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macOS screenshot tricks to impress your co-workers

sal.dev

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Re: macOS screenshot tricks to impress your co-workers

#101

Post by aidos »

reaperducer wrote: post #88
aidos wrote: post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You say share as needed, but I’ve not found a great way to just grab it to the clipboard or get the file handle from there. My go to workaround is to screenshot, annotate, screenshot the annotation tool into clipboard and paste that. (I know)

The two ways I do it are: 1. If the program I'm trying to share with is available in the Share control, I use that. 2. Since I already have a Screenshots folder in my dock that displays as a fan, and is sorted by most recently added, I click "done" on the annotated screenshot, then I can click on that folder in the dock, and it's right there, ready to be dragged into any other application.

This is a reasonable way of dealing with it. I've just created the dock folder and now it's a lot easier to get to (except that I have dock as minimal as possible, so it's still a little fiddly). It does feel like just hitting ctrl-c in annotations should copy to clipboard.

I know pretty much every other combination of screenshot shortcut mentioned here, but this workflow has irked me ever since they added the annotation tools. I can work with this, thanks!

Re: macOS screenshot tricks to impress your co-workers

#102

Post by dontbenebby »

smileysteve wrote: post #21

I recommend against changing the format from png to jpg. The sample shows a picture of a dog, but most screenshots should be of applications (having a limited color palette) and must of the time the goal is readability (jpg compression drastically reduces text clarity relative to png)

I agree with you parent.

Also, I was surprised one common hack I used to see talked about a lot not dicussed given they delved into changes you can make on the CLI: you can change the default location (Eg to a "Screenshots" folder) instead of the default of cluttering the desktop

In terminal type "defaults write com.apple.screencapture location" where "location" is a path of your choosing.

(I'm fond of nesting a "screenshots" folder in the user directory pictures folder.)

Re: macOS screenshot tricks to impress your co-workers

#103

Post by chrisseaton »

hbn wrote: post #78
dagmx wrote: post #7

You can just hit the option key to take a screenshot of an app without the shadow. No need to go and change system wide defaults

There isn't that much practical reason to include the shadow though. In fact it tends to just make the important stuff smaller when sharing with someone because there's a bunch of border space surrounding the content, and whatever they're viewing in will show all of that unless they zoom in.

There's no contrast between a white window and a white background if you don't have the shadow.

Re: macOS screenshot tricks to impress your co-workers

#104

Post by gsinclair »

lelandfe wrote: post #24
muhammadusman wrote: post #10

Hold control to save to your clipboard instead of a folder/desktop.

It's not a very ergonomic hotkey, though. I click the preview that appears in the bottom right to open, CMD-C to copy, and then click the trash icon to not save.

With Karabiner I have q+l (hold q tap l) as an alias for that long and uneconomic shortcut.

Re: macOS screenshot tricks to impress your co-workers

#105

Post by gorgoiler »

aidos wrote: post #81
reaperducer wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It’s so blisteringly effective to grab a portion of the screen, draw on it, copy the whole thing again and paste it to a coworker in chat or a task tool. You can make it even faster by cutting out the Preview step. When the thumbnail of the screenshot appears in the lower-right corner of the screen, click it, and then you can use Markup to annotate the image right there, and then share it as needed. Since I don't hav…

You say share as needed, but I’ve not found a great way to just grab it to the clipboard or get the file handle from there. My go to workaround is to screenshot, annotate, screenshot the annotation tool into clipboard and paste that. (I know)

You are in good company. I often screenshot two things, arrange the windows next to or on top of each other, screenshot that and use it as the backdrop for my world domination plans / next releng planning meeting.

Re: macOS screenshot tricks to impress your co-workers

#106

Post by chrisseaton »

MauranKilom wrote: post #90
tobr wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> (having a limited color palette) With translucency and soft gradients everywhere I’m not sure how true that is anymore.

PNG should be just as good at gradients as it is at constant color: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portable_Network_Graphics#Filt... It can encode the difference to the previous pixel either up or above (or some combination). In purely horizontal or vertical gradients that's just as efficient as encoding constant color (and in fact, the Wikipedia page shows an example). For gradients in other directions, it depends on…

Doesn't that example show that a 256-step gradient takes 256 bytes? A 256-step run of the same colour takes just a couple of bytes due to RLE, doesn't it? (Not an expert.)

Re: macOS screenshot tricks to impress your co-workers

#107

Post by 333c »

dontbenebby wrote: post #102
smileysteve wrote: post #21

I recommend against changing the format from png to jpg. The sample shows a picture of a dog, but most screenshots should be of applications (having a limited color palette) and must of the time the goal is readability (jpg compression drastically reduces text clarity relative to png)

I agree with you parent. Also, I was surprised one common hack I used to see talked about a lot not dicussed given they delved into changes you can make on the CLI: you can change the default location (Eg to a "Screenshots" folder) instead of the default of cluttering the desktop In terminal type "defaults write com.apple.screencapture location" where "location" is a path of your choosing. (I'm fond of nesting a "scr…

The post mentions doing this through the UI (no need for the terminal command).

Re: macOS screenshot tricks to impress your co-workers

#109

Post by petercooper »

Since we're all sharing here, another tool I often use is Paparazzi – you give it a URL and it creates a screenshot of the site (including scrolling as needed). A nice way to keep a visual snapshot of a site for future reference. Its on the App Store or at https://derailer.org/paparazzi/

Re: macOS screenshot tricks to impress your co-workers

#110

Post by usehackernews »

giantrobot wrote: post #92
susam wrote: post #45

Here is a key sequence I use very often. It takes a screenshot of a chosen window without the window's shadow. - First, type command + shift + 4 (the mouse pointer turns into crosshair). - Then type the space bar (the crosshair turns into a camera icon). - Hover the mouse pointer (a camera icon now), to highlight the chosen window. - Finally, hold the option key and click. This sounds like a lot of steps but it becom…

Add in the control key in the shortcut above and the screenshot will go to the clipboard instead of a file. Useful for pasting a screenshot into something like Messages or Slack. Also there's no need to hold down Option when clicking. You can however hit Esc to cancel the screenshot action.

I just tested it -

Holding option seems to remove the gradient shadow of the application window in the screenshot. Not needed, but it’s better in my opinion.

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