Taking screen captures on a Mac is simple because OSX comes with a program built in that you can use for such purposes. It’s called Grab, and I’m going to explain to you what it’s useful for, where you can find it, and how to use it. There are a few button options built in to take screenshots which I will also share in case you need to take a quick picture.

So first we are going to start with what Grab is useful for. I use grab for the pictures included on this website, as well as for school. It is especially helpful in explaining things and using pictures for school projects. In case you ever need to explain something to someone its as simple as a few clicks before you get the exact image you are looking for. It can also be useful for email if you need to show a specific thing to someone.

So where you can you find this program?
Go to your Finder window and click on Applications > Utilities > Grab. It will probably seem like nothing happens, but if you look to the top or in the dock you will see that Grab is now open. For those like me who likes the make life easy, another quick way to open grab is to press COMMAND+SPACE BAR on your keyboard to open the spotlight search window on the top right corner of your screen and just type “grab” and you’ll see it returned towards the top. Click on it and you now have grab open.

If we click on Capture, we can either capture a Selection, Window, Screen and Timed Screen. They are pretty self explanatory and I will include examples of each below. When you click on each one, it gives you simple instructions as to where to click and what to do.
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Selection: Useful for selecting certain areas you want to capture.

Window: Useful for selecting an exact window.

Screen: Captures the whole screen, perfect for showing examples of your desktop.

Click on the picture below to zoom in.

Timed Screen: Perfect for showing things in the middle of a process.

Click on the picture below to zoom in.

After the picture is captured you will hear a shutter, and the picture will appear. If we are going to do anything with this picture we need to save it. So go up to the top, click File > Save As and you will be prompted with what to name it and where. It will automically save as a .tiff file.

There is also a shortcut to capture the whole screen. This is the same as the Screen capture function in Grab. The keyboard shortcut is Command+Shift+3 (the Command keys are next to the spacebar on both sides in case you are wondering.)

Another easy shortcut is Command+Shift+4 which will let you draw a selection to take a sceenshot. This is the same as the Selection function in Grab.

Some more advanced screenshot options – as they involve hitting a few more keys than before include:

Command+Control+Shift+3 will capture the entire screen and copy it to the clipboard.

Command+Control+Shift+4 will allow you to capture a selected area and copy it to the clipboard.

Command+Shift+4 and then the Space Bar will let you capture things like a window, widget, menu or icon and save it as a file.

Command+Control+Shift+4 and then the Space Bar will do the same as above but it will copy it to the clipboard.

Hopefully these ideas help and give you an idea of how easy Grab is as a useful tool and program on the Mac. The button shortcuts can do the same thing but can sometimes be a little harder to remember. But by now you should be set in taking screenshots and images of your Mac screen.

Now that we have covered how to customize your icons and how to take screenshots on your mac, we would love to see what your desktop looks like. So we have a little assignment for you. We will be asking you to submit your desktop screenshots soon to incorporate to our Desktop Collection Page. But first if you have not done so yet, please review this article as well as the one on “How To Customize Your Icons“, and stay tuned for the instructions!

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