"OS X El Capitan: Take pictures of the screen" - not true!

[JayceyF]

The Apple document with the above title (which can be found at https://support.apple.com/kb/PH21906?locale=en_GB&viewlocale=en_US) is full of untruths. Nothing it says works? E.g.....

• Take a picture of the whole screen
• Take a picture of part of the screen
• Take a picture of a window or the menu bar
• Take a picture of a menu

None of the Shift-Command functions work at all - nothing happens.

You can also take pictures of the screen using the Grab app. ​

If only! Before El Capitan, I did that all the time - but now this stupid split screen thingy (I assume?) has knocked that one on the head. I can only have one app window open on the screen at a time - so the minute I hit Grab, my working window disappears (and I have nothing to 'Grab'!). I've downloaded BetterSnapTool, but that doesn't work with Grab either (I've written to the guy who wrote it to tell him).

Does anyone out there have any idea at all how I can get a screenshot of a window (on my lovely new computer!) - it's SUCH a simple request! (And it used to be SO easy, before Apple got 'clever'!)

 

[chrfr]

The Apple document with the above title (which can be found at https://support.apple.com/kb/PH21906?locale=en_GB&viewlocale=en_US) is full of untruths. Nothing it says works?

Open the Keyboard section of System Preferences and make sure that the "Screen Shots" key commands are enabled there. Screen shot functionality in El Capitan wasn't changed from that in earlier versions of OS X.

 

[idark77]

For me it worked from the beginning...

CMD + Shift + 3 Screenshot of entire screen
if you want you can take a screenshot of a window
1) CMD + Shift + 4
2) press spacebar on a window
3) Click your mouse or trackpad

and you should check your keyboard preferences under System Preferences...

 

[fisherking]

you can also use command-shift-4 to highlight a selected area of the screen; when you see the crosshairs, drag over the area you want to screenshot, then release the mouse (or trackpad), and...voila!

 

[JayceyF]

Open the Keyboard section of System Preferences and make sure that the "Screen Shots" key commands are enabled there. Screen shot functionality in El Capitan wasn't changed from that in earlier versions of OS X.

Thanks!! (But why have this defaulted to disabled? That's just silly. And I never even thought of looking in Keyboard!) And Grab works too now (my OH just fiddled with it!).

But I still can't have two app windows up at once, which is really annoying. My OH didn't believe me until I told him - I made my email and browsers windows both half-width, and tried clicking from one to the other. It's like playing tennis! Email - bing! (Browser - gone!) Browser - bing, email - gone, etc. etc. (If you didn't laugh, you'd cry!) Having several windows open is such a basic, old-fashioned thing - why on earth have El Capitan stopped this? (And can I turn it OFF please?!)

 

[chrfr]

Thanks!! (But why have this defaulted to disabled? That's just silly. And I never even thought of looking in Keyboard!) And Grab works too now (my OH just fiddled with it!).

This doesn't default to disabled. I don't know why yours would be.
As far as the full screen apps are concerned, read this document: https://support.apple.com/kb/PH21860

 

[JayceyF]

This doesn't default to disabled. I don't know why yours would be.
As far as the full screen apps are concerned, read this document: https://support.apple.com/kb/PH21860

I don't want full screens. I don't want split screens. I just want it the nice easy ordinary way it was before, when I was using Mavericks. I'm now considering dumping El Capitan and going back to Yosemite (which I actually missed out) or Mavericks. Is it possible to do this? (It would save me so many headaches!)

 

[Ritsuka]

If you don't want fullscreen, why are you using it? Just press the green button to enter/exist the fullscreen mode.

 

[JayceyF]

If you don't want fullscreen, why are you using it? Just press the green button to enter/exist the fullscreen mode.

I'm not using it! I hate it and try to avoid it (but occasionally find myself in it by accident). I just want lots of windows on my screen like I had before - not just one at a time. (I've now downloaded some software called BetterSnapTools, recommended on another forum - it's not perfect, but it's about the nearest thing. It looks like downgrading my OS might be too difficult...?)

 

[Ritsuka]

You can have as many windows you want as before, just don't make a window fullscreen. It doesn't seems too hard to me.

