How to take snapshots of your screen

I get asked this all the time. Someone will call me up and ask me how to do something, are what settings I used, or say I am designing a website and a client shows me some sites that they like, I can take a snapshot of that site, so I can refer to it instead of always having look up the page on my browser.

There are two types of snapshots that you can do. First is taking a snapshot of everything on your screen. This means that everything you see, the way that you see it on your monitor at the time of the snapshot, will be in the image file. The second is a more controlled snapshot which allows you choose the area of your screen that you want to take a snapshot of.

The first snapshot is pretty straight forward, hold down the Cmd (apple) key and the shift key, then while continuing to hold them down hit the numeral 3 key, you should have a camera noise to let you know it took the snapshot. It will then create an image file on your desktop. The file should be a .pdf (Adobe Acrobat, similar to a JPEG) file or a .pct (PICT), depending on your version of OS you are using.

The second type, or the controlled type, of snapshot is just as simple but requires one more step. Here's how it works: Again hold down the Cmd Key and the Shift Key, but this time hit the numeral 4 key. Now, your mouse will turn into a cross cursor, you can move the cursor to the area you want to capture, once there, Click and Hold the mouse button, it's important that you hold it, and drag a now visible box around the area that you want to take the snapshot of. When you have the box over the area you want, you then let go of the mouse button, and again, a camera clicking noise should happen, and the same file will be on your desktop.

You can take as many snapshots as you want, your computer will not overwrite the prior one it will just create a second file called Picture01.pdf, Picture02.pdf, and so on.



If you are looking to take your snapshots to the next level, I highly suggest this software from Ambrosia Software, Inc. called Snapz Pro X.

Summary: Snapz Pro X is by far the most powerful, versatile, and easy to use screen capture solution for Mac OS X. Whether you're writing online manuals that require visual examples, or simply recording video of your flight simulator dogfighting skills, Snapz Pro X is the ultimate utility for capturing moving or still pictures on Mac OS X.

posted @ 9:20 PM