Is there the equivalent of the "Snipping Tool" for Mac computers?

press command control shift and "4" all at the same time. This puts a + on your screen. It lets you outline what you want to "snip" with your touchpad. When you release the pressure on your touchpad, the computer takes a screenshot only of the area you outlined. You can then press "command" "v" to paste the "snipped" portion into a Word document or email or message.

Oh C'mon LowLuster, should she write every shortcut for the Mac 50 times as well? Although you are right, Network 23 gave a much better answer to the woman in distress. Why so grumpy? Eh'...she's a new Mac user perhaps and I say good on her then. These forums are to help others, not to berate or condescend to them.

Daiza Diva wrote:

So, There is no ap for that! Too bad, trying to remember all those key board short cuts takes some of the glamor out of Apple. I did try that and it did work. Thanks.

Yes, there is an app for that. You got an incomplete answer. When people tell you the Mac keyboard shortcuts for screen shots, those are actually only the shortcuts to a much deeper set of screen shot capabilities.

The fact is that the Mac came out with a "snipping tool" app way, way before Windows ever did. OS X comes with an app called Grab (as in "screen grab"), in your Utilities folder. It will let you do screen shots with your mouse instead of having to memorize the shortcuts. Just click the Capture menu and you will have the commands Selection, Window, Screen, and Timed Screen. The Grab screen shot app has been around for many years (maybe 10 or more) while I believe the Windows Snipping Tool was not built into Windows until Windows Vista.

Also, note that the Window option means if you want to take a picture of just a single window or palette, you do not have to laboriously draw a selection around it. With the Window option, you just click that window and it's the only thing that will be captured, you'll get a nice clean grab of just that.

In addition to Grab, Apple added similar commands to the Preview app which is in your Dock or Applications folder. After starting up Preview, just choose File/Take Screen Shot and you have three commands: From Selection, From Windows, or From Entire Screen.

Furthermore, if you are enough of a geek to prefer typing in Unix commands, those screen shot choices can also be executed from the Terminal program by typing in the proper commands.

And if you ever wanted to record a video of your screen or audio from your microphone, you can do it with the QuickTime Player on your Mac.

So yes, there is an app for that, actually, several apps. 🙂

Daiza Diva wrote:

Your answer sounded so informed, but by now you know that I am a real newbe to Apple! You mentiioned an 'Applications' folder and a 'Utilities' folder, niether of which I could find.

I found what I thought was 'Preview', but it only wanted me to look into iCloud... nothing else.

You can find Appllications and Utilities where LowLuster said, and also, if you are in the Finder (desktop), both of those folders can be reached from under the Go menu.

The Preview shortcut should also be in the Dock, but if it's been removed the original lives in the Utilities folder.

You Don't Need an App. It is built into OS X. Press the Shift key and the Command key and the # 4 key at the same time and the cursor will change to a Cross hairs with circle. Place that changed cursor at the start point of the windows you want to draw and Click and hold the trackpad and Drag to the other side of the window you want to draw. Release the trackpad. What was inside that box you drew will be made into a .PNG file and placed on your desktop.

There is no Glamour in OS X. But you can't get any simpler than that key combo to do exactly the same thing as the Snipping tool in Windows and without ever having to open any App/Program.

How hard is it to remember Shift Command 4. Write it 50 times and you'll never forget it.

Shift Command 4

Shift Command 4

Shift Command 4

Shift Command 4

Shift Command 4

Daiza Diva wrote:

So, There is no ap for that! Too bad, trying to remember all those key board short cuts takes some of the glamor out of Apple. I did try that and it did work. Thanks.

Yes but some of the appeal of OS X is that you don't have to remember things like command lines and keyboard shortcuts because all of your choices can be presented in a friendly GUI, like you find in Grab and why Apple also decided to them to Preview.

I'm a big keyboard shortcut guy, but even I recognize that some people want an app because that is the entire point of why the Mac was invented in the first place: For everyone who prefers a nice friendly GUI because they don't want to have to memorize computery combos just to do simple tasks.

Yes, the Grab on Mac is the equivalent to Snipping Tool on Windows. But I still prefer to use third-party tools because they usually have more functions, such as various editing, uploading and sharing.

I am also new to Mac. I cannot figure out how to copy/paste the selection into a message (email or skype) or highlight (not draw a circle around) something after shift/command/4. Thank you for your help.

Actually there are many Snipping Tool alternative on Mac, such as the built-in Grab for Mac, it can be used to take screenshots on Mac, but it can automatically save screenshot in TIFF format. You need to use the "Preview" app to change the format. Other Snipping Tool for Mac options like Skitch, Jing, Monosnap also works better in taking screenshots and making quick edits.

The power of the Windows Snippit tool is that it provides basic image editing capabilities - like highlighting a line of text with a highlighter tool...

The closest to this is in Mac world is:

- Shift + Control + Command + 4

- Pop up Preview on a way you like

- Press Command+N to paste image from clipboard

- Press the "box icon" in preview which is in fact gets you into Edit mode

- Do your edits

- Press Command+C to copy image to clipboard....

[flame] Now owning a mac for two weeks after 15 years in the windows world I can really tell you that it is a Toy Operating System... I mean it... I do enjoy the experience, but the fact that the world's most expensive consumer computer platform has the world's ********* File manager (Finder is not good even for a joke), plus the world's ********* window manager - it tells a lot about how serious is Apple on functionality...[/flame]

The Applications folder is in your Dock, to the right of the bar in the dock near the Trash Can.

In that Applications folder there is a Sub-Folder called Utilities. The Grap App is in there.

Google "Take Screen Shots in OS X". there is a seies of keyboard shortcuts. the one I use the most is Shift + Command + 4 keys. Then draw a box around what you want to capture.

Try Snagit for mac.