Apple Grab captures screenshots, images and more!
Grab is an Application located in the Utilities folder of your Mac that allows you to capture (take a picture) of all or part of your computer screen. Grab then saves the image as a TIFF file, which can easily be added to presentations and documents, saved as an email attachment, or transformed to a JPG or GIF for use on the web.
- First, find Grab under Applications in the Utilities folder.
If you plan to use Grab frequently, drag it to the dock for
easy access.
- Review the Capture options – you can capture a selection,
a window, the whole screen, or a timed shot of the whole screen. When
might you use each of these? Some examples are:
Selection – when capturing a portion of a window such as an image, a graph, or an area of text
Window – when capturing a webpage, for example – when an entire screenshot (including your dock and top menu bar is not necessary)
Screen – when capturing the entire screen
Timed screen shot – when capturing a feature such as the action that occurs when you “rollover” a portion of the screen or open a menu. This option does not record a movie, but allows you ten seconds to ready your still screen shot. To include the mouse pointer in your screen shot, go to Preferences in the Grab menu and select a pointer.
- When you select one of these capture options, a window will pop up
instructing you to ready your shot, then press the capture
or choose button. Once your shot has been captured, it will
be copied to a new window in Grab. You will need to save this file before
you continue. The image will be saved as a TIFF file; this is a versatile
file format that can easily be inserted in presentations and documents
as well as shared online or via email. As always, be sure to note where
you are saving your captured image file so you can find it later.
- To convert your image from a TIFF file to a JPEG, GIF, PICT, or other file format, use Apple Preview (or any third party imaging application). Open your image capture file in Preview, then find Export in the File menu – select your desired export format, and save the image capture in the selected file format.
