There’s no app called Snipping Tool on Mac, but you don’t need one: press Cmd + Shift + 4 and drag to snip any part of the screen. For a toolbar with more options, like Windows’ Snipping Tool, press Cmd + Shift + 5.
Snip a region
- Press Cmd + Shift + 4. The pointer turns into a crosshair.
- Drag over the area you want, then let go. The snip saves to your Desktop as a PNG.
While dragging, hold Space to move the box, or press Esc to cancel. To grab a single window, press Cmd + Shift + 4, then tap Space and click the window.
Cmd + Shift + 5 opens the Screenshot toolbar: whole screen, a window or a selected area, plus screen recording. Its Options menu adds a 5 or 10-second timer and lets you choose where snips are saved.
Annotate with Markup
After a snip, a small thumbnail appears in the bottom-right corner.
- Click the thumbnail to open Markup: draw, highlight, add arrows, shapes or text, and crop.
- Click Done to save, or the share button to send it straight to Mail, Messages or AirDrop.
- Missed the thumbnail? Open the file in Preview and click the Markup (pen) button.
Make it work like Windows
On Windows, Win + Shift + S snips straight to the clipboard. The Mac equivalent is Cmd + Ctrl + Shift + 4: drag, then paste with Cmd + V into WhatsApp Web, Word or an email.
- Always copy instead of saving: press Cmd + Shift + 5, open Options and set Save to > Clipboard.
- Change the shortcut: go to System Settings > Keyboard > Keyboard Shortcuts > Screenshots and set the keys you’re used to.
- Keep it in the Dock: the Screenshot app lives in Applications > Utilities; drag it to the Dock for one-click snips.
Every other screenshot method is in how to screenshot on a Mac, and the Windows versions are in how to take a screenshot on a laptop.
Quick answers
Not by that name. The built-in Screenshot tool (Cmd + Shift + 4 or Cmd + Shift + 5) does the same job, with Markup for annotating.
Press Cmd + Shift + 4, drag over the area you want and let go. Add Ctrl to copy it to the clipboard instead of saving a file.
