Jeana Rogers, Media Support Specialist — Ever wish you could capture just part of the screen on your Mac?  Whether you are producing documentation and want to include some screen shots or testing various settings to get the best results from your desktop printer, here’s a tip for capturing part of the screen.  Press Command Shift 4 on the keyboard.  The cursor turns into a cross-hairs icon.  Now you can click and drag the mouse over just the part of the screen you want to capture.  When you let go of the mouse button you’ll hear a snapshot sound.  

This creates a picture file on your desktop called Picture 1, Picture 2, etc.  One file for each snapshot you take.  These files will open in Preview automatically but you can edit them in your preferred Photo software too.  Print out important settings (NOT PASSWORDS) and save them, just in case.

This is a good way to document custom settings on your Mac or capture part of a web page (don’t steal other peoples work though!) or anything that comes up on your screen.

It can also be helpful when diagnosing problems. Maybe emailing a snapshot of your settings, menu or error message can assist the Help Desk in diagnosing your problem.