Snapix Tutorials: How to Screenshot on Mac, Step by Step

Get started

Install Snapix, allow screen capture, and take your first screenshot.

Six screenshot shortcuts as big keycaps on frosted tiles, each with its icon: Shift-Command-3, Shift-Command-4 (ringed in blue) and Shift-Command-5 on top, Shift-Command-8, Shift-Command-2 and Control-Option-C below

Every Mac Screenshot Shortcut (Cheat Sheet)

Every screenshot shortcut built into macOS and every one Snapix adds, in tables you can skim and one card to keep.

The Snapix app icon beside a Mac screen whose menu bar has the Snapix icon clicked, its menu open on Capture Area ⇧⌘4, Capture Full Screen ⇧⌘3, Capture Window ⇧⌘5 and the other items down to Recent Captures

How to Set Up Snapix on Your Mac

Install Snapix, sign in, allow Screen Recording and take your first screenshot, one step at a time.

Two Screenshots rows from macOS Keyboard Shortcuts settings, with the pointer on the newly ticked box for Save picture of screen as a file, beside large Shift, Command and 3 keycaps above a red dot that turns into a green check

Screenshot Not Working on Mac? How to Fix It

Turn the screenshot shortcuts back on, find screenshots that went elsewhere, and fix wallpaper-only captures.

Take screenshots

The whole screen, one monitor, a window, an area, on a timer or again in the same spot.

A MacBook and an external display side by side: the external display is outlined in white with the pointer on it and a large Snapix preview card of itself in its corner, while the MacBook screen is dimmed under large ⇧ ⌘ 3 keycaps

How to Screenshot One Monitor or Every Monitor on a Mac

Capture just the monitor you want, each display in turn, or every screen stitched into one picture.

⇧⌘3

A dark Mac window with a map of a walking route, a Snapix area selection with white handles dragged over the end of the route and the Harbor Market pin, the crosshair at its corner, and the keys Shift, Command and 4

How to Screenshot Part of Your Screen on Mac

Press ⇧⌘4, drag over the part you need and let go. Plus the keys that move or resize the box.

⇧⌘4

A Mac window with a photo of a dog running through yellow flowers, outlined in blue by the Snapix window picker with the camera pointer on it, a second window behind it, and large ⇧ ⌘ 5 keycaps

How to Screenshot a Window on Mac (With or Without the Shadow)

Capture one window with the shortcut built into macOS or with Snapix, shadow or no shadow.

⇧⌘5

A window showing a furniture shop's website with its Shop menu open on hover and the pointer on Chairs, the dark Snapix banner Capturing in 3… with its blue timer icon over the window's top-right corner, and large ⇧ ⌘ 8 keycaps

How to Take a Timed Screenshot on Mac

Set a 5- or 10-second timer in the Screenshot toolbar, or let Snapix count down and capture the whole screen.

⇧⌘8

How to Screenshot the Same Area Again on Mac

Capture the same part of the screen again with one shortcut, for before-and-after shots and progress checks.

⇧⌘6

The Finder right-click menu open on a blue Mac desktop over a photo window, with Change Wallpaper… highlighted, framed by a Snapix area selection with the crosshair at its corner, beside the keys Shift, Command and 4

How to Screenshot a Menu, Dropdown or Tooltip on Mac

Capture right-click menus, menu bar menus, web dropdowns and tooltips without them closing on you.

⇧⌘4

How to Hide Desktop Icons for a Screenshot on Mac

Clear the icons and widgets off your desktop for a screenshot or a screen share, then bring them back from the same menu.

A Mac window of three trip photos of Venice, a neon street at night and desert dunes, with a large mouse pointer resting on its blue Export button, and beside it the Snapix setting Include mouse cursor, switched on, under While capturing

How to Show or Hide the Mouse Pointer in a Mac Screenshot

Keep the pointer in a screenshot to show where to click, or leave it out, with the tools built into macOS or Snapix.

Edit and annotate

Arrows, text, shapes, numbered steps, highlights, crops and backgrounds.

