i often need to take screenshots of the applications i am building. sad to say, i've been a bit disappointed with the mac in this regard. sure, there are key commands for taking screenshots on mac os x, but 1) darn if i can remember them, and 2) i haven't been happy with their settings. for example, i usually don't want a window shadow. apple, do people really usually want the window shadow? or are you just showing off.
for anyone like me, who wants more control over their mac screenshots, here's a workaround. i have taken to using the command line screencapture utility by opening the terminal and typing the following:
screencapture -ioW filename.png
here's what's happening on that line:
- screencapture runs the screencapture utility. everything else on the line are options for customizing how screencapture runs.
- -i enables "interactive" mode, which allows me to use mouse selection (drawing a box around what i want) or window selection (snapping the entire window). mouse selection is the default.
- -W starts me in window selection mode, instead of mouse selection.
- -o omits the window shadow. hurrah!
- filename.png is whatever filename you want the output image to have. it will get saved to the directory you're in when you run the screencapture command. the default file format is .png, but you can change this using the -t option .
if you want output to go to the clipboard instead, use:
screencapture -ioc
the -c option forces the screen capture to go to the clipboard, so you don't have to specify an output file.
these are the settings i use most, but you can also choose to capture the cursor, set a timer, send the output to a mail message or the preview app, and turn off camera sounds. to see all of the options, type man screencapture in the terminal.