TIL: cmd + shift + 5 is the final screenshot command

I have used Macs forever and at one point I took a lot of pride in the sheer number of keyboard shortcuts I had memorized.

  • cmd + shift + 3 for a full-screen screenshot
  • cmd + shift + 4 for a region
    • press spacebar to switch to object mode (capture a window, menu, etc.)
    • less useful, but shift and option change drag mode
  • in both modes, hold control to capture to clipboard

Today I discovered cmd + shift + 5 which basically turns knowledge of all these shortcuts into a nice UI:

Screenshot of screenshot controls palette with the cursor hovering over "Capture Selection Portion"

You can capture the entire screen, a region, or a UI element. The Options menu lets you choose where to save it (including the clipboard), set a timer, show or hide the cursor. You can even record a movie!

As a bonus: if you need to take a screenshot of the screenshot controls, I learned you can use the screencapture command:

screencapture -C -T10 ~/Desktop/screencapture_$(date +%s).png

-C shows the cursor, -T10 gives you a 10-second delay.

macOS