The ability to take a picture of what’s on your computer screen (also called a “screenshot”) is a very handy one.  If you’re a technology or social media blogger, it’s an essential one.

One of the most common reasons for taking a screenshot, in my field, is for my customers to be able to show me the precise error message they’re getting.  Naturally, the more accurate information I have regarding their issues, the faster and more effectively I can solve those issues and get people back up and running.

There are two programs I use for taking screenshots, though there are dozens of them on the market.  The first one comes with your Mac, and I’m going to talk about that one first, because I know people will ask me about it if I don’t.  My recommendation, however, is that you try out the second method, because it’s easier, and fun, and the interface is really well designed and laid out.  (I’m a big sucker for a great user interface.)

First method: Apple’s Grab program.

Mac OSX includes an application called Grab, which lives in the Applications/Utilities folder.  With Grab, there are four ways to take a screenshot:

1.  Selection: With this option you can draw a selection box around whatever portion of your screen you wish to capture.  Only the selected portion will be captured.

2.  Window: With this option, you select only the open window you want to capture, without needing to draw a box around it.

3.  Screen: This option takes a picture of your entire screen, in all its glory, including all visible windows and whatever you might have living on your desktop.

4.  Timed Screen: This option also takes a picture of your entire screen, but allows you to set a countdown, similar to the timer on your camera.  This advanced option will never be utilized by most users, and is useful when you wish to invoke an active menu items that goes away when you move your cursor.  I use this option quite frequently while building websites, to demonstrate page features to a customer.

Perhaps the most simple and direct method of activating Grab’s Selection method without having to open the Grab program, is to use the key-combination: Shift + Command + 4. (⇧⌘4)

Pressing this key combination turns your cursor into a crosshair, which you can use to draw a selector box around the portion of the screen you wish to capture.  When you let go of your mouse, you’ll hear a sound effect like a shutter closing, and the screenshot image will be saved to your desktop.  You can then email this file, or save it to another folder, import it into iPhoto, or edit it in Photoshop.

Second method: TechSmith’s Jing – Author’s Choice

If you’re like me, and you find these four options to be a bit limiting, you might want to check out a nifty FREE program called Jing.  (Check it out HERE.)

Jing is a superb piece of ‘ware, that allows you to take screenshots that you can later annotate with arrows, text, highlights, and other indicators.  Think digital magic marker.

Jing also allows you to take up to 5 minute screencasts (video captures of your screen!) that you can save for later, or send to friends and colleagues.  (I’ll be posting an article about this feature in the very near future, so stay tuned!)

Jing’s description of this feature is pretty fun too:

“Jabber away while pointing at things with your mouse.  Jing records the onscreen action as five minute (or less) movie that can be shared instantly.”

Pretty cool.

The BEST thing about Jing is that it’s cross platform, which means that it is available for Mac OSX and Windows users alike.

Using Jing is so easy, I feel silly even writing about it.  When you launch Jing, it doesn’t appear in your dock, and instead hangs out over on the top right section of your screen, out of the way, until you need it.  (You can move it, if you prefer it to hang out somewhere else.

To invoke Jing, simply hover over it, and it opens up a bit, presenting you with these three options.  It’s entirely self-explanatory.  The top option is a cross-hair, which allows you to draw your selector box, similar to Grab’s option #1 described above.

Once you’ve made your selection, Choose Capture an Image (the first button from the left), and you’re presented with your screenshot inside of this editor window.

You can annotate your screenshot in a blink, and then save it out and send it out.

Thanks for reading!

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