A quick way to take pretty window screenshots on macOS

Written by Stefan Judis
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This post is part of my Today I learned series in which I share all my web development learnings.

My friend Christian and I have been in "slide production mode" the last few days. He shared A macOS trick with me that totally blew my mind.

Personally, I like to take application screenshots to include these in presentations or articles. And I prefer it when windows have a proper shadow.

What I did so far to e.g. take a screenshot of my terminal was:

  • open an app with a white background
  • place terminal over white area
  • take a screenshot with CMD+Shift+4

As it turns out, this exact functionality is built into macOS.

After enabling the screenshot mode with CMD+Shift+4, press space and pick a window to screenshot it on a transparent background with a proper shadow.

I don't want to say that this is world changing, but this improves my workflow drastically. 🎉

Here's a quick recording of this functionality.

Quick window screenshot on macOS

I take many screenshots and manage to not litter my desktop or system. How? Here are more screenshot configurations.

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Stefan standing in the park in front of a green background

Frontend nerd with over ten years of experience, "Today I Learned" blogger, conference speaker, Tiny helpers maintainer, and DevRel at Checkly.