5 Best Snipping Tool Alternatives for Mac.
Starting with Windows 7, Microsoft included the Snipping Tool that makes it easy to create customized screenshots of your desktop. If you are used to Snipping Tool and have just switched to Mac, you may be thinking to yourself, is there a Snipping Tool for Mac?
Quite a lot, actually. There is a simple yet reliable built-in tool just like in Windows. And you will also find many feature rich third party options. They just have a different name in macOS. Instead of a cropping tool, they are commonly referred to as screen capture utilities.
Anyway, here are the best cut tool (and screenshot utilities) alternatives for Mac.
option built into Mac
Before we look at the alternatives, let’s start with the native Mac cropping tool. Use the keyboard shortcut Command + Shift + 3 to take a screenshot of the entire screen. The shortcut Command + Shift + 4 allows you to select an area of ??the screen.
Here, if you continue to hold down the Shift key and then press the space bar, you will enter window capture mode. Just highlight and click a window to capture it.
After the screenshot is taken, you will see a small floating preview of it in the lower right corner of the screen (if you are using macOS Mojave and above). When you click on it, the screenshot opens in a quick view window, where you can easily edit it.
–
If you’re using macOS Mojave, you get an alternative to the all-in-one floating bar image cropping tool. Use the keyboard shortcut Command + Shift + 5 and you will see options for capturing the entire screen, selected window, or selected portion. You can also record your screen here.
In the Options menu, you can change the screen layout and set the timer. When ready, press the Enter button or the Take Snapshot button.
Snagit
Snagit is the perfect screen capture and clipping tool for Mac. Although the license costs $ 49.95 (15-day free trial), it’s well worth it if you’re looking for a screenshot utility. Snagit allows you to take screenshots as an image or video (which can then be converted to GIF). You can also annotate and edit your images right in Snagit.
What makes Snagit stand out is its sheer number of features, starting with the Snagit menu bar utility, which makes it easy to take screenshots. From here, you can decide which screenshot you want to take, if you want to add any effects and use a timer.
When it comes to choice, Snagit offers several options. It allows you to capture individual menus, web pages, webcams, and even take panoramic screenshots.
After the screenshot is taken, it opens in the Snagit editor. Here you can mark it with arrows, shapes, callouts, etc. You can crop the image and export it in any format.
In our experience, Snagit has one of the best GIF makers on Mac. You can record a video from your Mac screen, crop it and convert it to GIF in a couple of minutes.
But if you’re only looking for a simple screen capture utility, something that could quickly capture parts of the screen and sometimes annotate them, Snagit would be overkill. If so, see the other options below.
Lightshot
Lightshot is a free and simple real-time screen capture utility that has been around since 2009. Although it hasn’t added the modern macOS interface, it is still a solid option if you want to quickly take pictures and annotate them.
After taking a screenshot with Lightshot (you can customize the keyboard shortcut in preferences), you’ll see an annotation and save options next to the shortcut. From here, you can draw on the screenshot and annotate it with shapes.
You can then save the screenshot, copy it to your clipboard, or upload it to the Lightshot image sharing site. If you choose the cloud sharing option, you’ll receive a public image link in a second. You don’t even need to register an account for this.
Monosnap
Monosnap is a more feature-rich and modern version of Lightshot. You can use Monosnap to capture screen with keyboard shortcut (fullscreen and regional), record video, and create GIF files. After the screenshot is taken, you can annotate it with shapes, arrow tools, and blur parts of the image.
When you’re done, you can save the image to your local drive or share it using Monoscape Cloud Storage. A free account gives you 2GB of storage space for your photos. You can upgrade to the Pro plan to add your own storage providers like Google Drive, Dropbox, etc.
CloudApp
CloudApp is another screenshot and GIF tool for Mac with robust annotation features. All you need to use the app is a free CloudApp account (you can sign in using your Google account).
A free CloudApp account lets you capture full screen, regions and app windows with a menu bar utility and customizable keyboard shortcuts. There is also a separate shortcut for taking screenshots over time.
After you take a screenshot, CloudApp will automatically open the screenshot editor. In the sidebar, you can use arrows and shapes to annotate the screenshot. Here you can even blur or highlight parts of the image. When you’re done, you can click the Share button to download the screenshot (and copy the link to your clipboard).
You can skip the cloud upload process entirely by clicking the arrow next to the Share button and choosing Upload File (Command + D) instead.
If you’re looking for a free and reliable screenshot capture tool that has all the basic functions for capturing and editing screenshots, CloudApp might be perfect for you (you can turn off some of the auto online upload options in the settings).
–