How to Screen Record on Mac

Apple’s macOS offers a handy screen capture tool for capturing a specific part of the screen. It is useful for creating online content for courses, conferences, webinars, tutorials, etc. This is where the Screen Capture tool comes in handy for screen recording. Here is how you can use the native screen recording capability of the screenshot or have a third party app help you to record the screen on your Mac.

The Screen Record tool contains basic functionality and offers a bunch of customization options and features for recording. Find out how to record a screen on Mac.

1. Use the screenshot tool

Apple’s native screenshot tool offers three ways to use it on Mac. To get started, you can use any of the cheats below to summon the tool.

• Press Command + Shift + 5 to also open the screenshot.

• Open Launchpad and you’ll find the screenshot in the Other menu. By default, macOS keeps the screenshot there. You can pin it to the macOS dock for easy access.

Now that you’ve opened it, let’s understand how to filter recording on Mac.

Step 1: macOS will open up a capture area and a control bar at the bottom with functions to play with.

2nd step: The first two functions on the left side relate to the screenshot. The third option allows you to capture the selected area. Shift your attention to the fourth and fifth tabs which have a small record icon on them.

Step 3: You can click the Record icon and start recording the content on the screen.

Before hitting the record button, you should consider using the Options menu to make the relevant changes for a flawless screen recording experience.

The Options menu allows you to select where to export the video, set the timer, select the default microphone, and show / hide mouse clicks.

Selecting the default microphone is an important step for those who work with an external microphone. If you don’t select the correct microphone, the final video won’t have the audio you want.

To stop recording, just click on the recording option in the menu bar. macOS will offer a thumbnail of the video in the lower right corner.

You can click on it and cut the video using the crop option and even delete the video directly.

While the default screenshot tool does the job, you need to invest in a third-party screen recording tool like CleanShot X or Snagit. They offer more features and customization options for a price.

2. Use CleanShot X

CleanShot X is a native macOS app for capturing screenshots, recording videos, creating gifs, and more.

Using CleanShot X, you can also annotate videos, share your thoughts while recording with a small thumbnail in the corner, and edit the videos before exporting them. The app charges $ 29 as a one-time payment.

Follow the steps below to use CleanShot X on Mac.

Step 1: Visit the official CleanShot X website, purchase and download the software.

Download CleanShot X

2nd step: Download the app and add the license key.

Step 3: On startup, CleanShot X will ask to remap native screenshot shortcuts to the app to take the screenshot and start screen recording.

Make the necessary changes to the key combination and you are ready to record the screen on the Mac.

The application remains in the macOS menu bar. Click on the application icon and select Record Screen.

You can change display resolution to reduce video file size, select microphone, create gif, show mouse clicks, adjust presenter thumbnail, and set timer to start recording.

After recording the video, users can play around with the audio settings to make relevant changes to the voice output. CleanShot X allows you to change the Mac microphone and speaker volume to the desired output.

If your workflow requires taking multiple screenshots and screen recordings, CleanShot X is definitely worth it. The only problem is that it is only available on macOS.

Those looking for a cross-platform screen recording solution should check out SnagIt.

Download Snagit

Record screen on Mac

macOS continues to deliver better value with native tools like Screenshot. Using the Screen Capture tool, you can easily record the screen on the Mac. Power users might want more. They should check out third-party apps like CleanShot X and Snagit.