Top 5 Snipping Tools to Screenshot on Mac

"Does Mac have a Snipping tool? How do I snip and paste on a Mac?"

Snipping Tool is the built-in screenshot utility in Windows Vista, 7, 8, 8.1 and 10. It takes a screenshot via free-form snip, rectangular snip, windows-snip, and full-screen snip. With different colored pens, eraser and a highlighter, you could take a PNG, JPEG or GIF image with the simple drawings.

Does Snipping Tool work on Mac?

No.

Snipping Tool is only compatible with Windows computer.

For taking a screenshot on Mac, you need the Snipping Tool alternatives on Mac.

This page shows the top 5 Snipping Tool alternatives for Mac so that you could grab Mac screenshot as easily as Windows.

• Apeaksoft Free Screen Capture
• Grab
• Keyboard Shortcuts
• Screen Capture Control (macOS Mojave and above Only)
• Skitch

Apeaksoft Free Screen Capture – Screenshot Tool with Editor

Output image format: PNG, JPEG, BMP, TIFF, GIF

Apeaksoft Free Screen Capture is one of the features of Apeaksoft Screen Recorder, which consists of video recorder, audio recorder, webcam recorder, etc.

The free screen capture software is a better alternative to Snipping Tool for Mac. It captures the screenshot in the form of free-region and window snip. Apart from the basic screenshot features, it also provides you with the editing board to add text, use the pen, add callout, draw a line or rectangle, add an arrow, etc. After the screenshot is complete, you could save it or copy it to clipboard or pin to screen.

Step 1Free download this Snipping Tool alternative to your Mac, install and run it.

In the main interface, select "Screen Capture".

Step 2Take a screenshot

Once you click the option of "Screen Capture", you will find a frame border appear on Mac. Move your mouse to the window where you want to take a screenshot.

Alternatively, you could drag your mouse and click it to take a free-region snip.

Step 3Edit (optional) and save the screenshot

When you release your mouse, the screenshot will enter the editing board.

Here you can add a rectangle, circle, line, arrow, text, callout, brush, blur, etc.

Then you can copy the screenshot, pin it to screen and save it to your Mac directly.

Grab

Output image format: PNG, JPEG, TIFF

Grab is free screenshot tool on macOS Big Sur, macOS High Sierra. It lets you capture the Mac screen with selection, window, screen and timed screen. With the easy features, even less than Snipping Tool on Windows, it just lets you capture the Mac screenshot.

Keyboard Shortcuts

Output image format: PNG

Apart from the applications on Mac, you can use the keyboard shortcuts to take the screenshots on Mac without downloading any apps. All the screenshots will be saved as PNG on your Mac desktop. Better than Snipping on Windows, you can use the hotkeys to take a screenshot.

Let's check the following screenshot shortcuts:

If your keyboard cannot find Shift key, just use the arrow-up key on the left side of the keyboard.

Snip the entire screen: Command + Shift + 3

Capture a selected portion: Shift + Command + 4, and then drag to select the area of the screen to capture.

Take a screenshot of a window: Shift + Command + 4, and then press the space bar.

Snip a menu: Shift + Command + 4, press the space bar to change the pointer to a camera, and then click the menu to capture it.

Screen Capture Control (macOS Mojave and above Only)

Output image format: PNG

Capture control is the built-in screenshot tool on macOS Mojave and above like Snipping Tool on Mac. Compared with the keyboard shortcuts, this snipping tool comes to be more feasible. It takes the screenshot via clicking the buttons in the control. Moreover, it provides you with more editing features after taking a screenshot on Mac.

On macOS Mojave and above, just press Shift + Command + 5, and then you will see the screen capture controls, where you could capture the entire screen, selected window, and selected portion. After the screenshot is done, just click the thumbnail of the screenshot appearing in the corner of your screen to start editing it.

Skitch

Output image format: PNG, JPG, Skitch HEIC, TIFF, GIF, BMP, PDF

Skitch is another one free snipping software on Mac. This free tool lets capture full screen, selected portion, timed snapshot, etc. It can also screenshot an image or PDF, and then edit the snapshot with text, rectangle, pixelate, arrow, etc.