The Snapix editor in dark mode on a team settings page, marked up as a how-to: red numbered steps 1 and 2 on the invite fields, a yellow label reading Then click Send invite with a red arrow to the Send invite button, a highlighted line, and the Arrow tool picked with its tooltip, Arrow A

How to Edit a Screenshot on Mac

Open any screenshot in the Snapix editor, mark it up with one-key tools, find words in it, and keep every mark editable.

The Snapix editor in crop mode on a photo of a whiteboard covered in sticky notes: a frame with thick white corner handles and a thirds grid around most of the board, the rest of it dimmed, the size 1958 × 1028 px shown large under the top bar, Cancel and Crop in the bottom bar, and a large K key beside the window

How to Crop a Screenshot on Mac

Trim a screenshot right after you take it, crop a saved one in Preview, or crop and resize in one step in Snapix.

K

How to Add an Arrow to a Screenshot on Mac

Draw straight or curved arrows on any screenshot, pick a style and color, or use the Markup tools built into macOS.

A

The Snapix editor with the Text tool picked and a photo of a puppy in the snow: a purple speech bubble reading Five more minutes points at its nose, and a yellow Snow day label is being typed, beside a large T keycap

How to Add Text to a Screenshot on Mac

Type a label, a caption or a speech bubble onto any screenshot, then resize it, recolor it or point it at something.

T

The Snapix editor with the Step tool picked and its tooltip, Step C, over a checkout page: red numbered badges 1, 2 and 3 sit beside the Express delivery option, the promo code field and the Place order button, next to a large C keycap

How to Add Numbered Steps to a Screenshot on Mac

Click 1, 2, 3 onto any screenshot in Snapix, and the count stays in order when you delete or undo a step.

C

The Snapix editor with the yellow Highlighter picked, open on an email about a Lisbon trip: one line marked with a green band and two with yellow bands, the marker pointer resting at the end of the last one, beside a large H keycap

How to Highlight Text in a Screenshot on Mac

Mark any line of a screenshot with a clean, level marker band, or box it with the Markup tools built into macOS.

H

The Snapix editor with the Spotlight tool picked over an app's Security settings: the Two-factor authentication card stays bright and the rest of the page is dimmed under a dark shade, beside a large S keycap

How to Spotlight Part of a Screenshot on Mac

Dim everything except the part that matters, choose how dark the rest goes, and draw arrows on top.

S

The Snapix editor with the Ellipse tool picked and a boarding pass open: the gate, B12, is circled in red, the boarding time is underlined by hand and seat 14A is boxed, beside a large O keycap

How to Circle or Draw on a Screenshot on Mac

Circle, box, underline or scribble on any screenshot, then pick the color, thickness and a circle's fill.

O

The Snapix editor showing a schnauzer photo on yellow with three emoji stickers (a red heart, a pair of eyes and a selected bone), beside large ⌃ ⌘ Space keycaps.

How to Add Emoji and Stickers to a Screenshot on Mac

Put crisp emoji stickers, or your own pictures, on any screenshot, then resize, turn and move them.

⌃⌘Space

The Snapix editor with its Background panel open on the left and Pictures ▸ Desktop picture picked: a team chat screenshot sits on a blue-violet wallpaper with wide padding, a soft shadow and rounded corners, beside a large G keycap

How to Add a Background to a Screenshot on Mac

Put any screenshot on a gradient, your wallpaper or a color, with padding, a soft shadow and rounded corners.

G

The Snapix editor with the Measure tool armed on a zoomed-in screenshot of a sign-in form: red rulers read 80px down the email field and 88px down the Continue button, beside a large M keycap

How to Measure Pixels in a Screenshot on Mac

Drag a ruler across any screenshot to check a gap, the padding or a button, in pixels or points.

M

A small photo file named desk.jpeg on a coral desktop with its Finder menu open at Open With, the pointer on Snapix below Preview (default), and the submenu overlapping the left edge of a large Snapix editor showing that photo of a wooden desk marked up: two knots in the wood circled in red and a big yellow label reading Knots, not scratches with a red arrow to one of them

How to Annotate an Image on Mac (Not Just Screenshots)

Mark up a photo or any picture on your Mac with Preview, Quick Look, Photos or Snapix, and keep a copy of the original.

