Techie Tip Tuesdays: Print Screen for Mac Users

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HERE are the guidelines. If this is your first time participating, PLEASE take time to read them. It will save us both a lot of time.

To join me, do a post today on your blog about a helpful hint/tip you've discovered about anything technological - blogging, SEO (search engine optimization), computer keyboard shortcuts, mobile phone features, image editing software, free applications, etc. Then, put a link in your post to this post permalink (not my general URL) and then put the permalink of your post (not your general URL) in the little form at the end of this post. Thanks.

Print Screen for Mac Users

I made the switch to Mac about 5 years ago now and it was the greatest computing move I ever made. I've found that there are simply too many cool little extra features that I can do on my Mac that I sure don't remember being able to do on my PC. So some of my computing tips are only going to be applicable to Mac users as that's the world I live in these days.

One of the tricks I've learned that has proven extremely helpful for blogging is the "print screen" feature. Say there is an image or something on a website that I want to include in my post but can't find an actual .jpg file. If you hold down the apple key (command)+shift+4 all at the same time, you'll find that your mouse cursor will turn into crosshairs. You can then drag a rectangle around whatever it is on your screen you want to capture; once you let go of your mouse button it will automatically save it as a .png file on your desktop called "Picture 1". All you have to do is find it, name the file anything you want, and change the .png to .jpg (this will be an easier file for the majority of computers to read).

I hope this proves helpful. Make sure you leave your tip for Techie Tip Tuesdays!

Comments

[Jeremy]

Thanks for the helpful tip for my PC readers, Zach. What's the name of that program you're talking about?

[Zach]

For my pc I have a very nice little print screen enhancement program that allows this and other features, such as capturing scrolling windows, and it has a built in editor and everything. It is definitely an extremely important feature to have.

[Bryan Smith]

woot woot. hooray for mac users. PC's are so yesterday. and way hard to use.

[Spence Smith]

i love this tip! I use it like crazy!

[Brody Harper]

I use this all the time... love it.