Mac screenshot keyboard shortcuts
Short answer: Shift-Command-3 grabs the whole screen, Shift-Command-4 lets you drag a crosshair over a region, and Shift-Command-5 opens a toolbar with every option, a timer and the save location. Add Control to any of them to copy to the clipboard instead of saving a file. That is the core of it. Below is the full list, including the modifier keys you can hold while dragging a selection and how to change the shortcuts if they clash with something else.
Every Mac screenshot shortcut
These five shortcuts cover everything macOS captures, from the whole screen down to a single menu. They are the same on every Mac, including a MacBook Air and MacBook Pro.
| Shortcut | What it captures |
|---|---|
| Shift-Command-3 | The entire screen, saved straight away |
| Shift-Command-4 | A region you drag a crosshair over |
| Shift-Command-4, then Space | A single window or menu; the pointer becomes a camera, then click the one you want |
| Shift-Command-5 | The capture and record toolbar, with options, a timer and the save location |
| Shift-Command-6 | The Touch Bar, on Macs that have one |
If you only ever remember one, make it Shift-Command-4. The region grab is the one you reach for most, and Shift-Command-5 is the one to learn next because it shows you the rest of the controls on screen rather than asking you to memorize them. For the broader walkthrough of when to use each, see how to take a screenshot on a Mac.
Copy to the clipboard: add Control
Hold Control along with any capture shortcut and the screenshot goes to the clipboard instead of being saved as a file. You then paste it where it needs to go with Command-V.
| Shortcut | What it does |
|---|---|
| Control-Shift-Command-3 | The whole screen, copied to the clipboard |
| Control-Shift-Command-4 | A region you drag, copied to the clipboard |
This is handy when you are about to paste the image somewhere immediately and do not want a stray PNG piling up on the Desktop. The full clipboard route, including how to confirm a shot actually landed there, is covered in how to copy and paste a screenshot on a Mac.
Modifier keys while you drag Shift-Command-4
Once the crosshair is out and you are dragging a selection, four keys reshape it on the fly. You do not need to start over to get the box right.
| Hold while dragging | What it does |
|---|---|
| Space | Lock the size and move the whole selection to reposition it |
| Shift | Lock one edge so you resize in a single direction |
| Option | Resize from the center rather than from a corner |
| Esc | Cancel the capture without taking anything |
These are the keys most people never learn, and they are the difference between fighting the crosshair and placing it once. Hold Space when the box is the right size but in the wrong place; hold Shift when only the width or only the height is off.
Where shots go and how to find them again
By default every screenshot saves to the Desktop as a PNG, named with the date and time it was taken. Right after you capture, a thumbnail flashes in the bottom-right corner; click it before it slides away to open the shot in Markup and edit it without ever touching a file. Let it go and it is already saved.
To change where they land, open the Shift-Command-5 toolbar and use its Options menu to pick a different folder, set a timer, or send shots to the clipboard or Mail. Once a screenshot is saved, you can crop it down to the part that matters or annotate it with arrows and text in Markup or Preview.
How to change the screenshot shortcuts
If a shortcut clashes with something else or you would rather use your own keys, you can reassign every capture action. Open System Settings, go to Keyboard, click Keyboard Shortcuts, then select Screenshots in the sidebar.
- Each capture action has its own row with its current key combination shown on the right.
- Click the combination, then press the new keys you want to use, and macOS records them in place.
- Untick an action to switch its shortcut off entirely, which is the cleanest fix for a stubborn clash.
- If you change your mind, the same panel has a Restore Defaults button to put everything back.
The shortcuts in the tables above are the factory defaults, so anything you read here still works unless you have changed it yourself.
When a shortcut catches something private
The fast shortcuts also make it easy to grab more than you meant to, like an email address, an account number or a face sitting in the corner of the frame. The built-in Markup tools can draw a box over it, but that box is a separate layer on top of the picture, and it can be moved or lifted off to reveal what was underneath. Drawing over something is not the same as removing it.
That gap is what ScrubShot is for. It captures with the same kind of shortcut you already use, but its Scrub tool pixelates the area straight into the image, so there is no overlay to peel back and no original detail left in the file. It also gives you Marker, Text and Crop for ordinary edits, and all of it happens on your Mac with nothing uploaded. If you regularly share screens with sensitive data on them, here is how to redact a screenshot on a Mac before it goes out.
FAQ
- What is the shortcut to screenshot on a Mac?
- Press Shift-Command-3 to capture the whole screen, or Shift-Command-4 to drag a crosshair over just the part you want. Each one drops a PNG onto the Desktop unless you change the location. If you want the capture toolbar with a timer, save-location and recording options, press Shift-Command-5 instead.
- How do I screenshot to the clipboard on a Mac?
- Add the Control key to any capture shortcut. So Control-Shift-Command-3 copies the whole screen to the clipboard, and Control-Shift-Command-4 copies a region you drag. Nothing is written to the Desktop; you paste the image straight into a message or document with Command-V.
- Can I change the screenshot keyboard shortcut on a Mac?
- Yes. Open System Settings, go to Keyboard, click Keyboard Shortcuts, then select Screenshots in the sidebar. Each capture action has its own row, and you can click the current combination and press a new one to reassign it, or untick an action to switch it off.
- What is the MacBook screenshot shortcut?
- A MacBook Air or MacBook Pro uses the same shortcuts as any other Mac: Shift-Command-3 for the full screen, Shift-Command-4 for a region, and Shift-Command-5 for the capture toolbar. There is no separate MacBook combination. On models with a Touch Bar, Shift-Command-6 captures what is showing on the Touch Bar.
Try it
ScrubShot is a Mac app that captures with a shortcut, then lets you scrub sensitive areas into the image so they cannot be recovered, all on-device. Press the shortcut, hide the private bits, crop or label the rest, then copy or save. There is a free 7-day trial with no card required. After that it is $30 once, with lifetime updates and no subscription.