How to take better screenshots on Mac

I grab screenshots pretty often. Although macOS’s native screenshot tool is decent for most cases, it’s still a very basic one. Here are a few tips on how to take great-looking screenshots with a simple tool and in less time.

Installation and setup

CleanShot X is actually an app I downloaded as part of my Setapp subscription. I use CleanShot every single day. The app offers a wide range of features, from capturing screenshots and recording your screen to annotating and quick editing.

Sign up subscription on Setapp
Download and install CleanShot X
Once installed, the app is going to ask if you want CleanShot to be your default screenshot tool.
You will find various commands under the CleanShot X Extension by clicking the CleanShot shortcut in the Control Center.

Using CleanShot X

Added keyboard shortcuts to Quick Access Overlay

You can spend time figuring out what workflow and keyboard shortcuts are best for you. Open settings, here’s what I found works best for my setup.

Command Shift 4: capturse an area / a part of the screen
Command Shift 3: captures full screen
Command Shift 5: captures all-in-one
Command Shift 5: captures window
⌘C: Copy to clipboard
⌘S: Save
⌘W: Close
⌘U: Upload to Cloud
⌘E: Open annotation tool

CleanShot is highly customizable, you can adjust nearly every behavior and tweak settings for your needs.

Annotation and Editing Tools

Annotate: Annotate your screenshots with various tools. Highlight or hide specific parts of your screenshots, crop, and add necessary annotations.

Background tool in Annotate: easily create beautiful social media posts that stand out from others. You can even change the padding, shadow, alignment, and border-radius of your screenshot. The Auto Balance option will make your screenshot look perfectly aligned by adjusting the space around the content.
Using Dwarves color scheme in Background Tool: when editing your cropped screenshot in Cleanshot, you have the option to place it on a blank canvas or use Dwarves’ branding color scheme. It's also possible to easily customize the screenshot.
1. Customization at Pain Color: choose a custom color using the RGB sliders then enter a Hex code F8F8F8.
2. Dwarves' branding scheme: Set Dwarves' branding colors as the background wallpaper (if different from Pain Color).
3. Alignment: center your screenshot on the canvas for a balanced look.
4. Padding: adjust the padding to 76 for optimal spacing around your content.
5. Shadow: apply a shadow effect with a strength of 28 to enhance the depth of your screenshot.
6. Dwarves logo: add the Dwarves logo in the top left corner

Screen Capture Features

Scrolling capture: refers to taking a screenshot of a webpage while scrolling down. Select the Scrolling screenshot, start scrolling slowly, or use auto-scrolling. This feature is used when using VSCode to write articles/publications and will submit screenshots to the manager for feedback on both content and visual.

Capture Text (OCR): use OCR to capture text from your screen. Simply select an area that contains the text, and it will be copied to your clipboard.
All-In-One mode: this mode allows you to specify the size and lock the aspect ratio for your screenshots. It also saves your last selection, making it easier to retake your last screenshot.
Recording features: choose between recording a video or a GIF, whether to capture a specific window, custom dimensions, a part of the screen, or fullscreen. With our built-in video editor, you will be able to prepare a screen recording for sharing, by reducing its file size or changing the audio settings.
Open history: access your screenshot history. You can remove files from the Capture History or restore recent captures if you ever need them again.

Overall

This guide will help you quickly make great screenshots with this tool. It does exactly what we need it to do, and I think you'll love it, too. Keep practicing with these tools, they're like the cherry on top, adding that extra something to your work.

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