 

[JayceyF]

You can have as many windows you want as before, just don't make a window fullscreen. It doesn't seems too hard to me.

I wonder if I have a serious problem then - because I can't have as many windows as before? As I said above, I did a test - I opened my email and browser windows and made them half-size. I click on the email window - and the browser disappears. And vice versa. At no time, can I have two application windows open on the screen at once - it just doesn't happen for me? (I was hoping there was something I could disable, but if this is a problem that nobody recognises, then I'm in trouble?! )

 

[leman]

I wonder if I have a serious problem then - because I can't have as many windows as before? As I said above, I did a test - I opened my email and browser windows and made them half-size. I click on the email window - and the browser disappears. And vice versa. At no time, can I have two application windows open on the screen at once - it just doesn't happen for me? (I was hoping there was something I could disable, but if this is a problem that nobody recognises, then I'm in trouble?! )

That sounds very odd, to say the least

 

[allan.nyholm]

Could it be that you've enabled Single Application Mode within the Dock on OS X?

Here's a link that describes the thing:
http://www.tekrevue.com/tip/single-application-mode-os-x/

On the site there's Terminal commands to disable the feature of the Dock in case you've enabled it.

Copy and paste the entire string -as is- don't write it in manually unless you are comfortable with the Terminal.

I think you can also write in the Terminal this command to get the default Dock back and the settings for the Dock will be reset.

Write

defaults delete com.apple.Dock

After that in the same Terminal window write

killall Dock

to relaunch the Dock.

Note: these are only suggestions but it does sound like Single Application Mode is activated.

 

[chrfr]

I don't want full screens. I don't want split screens. I just want it the nice easy ordinary way it was before, when I was using Mavericks. I'm now considering dumping El Capitan and going back to Yosemite (which I actually missed out) or Mavericks. Is it possible to do this? (It would save me so many headaches!)

The normal window behavior in El Capitan is not any different than it was in Mavericks or Yosemite. It sounds like there are are a lot of customizations in your system.
BetterSnapTool apparently changes the way windows work. Did these problems start before you began using it, or after? What happens if you remove it?

 

[JayceyF]

Could it be that you've enabled Single Application Mode within the Dock on OS X?

Here's a link that describes the thing:
http://www.tekrevue.com/tip/single-application-mode-os-x/

On the site there's Terminal commands to disable the feature of the Dock in case you've enabled it.

Copy and paste the entire string -as is- don't write it in manually unless you are comfortable with the Terminal.

I think you can also write in the Terminal this command to get the default Dock back and the settings for the Dock will be reset.

Write

defaults delete com.apple.Dock

After that in the same Terminal window write

killall Dock

to relaunch the Dock.

Note: these are only suggestions but it does sound like Single Application Mode is activated.

That was it - thanks! (Very odd though - I certainly didn't activate that?) Back to some normality at last - phew....

 

[MacGizmo]

That was it - thanks! (Very odd though - I certainly didn't activate that?) Back to some normality at last - phew....

Well, it's actually quite difficult to activate certain things... as in, you're not likely to accidentally do it and not know it. So you did activate it somehow. I'm not sure if BetterSnapTool would do that or not, but I know Onyx can, as well as a ton of other customizing apps.

My point is, if you're having an issue or have a question, ask around to get an answer before you start installing apps that you're not fully aware of what they do. You may end up messing something up that you didn't intend on.

 

[JayceyF]

That was it - thanks! (Very odd though - I certainly didn't activate that?) Back to some normality at last - phew....

Well, it's actually quite difficult to activate certain things... as in, you're not likely to accidentally do it and not know it. So you did activate it somehow. I'm not sure if BetterSnapTool would do that or not, but I know Onyx can, as well as a ton of other customizing apps.

My point is, if you're having an issue or have a question, ask around to get an answer before you start installing apps that you're not fully aware of what they do. You may end up messing something up that you didn't intend on.

I had Onyx on my last machine, but decided to disable it on this one. (I wonder if that affected things?) You're quite right - if I was buying something from an online company, I'd check out reviews first - I should do the same with apps...