The Snapix editor with Blur armed and its Intensity slider at the default, open on a group chat where one tall drag has blurred the other person's name, message and shared map while your own blue replies stay sharp, next to a large B key on a coral background.

How to Blur Part of a Screenshot on Mac (So It Can't Be Un-Blurred)

Blur, pixelate or black out anything in a screenshot on your Mac, and learn which one actually keeps a secret.

B

Text, colors and QR codes

Copy the words out of any picture, scan a QR code on screen, and pick a color from anywhere.

A slide with a large QR code in a Mac window, a Snapix selection dragged around the code, the ⇧⌘2 keys, and the Snapix banner reading QR code copied with https://snapix.app underneath

How to Scan a QR Code on Your Mac Screen

Read a QR code in a web page, PDF or video on your Mac, copy its link and open it, without reaching for your phone.

⇧⌘2

A palette window with coral, yellow, blue, green, purple and navy tiles, the Snapix color loupe hanging over its right edge with the corner of the blue tile magnified and #2F6BFF under it, the keys Control, Option and C, and a large banner with a blue swatch reading #2F6BFF, Copied to Clipboard

How to Pick a Color from Your Screen on Mac

Copy the hex code of any pixel on your screen in one click, or read color values with Digital Color Meter.

⌃⌥C

The ⇧⌘2 keys and Snapix's “Text copied” banner, which shows “200 g plain flour 150 g caster sugar 3 large…”, above a recipe PDF with the Extract Text marquee around its ingredient lines, on a teal background.

How to Extract Text from a Screenshot or Image on Mac

Copy text from a screenshot or image on Mac with Live Text, or grab it in one step with Snapix's on-device OCR. Clear steps plus a quick comparison.

⇧⌘2

Copy, save and drag your screenshots, pin them on top, and find old ones again.

The Snapix preview card of a captured “could not be saved” error alert with its Copied badge and green check, the Command and V keys, and a Messages chat where the same error has been pasted under the question “What does the error say?”

How to Copy a Screenshot to the Clipboard on Mac

Copy a screenshot straight to the clipboard, paste it anywhere, and skip the file on your desktop.

⌘V

A Snapix screenshot preview of a drawing of a sunny landscape with blue mountains and green hills, in the bottom-right corner of a Mac screen above the Dock, showing Copy and Save with the pointer on Copy, next to ⌘C keycaps

How to Use the Screenshot Thumbnail on Mac (Copy, Save, Drag)

Copy, save, pin or drag a screenshot straight from the preview in the corner, and choose how long it stays.

⌘C

How to Pin a Screenshot on Top of Other Windows on Mac

Keep a screenshot floating above your other windows while you type, code or compare, and unpin it when you're done.

⌘P

Large ⇧ ⌘ S keycaps above the Snapix Recent Captures strip searching for “maya”: three captures are left, a video call, a calendar and a Slack thread, each with a yellow match badge and the name Maya marked

How to See Your Recent Screenshots on Mac

Bring back your last screenshots with one shortcut, and find an old one by a word that was in it.

⇧⌘S

Snapix Recent Captures with list pills for Recents, Receipts, Bugs and Q4, and a taxi receipt being dragged onto the Receipts pill, which lights up yellow

How to Organize Screenshots into Lists on Mac

File screenshots into named, colored lists that keep them past the history limit, or sort the files in Finder.

A Snapix preview card of a booking confirmation back on screen, a faded copy of the same card in a dashed outline at the screen edge with an arrow curving from it to the card, and large ⌃ ⌥ Z keycaps on the left

How to Get Back a Screenshot You Just Closed on Mac

Bring back a screenshot preview you closed too soon, find an older one, and see where the Mac put yours.

⌃⌥Z

A Snapix preview card of a dog on a yellow wall, with its Copy and Save buttons, and a dotted path to the same picture being dragged into the body of a Mail message to Maya Chen under a pointer with a green plus

How to Share a Screenshot from Your Mac

AirDrop it, message it, email it or drag it into any app, straight from the screenshot.

Shortcuts and settings

Change the keys, where screenshots are saved, their format and how Snapix behaves.

Snapix Tutorials

Every Snapix shortcut

Get started

Take screenshots

Edit and annotate

Text, colors and QR codes

Share, pin and find

Shortcuts and settings