How to Paste Screenshot on Mac?

Pasting a screenshot directly after capturing it on a Mac is a simple process that involves capturing the screenshot to the clipboard instead of saving it as a file. Here’s how you can do it and paste the screenshot into another application:

Capturing the Screenshot to Clipboard

  1. Entire Screen:
    • Press Command (⌘) + Control + Shift + 3. This captures the entire screen and copies the screenshot to the clipboard.
  2. Portion of the Screen:
    • Press Command (⌘) + Control + Shift + 4. This changes the cursor to a crosshair.
    • Click and drag to select the portion of the screen you wish to capture. When you release the mouse button, the selected area is captured to the clipboard.
  3. Specific Window or Menu:
    • Press Command (⌘) + Control + Shift + 4, then press the Spacebar. The cursor changes to a camera icon.
    • Move the camera icon over the window or menu you want to capture. The window or menu will be highlighted.
    • Click to capture the highlighted window or menu. The screenshot of the window or menu is copied to the clipboard.

Pasting the Screenshot

After capturing the screenshot to the clipboard using one of the methods above, you can paste it into another application by following these steps:

  1. Open the Application: Open the application where you want to paste the screenshot. This can be a document editor like Pages or Microsoft Word, an image editor like Adobe Photoshop or GIMP, or even a messaging app.
  2. Paste the Screenshot:
    • Press Command (⌘) + V to paste the screenshot from the clipboard into the application.
    • Alternatively, you can go to the application’s menu bar, select Edit > Paste, or right-click (or Control-click) within the application and choose Paste from the context menu.

Additional Tips

  • Editing Before Pasting: If you need to edit the screenshot before pasting it (e.g., cropping it further, adding annotations), you can paste it into an image editing application like Preview or Photoshop. After making your edits, copy the image again (using Command (⌘) + A to select all and Command (⌘) + C to copy) before pasting it into the final destination.
  • Direct Editing: Some applications, like Preview, allow you to directly open a new file from the clipboard. In Preview, you can do this by opening Preview and then going to File > New from Clipboard.

Using these methods, you can efficiently capture and paste screenshots on your Mac into other applications for immediate use, sharing, or editing.