Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
Tip 157
Supertip: Make Better Screenshots
Macs have powerful screenshot facilities built in, with which you can produce
a Picture of the Screen
, on page 258
)
. Here's how you can tweak a few things
relating to screenshots: the file type, where files are saved, and whether they
have a shadow effect applied to them.
Changing the File Format
By default screenshot files are saved in Portable Network Graphics (PNG)
format (
.PNG
). This is as good as any for a file format, but you might find that
people you work with demand JPEG or GIF files. To change the default file
format, first look up the format you need in the left column of the following
table, open a Terminal window (open Finder, select the Applications list, and
then in the list of applications double-click Terminal within the
UTILITIES
folder),
and add it to the end of the following command:
DEFAULTS WRITE COM.APPLE.SCREENCAPTURE TYPE -STRING
Here are the format options:
Filetype
Description
BMP
Windows Bitmap; ideal for any type of image but produces large file
sizes. Can't be used online.
GIF
Graphics Interchange Format; used primarily for diagrams. Can be
used online.
JPEG
Joint Photographics Expert Group file format; best for photographic
images. Can be used online.
PDF
Portable Document Format; can be used for any type of image file.
Most modern web browsers support PDF.
Portable Network Graphics; can be used for both photographs and
diagrams but perhaps better suited to the latter. Can be used online.
PNG
TIFF
Tagged Image File Format; ideal for any kind of image but produces
large file sizes. Popular in the publishing industry but can't be used
online.
