Taking a Screenshot of a Selection

In this lesson for Screenshots on the Mac, we look at how we take a screenshot of a selection on your screen with the new screenshot tool introduced with macOS Mojave.

Taking a Screenshot of a Selection
Use the key command (⌘) Command-Shift-5 to bring up the screenshot toolbar at the bottom of your display. Now select the third option from the left. When you click on this, you’ll see a selection border on your screen. Just drag any of the handles to change what is selected. The handles are located on each corner as well as the top and bottom and left and right side of the selection window or border. Once you have it selected, click on Capture in the toolbar.

Saving your Screenshot
When you click on Options, you can set where you want your screenshot to be saved. You can save it in a folder or have it open an app. You can also save it to the clipboard if you are going to paste it into another app. By default, it saves it to the Desktop.

Setting a Timer
Under options is also where you can set a timer. When you set a timer, when you are ready to take the screenshot, your Mac will wait either 5 or 10 seconds to take the screenshot. This comes in handy if you want to select a menu or take a screenshot of something you are doing and you need a slight delay before you take the screenshot.

Show Floating Thumbnail
When you select Show ‘Floating Thumbnail’ under Options, after you take the screenshot of your selection, it will show in the lower right corner of your screen for a few seconds. If you click on it while it’s showing as a thumbnail, you can mark it up.

Remember Last Selection
When this is selected under Options, any settings or options you have set here will be remembered for your next screenshot.

Show Mouse Pointer
This setting is ignored when you take a screenshot of a selection. This setting or option is only available when you take a screenshot of the entire screen. So if you want to show the mouse pointer, you’ll have to take a screenshot of your entire screen and then crop it to the selection you wanted a screenshot of.

See this Lesson in Action
If you want to see this lesson in action, take a look at the video above.

Lesson tags: Mac Tutorials
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