How do I take a screenshot on a Mac?

Mac screenshots are keyboard shortcuts, and they save straight to a file on the Desktop by default:

• ⌘⇧3 the whole screen.
• ⌘⇧4 drag to select an area. Press Space first and the pointer becomes a camera: click a window to capture just that window, shadow included.
• ⌘⇧5 the screenshot toolbar: the same options plus screen recording, a timer, and where to save.

Hold ⌃ together with any of them to copy the picture to the clipboard instead of saving it, the way PrintScreen does on Windows. A small thumbnail appears at the bottom right for a few seconds; click it to crop or mark up before it is saved.

With Contralto, PrintScreen and Alt+PrintScreen do the same, Win+Shift+S selects an area straight to the clipboard, and a bubble in the corner opens an editor with a pen, crop, blur and Copy text: see How do I use the Snipping Tool on a Mac?. Pinning a capture and capturing a scrolling page still need a third-party app.