To screenshot an active window on a macOS, press Cmd+Shift+4, then press the Space bar. The cursor changes to a camera icon; move it over the desired window (which will be highlighted in blue) and click to capture it, including a clean shadow effect.
Key Takeaways:
- Active Window Only: Press Cmd + Shift + 4, then Space bar, then Click.
- Copy to Clipboard: Add the Control key to the combination (e.g., Cmd + Shift + Ctrl + 4 then Space bar) to copy the image to the clipboard instead of saving a file.
- Menu Options: Press Cmd + Shift + 5 to open the full screenshot menu for more options.
- File Format: Screenshots are saved as .png files, usually to the desktop.
To change the format of the screenshot, to png copy & paste the following into Terminal: defaults write com.apple.screencapture type png && killall SystemUIServer. - Shadow Removal: To remove the shadow, hold down the Option key while clicking to take the shot.