If you want to take a screenshot and paste it into a document on Mac, Apple makes it easy. You can use keyboard shortcuts to do so. We’ll walk you through the steps below.
How to Take a Screenshot on Mac?
- To take a screenshot of the entire screen, press and hold these three keys together: Shift, Command, and 3.
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To capture a portion of the screen, press and hold these three keys together: Shift, Command, and 4. Drag the cursor to select the area of the screen to capture. To move the selection, press and hold Space bar while dragging. To take the screenshot, release your mouse or trackpad button.
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To capture a window or menu, open the window or menu that you want to capture. Press and hold these keys together: Shift, Command, 4, and Space bar. The pointer changes to a camera icon . Click the window or menu to capture it. To exclude the window’s shadow from the screenshot, press and hold the Option key while you click.
By default, screenshots save to your desktop with the name ”Screen Shot [date] at [time].png.”
How to Paste a Screenshot Into Documents on Mac
To directly paste screenshots into documents on your Mac, press and hold the Control key while you press the other keys. Here’s how:
- To capture the entire screen, press and hold Control-Shift-Command-3 simultaneously.
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To capture a portion of the screen, press Shift-Command-4, then hold Control as you select the area with your trackpad button or mouse button.
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To capture a window, press Shift-Command-4-Space bar, then hold Control as you click the entire window.
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After taking a screen shot with the Control key included in the shortcut, open the document you wish to paste the screenshot into, and simply press the Command-V key combination on your Mac keyboard or select Edit > Paste from the menu bar.
By including the Control key, the screen shots will go to the clipboard rather than being saved to the desktop be it an entire screen screenshot. Thus, using screenshots in documents on Mac will be easier.
How to Paste a Screenshot on Mac Into Word?
To insert a screenshot into a Word document on your Mac, follow these steps:
- Press Control-Shift-Command-3 to capture the whole screen.
- The screenshot will be automatically saved to the clipboard.
- Open the word document where you want to insert the captured screenshot.
- Press Command-V to paste the screenshot. Alternatively, choose
Edit > Paste
.
How Do I Copy and Paste a Screenshot into a PDF?
Pasting a screenshot into a PDF is easy. Simply take your screenshot with the Control key included as we have shown above, then open your PDF in a program that allows editing (like Adobe Acrobat) and press Command-V
or choose Edit > Paste
. Here’s an example:
- Press Control-Shift-Command-3 to capture the whole screen.
- The screenshot will be automatically saved to the clipboard.
- Open your PDF in a program that allows editing (like Adobe Acrobat)
- Press Command-V to paste the screenshot where you need it. Alternatively, choose
Edit > Paste
.
How Do You Copy and Paste a Screenshot on a Mac Without Saving It?
Include the Control
key in your screenshot shortcut. This sends the screenshot to the clipboard, allowing you to paste it directly into a document without saving it to your desktop first.
How Do I Make a Screenshot Go to a Specific Folder on a Mac?
In the Screenshot app, go to the Options menu and select Other Location. Navigate to the desired folder, select it, and future screenshots will be saved there.
Can You Convert a Screenshot to a Document?
Yes, there are cool tools like OCR (Optical Character Recognition) that can turn screenshots into text you can edit. You can even turn them into PDFs. But here, we’re focusing on how to snap a screenshot and paste it right into a document if you’re using a Mac.