Category: Mac OS X

Taking Screenshots in Mac OS X

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Mac OS X comes with built-in capability for capturing screen shots.

Built-in Mac OS X screenshot commands

  • Command + Shift + 3
    Capture entire screen and save it as a file on the desktop.
  • Command + Control + Shift + 3
    Capture entire screen and save it to the clipboard.
  • Command + Shift + 4, then select an area
    Capture dragged area and save it as a file on the desktop.
  • Command + Control + Shift + 4, the select an area
    Capture dragged area and save it to the clipboard.
  • Command + Shift + 4, then Space bar, then click a window
    Capture a window and save it as a file on the desktop.
  • Command + Control + Shift + 4, then Space bar, then click a window
    Capture a window and save it to the clipboard.

This screenshot is taken from the quicksilver’s main window.

To take screenshot of windows, icons… press Command + Shift + 4 and then the Space bar. The cursor will turn into a camera icon. Then hover the camera over the item or window you want to capture and click the mouse.

Taking Screenshots using Grab Utility
Instead of using the keyboard combinations above, screenshots can be taken by using the Grab application included with Mac OS X. It is located at /Applications/Utilities/Grab.

Taking Screenshots From the Terminal
You can use the screencapture command in the terminal.

screencapture -iW ~/Desktop/test.png

If you want to look for more screencapture options, just type screencapture and press enter key in the terminal.

Show hidden files in the Finder

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To see all files in the Finder (Mac OS X), “like hidden files starting with . (dot)” follow these steps.

    1. Open “Terminal”

    2. Type this command and press Enter key.

    defaults write com.apple.Finder AppleShowAllFiles YES

    3. You need to restart the Finder to make the command take effect. Hold down the “Option key”, then click and hold on the Finder icon in the Dock. When the menu appears, select “Relaunch”.

    4. Now, you can see all files and folders on in the Finder.

    5. If you want to hide files and change everything back to normal, just open Terminal and repeat the command with changing “YES to NO”, then press Enter key again. And restart the Finder.

    defaults write com.apple.Finder AppleShowAllFiles NO