How to Capture a Screen shot with Grab

Are keyboard shortcuts too much for you to handle? The bundled Apple utility Grab, located in the Applications > Utilities folder, is another method for capturing screen shots in Mac OS X. Grab is useful if you need to include a cursor or a menu in your screen shot, or if you want to save your screen shot to TIFF format. To include a cursor, first go to Grab Preferences and select the cursor icon you wish to have in your screen shot. To capture the screen with Grab, run Grab, then choose one of the capture modes from the Capture menu: Selection, Window, Screen, Timed Screen.

  • When you choose Capture Selection in Grab, you can capture a specific region of the screen by dragging your mouse around it. After selecting the region, the screen shot will open in a window as soon as you release the mouse button. The cursor will not be included.tips
  • When you choose Capture Window in Grab, an instruction window will appear asking you to select the window you wish to capture, then click the "Choose Window" button. This allows you to open and prepare the application window you want to capture. When it is ready, go back to Grab then click the “Choose Window” button and the window you click on will be captured, including the mouse cursor at the position where you click (if a cursor was selected in Preferences).
  • When you choose Capture Screen in Grab, an instruction window will appear asking you to click anywhere outside the instruction window. This captures the entire screen without the instruction window. The mouse cursor will be included in your screen shot at the position where you click (if a cursor was selected in Preferences).
  • When you choose the Timed Screen mode in Grab, an instruction window will appear, allowing you to prepare your screen for capture. When you are ready, press the "Start Timer" button and you will have ten seconds before the screen is captured. This allows you to open menus and sub-menus, if necessary. After ten seconds the entire screen will be captured. The mouse cursor will be included in your screen shot if a cursor was selected in Preferences.

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