How to Take a Snapshot of Part of a Mac's Screen

If you have Macintosh system software 7.6 or later, you can take a snapshot of a partial area of your Mac's screen. This is useful for saving error messages or a graphic on your computer. You can define the area you want to have captured or have the Mac automatically "snap" a window you select.

Difficulty:

Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need

• Mac OS 9.0

Taking a Snapshot of Any Area on the Screen

1. Press Command + Shift + 4. Your pointer becomes a crosshair.

2. Drag the crosshair to enclose the portion of the screen you want to snap.

3. Let go of the crosshair. When you hear a click, your Mac has taken a picture of that portion of your screen. The picture will be found on your hard drive with the file name "Picture 1," or a subsequent number if you've snapped more than one picture.

4. Double-click the picture icon to launch SimpleText to see what you've snapped, or open the file in a graphics application to perform more sophisticated editing.

Taking a Snapshot of a Single Window

1. Press the Caps Lock key.

2. Press Command + Shift + 4. Your pointer becomes a bull's-eye.

3. Position the bull's-eye over the window or dialog box that you want to snap.

4. Let go of the bull's-eye. When you hear a click, your Mac has taken a picture of the window or dialog box. The picture will be found on your hard drive with the file name "Picture 1," or a subsequent number if you've snapped more than one picture.

5. Double-click the picture icon to launch SimpleText to see what you've snapped, or open the file in a graphics application to perform more sophisticated editing.