Screenshot Hacks for Mac OS X

Using screencapture in the Terminal App.

The Terminal application comes with a command-line screen capture utility known as screencapture.

This utility provides capabilities similar to those of Grab. To use it, invoke the Terminal window and type screencapture to see the various options supported:

screencapture

screencapture: illegal usage, file required if not going to clipboard

usage: screencapture [-icmwsWx] [file] [cursor]

  -i      capture screen interactively, by selection or window

            control key - causes screen shot to go to clipboard

            space key   - toggle between mouse selection and

                          window selection modes

            escape key  - cancels interactive screen shot

  -c      force screen capture to go to the clipboard

  -m      only capture the main monitor, undefined if -i is set

  -w      only allow window selection mode

  -s      only allow mouse selection mode

  -W      start interaction in window selection mode

  -x      do not play sounds

  file    where to save the screen capture

To capture the entire screen, type:

screencapture imagefilename.pdf

The image will be saved as imagefilename.pdf.

To capture the screen interactively, type:

screencapture -i imagefilename.pdf

and:

• Press the Control key to copy the screen to the clipboard (and Command-V to paste the captured image into your application), or
• Press the Space key to toggle between capturing a window (Figure 12) and a region (Figure 13).

Wrapping Up

As you can see, there are many options in Mac OS X for capturing images from your screen and saving them to your hard disk. For most tasks, the free utility Grab or enabling screencapture in the Terminal application should suit your needs. But if you want that professional touch, or are interested in audio/video capture, then take a look at the $49 version of Snapz Pro X.

Wei-Meng Lee (weimenglee.blogspot.com) is a technologist and founder of Developer Learning Solutions, a technology company specializing in hands-on training of the latest Microsoft technologies.

Derrick Story is the digital media evangelist for O'Reilly, as well as the author of Digital Photography Hacks and Digital Photography Pocket Guide. You can listen to his photo podcasts and read his tips at The Digital Story.

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