Take Screenshots via Preview App

You may be surprised to know that the Preview app isn’t only used for viewing images. It also comes with the functionality of capturing screenshots (that can include your mouse cursor as well). Here’s what you need to do.

  1. Launch the Preview app on your Mac. You can use the Command + Space keyboard shortcut to launch Spotlight Search, then type in Preview to open the application.
  2. When Preview launches, click on the File menu and select “Take Screenshot.” An option will open where you need to click on “From Entire Screen.”
  3. The countdown will now start, giving you plenty of time to position the cursor where you need it to be. Wait for the countdown to be over, which will lead to your new screenshot opening in the Preview app, allowing you to check the result.
  4. Before you can share your new screenshot, you need to save it to your computer. Navigate to “File -> Save” or use the Command + S keyboard shortcut. A new window will open, letting you add a name, tags, and a location, as well as pick the format of your new screenshot. Once done, click on the Save button to save the image to your computer.

Take Screenshots via the Screenshot App

The newly redesigned Screenshot app (available on macOS Big Sur) comes with an even easier way to take screenshots with the mouse pointer visible.

  1. Launch the Screenshot app. It’s located in the “Applications -> Utilities” folder, but you can also press Shift + Command + 5 to launch it. Alternatively, you can press Command + Space, type in “Screenshot,” and press Enter.
  2. This should lead to a translucent menu bar appearing in the lower portion of your screen. That indicates that the Screenshot app is active.
  3. Before you start taking screenshots, you first need to instruct the app not to hide your mouse cursor. Click on Options and a menu will pop up. Make sure to select “Show Mouse Pointer.” A small checkbox should appear on the left side.
  4. You’ll be free at this point to take your screenshots. For the best results, we recommend taking a screenshot of your entire screen by clicking on the first icon on the left. However, you can also speed this process up by pressing Command + Shift + 3. That’s it! Note: Ii you’ve been using macOS’s accessibility feature to increase your mouse pointer’s size, you won’t have that option in your screenshots. We’re not sure whether this is a bug or perhaps the way macOS Big Sur is supposed to work, but we hope to see this corrected in the future. In the meantime, you can try your luck using a third-party screenshot app for macOS.

Wrapping Up

Now that you have learned how to take screenshots that include the mouse cursor on your Mac, we’d like to recommend a couple of resources. First, here’s how to change the default save location for screenshots on your Mac in addition to how to change the screenshot file format to JPG.