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Best Snipping Tool for Mac In 2020 – How to Crop a Screenshot

To print screen on Mac, using the snipping tool for Mac is another of the best and easiest options. The snipping tool was first introduced by Microsoft in Windows 7 and it got so popular that there was instant demand for this on Mac as well. Copying something to share with anyone was made very easy and today, we have got Grab for Mac which is the best free snipping tool for Mac.

In one of our previous articles on the print screen on Mac, we discussed how you can take screenshots on a Mac computer. Today, we are going to cover the screenshot taking and sharing the process with the help of a snipping tool and also provide the snipping tool for Mac free download on our website.

Table of Contents

Grab for Mac: The Best Snipping Tool for Mac

Grab for Mac is a free utility for taking screenshots and snaps of your Mac screen. The reason why using a snipping tool for taking screenshots is good because it allows the users to screenshot any part of the screen. You can get the free Grab for Mac download from our site and install it to begin the best screenshotting experience right then and there.

best snipping tool for macIn this article, we are bringing a complete guide about the features of Grab for Mac, how do you install it, keyboard shortcuts, and also, Grab for Mac alternatives. In the alternatives section, you will learn about other tools that you can use when you cannot get Grab for Mac. 

As compared to the Snipping Tool for Windows, this tool is more advanced with many keyboard shortcuts and different screen-capture modes that look pretty advanced. If you are looking forward to downloading Grab for Mac, you don’t have to since it’s already there.

Utility For Mac

Grab snipping utility comes with every Mac OS so you can search for it in the search tab and it will be there just like the snipping tool for Windows. Learn how to record videos on Mac. 

How to access Grab in Mac OS?

The following steps will teach you how to access Grab when you are using the Mac OS:

  • For using this tool, you will need to enter the Utility section of your Mac
  • This Utilities section is found under the Applications tab

Utility For Mac

  • Or, you can open Finder and type: /Applications/Utilities/Grab.app

Applications>Utility>Grab

  • You can also open Spotlight and type Grab to open it.

 

Once you have found this snipping tool, it is time that you learn how to use it if you don’t have prior experience with it. But before we move on to that, let us discuss some important features of Grab for Mac.

Grab for Mac Features

Grab is much better than ordinary snipping tools which are available for Mac on the internet or within the system. The credit goes to different unique features that you must know about before you start using this tool. In this section, we are going to discuss those features of Grab in detail.

The PNG format and its conversion to JPG:

Grab, like other snipping tools, captures screenshots and images in the PNG picture format. This image format is usually used to ensure that there never is any image loss. However, the PNG format file size is always large and could occupy a lot of space so some people would want to save the captured screenshots in this format.

The great thing about Grab is that it also allows you the conversion of its PNG file format into other image formats including JPG, TIFF, GIF, and even PDF. Since you will need these image formats from time to time, you should learn how to do the conversions. The following steps are how you do them.

PNG conversion to JPG: Copy and paste “defaults write com.apple.screencapture type jpg” after opening the terminal without using quotation marks and it will convert the format to JGP.

The PNG conversion to GIF: Copy and paste “defaults write com.apple.screencapture type gif” after opening the terminal and don’t use quotation marks completing the conversion.

terminal code to change file format

PNG Conversion to TIFF: Copy and paste “defaults write com.apple.screencapture type TIFF” in the terminal without using quotation marks which converts PNG format to TIFF.

terminal code to change file format to TIFF

You can also do the same for other file formats including PDF and then do the same to convert them back to PNG. Since you now know about different features of Grab for Mac download, let us move ahead and teach how to use this quality snipping tool.

Step-by-Step Guide to use Grab: The Best Snipping Tool for Mac

Since Grab can capture the whole screen, some specific parts, timer screenshot, a particular window, and specific thing, there are different ways of doing these things. There are methods which differ from each other and now we are going to share them with you one-by-one.

Capturing a specific screen region with Grab for Mac:

Here is how you use this feature:

  • First, Open Grab and then the Capture mode
  • Now the Selection mode
  • Select the area you need to capture with the mouse
  • You can also use Shift + Command + A to open this mode

Grab Selection for snipping screen

Capturing a windows with Grab:

Here is how you capture a Window:

  • Again, open Grab and then the Capture mode
  • Select Window mode and capture it
  • Or, use Shift + Command + W to open this mode faster

Capturing the whole screen with Grab Software:

Here is how you capture the whole window:

  • Open Grab > Capture > Screen to capture the full screen
  • The keyboard shortcut for this mode is Command + Z
  • You can save this capture in all formats as well

Snipping Tool for Mac

Capturing with the timed screen feature with Screen Grab for Mac:

Timed Screen is another useful feature providing a maximum time delay of 10 seconds. Here is how to open and use it:

  • Follow Grab > Capture > Timed Screen to open this mode
  • Or, use Shift + Command + Z to open it with the keyboard

Snipping Tool for Mac Capture Timed Screen

And this was our complete step-by-step guide on how to use Grab for Mac and its different modes.

Screen Capturing Alternatives for Mac

The users are always interested in knowing about different alternatives for Grab for Mac. Well, as far as this device is concerned, the best alternative to Grab is the default screenshot shortcuts. In our detailed article on Print Screen for Mac on Apple Talkies, we have already taught our readers about using that option so you should check that post out.

Here is a quick summary of how to take screenshots on Mac:

Screenshot of the complete screen: To screenshot the complete screen on Mac, press Command + Shift + 3 to capture the entire screen.

capture entire screen on mac

The Screenshot of a selective portion: Press Command + Shift + 4 to capture a specific portion of the screen on Mac.

print screen the specific area of screen

Screenshot of a Window: To capture a single window, press Command + Shift + 4 + Space on that window to take its screenshot.

capture screen in a separate window in macbook

Conclusion:

So this was our complete article on the best snipping tool for Mac in which we introduced Grab for Mac that is the best screen capturing software for this device. We also shared Grab for Mac alternatives. Don’t forget to leave us your feedback about the article and keep visiting our site for more interesting Mac content.

FAQs – Frequently Asked Questions. 

 

  • Does Mac have a snipping tool?

Yes, Grab for Mac is the built-in snipping tool for Mac which you can download and use for free.

  • What is the snipping tool called on Mac?

The snipping tool for Mac is called Grab which is already present in the system.

  • How do I capture part of a screen on a Mac computer?

To capture part of a screen on Mac, press Command + Shift + 4 to capture a specific portion of the screen on Mac.

  • How do I use Grab on a Mac?

Everything about using Grab on a Mac is mentioned in our detailed guide in this article.

  • What is the Grab app on my Mac?

Grab app on your Mac is the built-in snipping and screenshotting utility. This is also the best alternative to print screening on Mac.

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