Capture a snip. In Snipping Tool, select Mode (in older versions, select the arrow next to the New button), choose the kind of snip you want, and then select the area of your screen that you want to capture.
Is there a snipping tool for Mac? Yes. However, that’s not the only thing that exists. There are several apps available in the iTunes app store that promise to let you take a snip from your Mac’s screen just like you normally would on a Windows computer.
We’re here to present you with all the options when it comes to generating a snip image on a Mac. We’re going to look at the basic option built into the Mac OS, as well as at a few different apps that can be used for this exact purpose. At the end of this short guide, you will have a full range of options for a snipping tool for Mac.
What Is the Snipping Tool?
Windows computers have had this cool feature ever since the OS’s inception. Not many people knew about it right away and not many people actually used it at first. However, as time went by, Windows users started to realize its incredible usefulness. Here’s why it’s such a cool program:
- You can take a screenshot of any area of the screen that you like.
- You can customize each screenshot before you take it with features such as “show selection margins.”
- You can draw on your new snippet.
- You can highlight text on your new snippet.
- You can erase both the drawings and the highlights just as easily.
- You can email the snipped directly from the program.
Naturally, when searching for a snipping tool for Mac, Windows users aren’t looking for something that will have just one of the functionalities above. So, when looking at the following options, we’re going to see which of the above features are still available in the respective snipping tool for Mac.
Snipping Tool for Mac – All the Tools
Many were the times when we had to take a snip on one of our Mac computers, but found the limited functionality of the original Mac tool to be annoying. Still, let’s start with this one:
Built-in Snipping Tool for Mac
It’s simple to activate this feature of Mac computers. As many of you will know, taking a screenshot on Mac can be done by pressing Cmd+Shift+3. This will photocopy your screen and leave it in an image file on your desktop. Now, for the original snipping tool for Mac, you have to press Cmd+Shift+4.
Unfortunately, that’s about all you can do with this snipping tool for Mac. After you press the command, a selection tool will appear, allowing you to select the exact area that you want to snip. After this, the image will automatically appear on your desktop.
Apowersoft Snipping Tool for Mac
This little app (available for free on the Mac store) has extended capabilities compared to the original snippet tool for Mac. Here are the most important features:
- You can take a snippet of whatever size you want.
- You can add text to the snippet.
- You can crop the snippet after you take it.
- You can paint or highlight the snippet.
- You can magnify a snipping
- You can save the image in different formats.
The Apowersoft snipping tool for Mac is far better in functionality than the original one, but it still lacks the simplicity of the original snipping tool for Windows.
Grab Snipping Tool for Mac
Grab is slightly less advanced than the Apowersoft version of a snipping tool for Mac. However, it does have some nice features:
- You have custom commands for each option in the app.
- You can take a timed snippet.
- You can take a full screenshot.
- You can record snippet videos.
- You can export your files to the TIFF format (very useful for professional graphic designers).
Although the Grab snipping tool for Mac isn’t as complex as the other two we’ve discussed, it’s still a good tool for those looking for the precise features above.
Skitch Snipping Tool for Mac
Skitch is an app built by the nice people that made Evernote, so you know it’s going to be a cool app. Of all the other ones we’ve presented here, Skitch also has the simplest user interface. Here are some of its features:
- You can take any type of snippet you like.
- You have a one-click screenshot option.
- You can draw on your snippet.
- You can write on your snippet.
- You can paint and pixelate your snippet.
- You can crop the snippet after you’ve taken it.
All in all, Skitch seems to be the snipping tool for Mac that is closest to the Windows version.
Conclusion
Which snipping tool for Mac do you use? Have you tried any of the ones above? If so, let us know what you thought of it in the comments section below.
Image sources: 1, 2
Is there something like the Windows Snipping Tool for OSX?
For those, who don't know about the tool, it's an easy to use software to take snapshot of any portion of screen, and is really useful in various situations.
gentmatt8 Answers
There is now a blog entry about Taking Screenshots in a Snap.
It's built into Mac OS.
- ⌘+⇧+3 captures the whole screen
- ⌘+⇧+4 captures a custom rectangle (click and drag over the screen region you want to capture)
- ⌘+⇧+4 then space captures a specific window (move the mouse cursor over the desired window, then click)
Press esc to cancel.
Screenshots are saved onto your Desktop and timestamped.
Holding control in addition to any of the sequences above causes the image to be copied instead of saved to the desktop.
By default the image format is png. However, you can change the format by typing in the Terminal:
Where image_format is one of jpg, tiff, pdf, png, bmp or pict (among others). If you omit the second line, you will need to log out and in again for the change to take effect.
The settings for the shortcuts in the system preferences are located at:
System Preferences → Keyboard → Keyboard Shortcuts → Screen Shots
The MacOS X application that enables screenshots is called Grab. It is located at /Applications/Utilities/Grab.app
If you don't want to remember the shortcut keys, you can also use the built-in Preview app.
Just launch Preview, then from the menu, select File, Take Screen Shot, then choose
- From Selection - you will get a crosshair to drag
- From Window - you will get to choose which window to grab
- From Entire Screen - it will give a countdown first, so that you can get back to whatever app you want to take a picture of
It will then display the screenshot in Preview, and you can save, copy, paste, crop, etc. from there.
Macworld magazine's senior editor Dan Frakes just posted a very good short video tutorial (with show transcript) about the screenshot features of Mac OS X. This includes how to use the Grab app from the Utilities folder. The video is at: http://www.macworld.com/article/164123/2011/12/mac_os_x_screenshot_secrets.html.
His show description:'Mac OS X makes it easy to take screenshots—images of your screen or objects on it. But even veteran Mac users are often unaware of the many options available for getting the perfect screenshot. Here's a quick look at these underused options.'
If you also need editing capabilities (e.g. like Windows Paint or however it's called these days), Skitch is a good add-on (and it's free).
nohillside♦nohillsideEasycrop, or start with the insanely great (and free) SnapNDrag, from Yellow Mug — http://www.yellowmug.com/
You may like Snip, I used it for a while and I found it fantastic. You can download it from Mac App Store for free
What Is The Snipping Tool Called On A Mac
Of course, the most convenient way to snapshot on Mac is by pressing keyboard shortcuts, however, this traditional method lacks additional features like making annotations, uploading images online for sharing, etc. For this purposes, you can make use of professional Mac screenshot tools that features the same function as Snipping Tool.
Grab - A built-in screenshot tool on Mac that enables you to capture anything you see on screen.
Snipping Tool For Mac Shortcut
Skitch - Easy tool that allows for capturing, annotating and sharing screenshots / images.
Jing - An effective screen capturing program that works for recording screen and taking screenshot.
grg♦Keyboard Maestro can drive Preview to behave exactly like snipping tool
F13 (in the same place as PrintScreen on Windows)
Open Preview.app
Select menu File/Take Screen Shot/From Selection
What Is The Snipping Tool For Mac
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