How to Replace Your Mac’s Screenshot Tool With Something Better
Your Mac’s standard screenshot tool includes the basic features most people need to capture the images displayed on their screens, but it could be better. It doesn’t let you take scrolling screenshots (when you take a long screenshot of an entire web page), and other tools, including the two described below, are better at bypassing some websites’ attempts to block you from taking a screenshot. (Recently tried to take a screenshot of Netflix via Safari? Good luck.)
Shottr
Shottr is a fast and free screenshot app for Mac. Like the default program, it can take full-screen screenshots or capture a specified area. It adds must-have features like scrolling screenshots, OCR (the ability to copy text from images ), and a powerful editing tool that lets you blur text or erase objects from an image.
Every time you take a screenshot with Shottr, a preview window opens, allowing you to quickly edit the screenshot and save it to your computer or copy it to your clipboard. You can open the Shottr menu bar app if you want to use features such as delayed screenshots, which allow you to set a three-second timer before taking a screenshot. If you need to capture the entire image of a website without downscaling or sacrificing legibility. or resorting to screen recording, the best option is to scroll the screen. Shottr incorporates this feature by outputting one long JPG/PNG file that you can scroll up or down at your own pace, with a much smaller file size than a video.
The editing features are what really sets the app apart from the default. They give you the ability to easily customize your screenshots after you take them to blur text or remove something in them (such as an app icon visible on your desktop) without resorting to another photo editing program. The app’s OCR feature also deserves a special mention. as it is great for capturing text from images. Of course, you can highlight text using macOS Monterey’s OCR feature, but to do so, you’ll first need to take a screenshot and open the file in Preview mode. The OCR Shottr mode is more efficient, allowing you to define an area and select all the text within it without taking a screenshot at all.
You can use the app to customize keyboard shortcuts for its main screenshot capture modes. For example, you can try Command + Shift +8 to scroll through screenshots. Just open Shottr and go to the Keyboard Shortcuts tab to set this up. Shott is currently free to use. The app collects some diagnostic data by default, although you can turn this off in the Advanced tab in Shottr’s settings menu.
Clean Shot X
Cleanshot X is the best Mac screenshot app for power users, although it’s pricey (currently $29 for a license and $19 a year after that for upgrades). It includes all of the same editing features as Shottr plus more, all of which can be customized from the Shortcuts tab in Settings, where you can set up a shortcut for pretty much everything the app does. You can choose whether you want the mouse pointer to show up in screenshots or not, and even add a blank background wallpaper image to active window screenshots. Among its many features, Cleanshot X can take scrolling screenshots; Post thumbnails of your most recent screenshots to a desktop overlay that lets you save, download, pin, or edit them. copy text on images from any site (with or without a line break); and record your screen. Basically, it’s like someone has thought of almost every use case for a screenshot and built that functionality into the app.
Cleanshot X includes cloud storage, so you can automatically upload your screenshots to its servers and copy a link to them to your clipboard using a keyboard shortcut.
You can try Cleanshot X for 30 days for free. The software license costs $29, including 1 GB of free cloud storage for one year of free updates. After a year, you can continue to use the app, but access to future updates costs $19 per year.
How to Replace Your Mac’s Screenshot Feature Without Losing Shortcut Access
If you prefer not to use the Mac screenshot tool at all, you can erase its keyboard shortcuts from your Mac to disable it. You can always assign a different keyboard shortcut or remap the original keyboard shortcuts to start using them again. To do this, go to System Preferences > Keyboard and open the Shortcuts tab. Here you can select Screenshots from the left pane and uncheck all the boxes from the right pane.
This will disable the screenshot utility by default and you can now install one of the applications mentioned above to replace it with something better.