Movie editing

Action

Shortcut

Undo

Command-Z

Redo

Shift-Command-Z

Cut

Command-X

Copy

Command-C

Paste

Command-V

Select all

Command-A

Rotate left

Shift-Command-L

Rotate right

Shift-Command-R

Flip horizontally

Shift-Command-H

Flip vertically

Shift-Command-V

Split clip

Command-Y

Trim

Command-T

Screen Recording On Mac Shortcut Settings

See alsoOpen and play a file in QuickTime Player on MacRecord your screen in QuickTime Player on MacRearrange movie clips in QuickTime Player on MacShare your movies from QuickTime Player on MacApple Support article: Mac keyboard shortcuts