How to take a full-page screenshot on Mac
For a web page, the browser can do it: Safari captures a whole page from its Web Inspector or saves it as a PDF, and most other browsers have a full-page capture in their developer tools or right-click menu. ⇧⌘4 only sees what is on the screen, so for a long chat, a document or a list in any other app you need a scrolling capture that joins the screens as you scroll.
Updated
Safari
- Turn on the developer tools once: Safari › Settings › Advanced › Show features for web developers.
- Open the page and press ⌥⌘I for the Web Inspector.
- In Elements, right-click the first line, <html>, and choose Capture Screenshot. Save the image.
Or choose File › Export as PDF: the whole page as one PDF, with the text still selectable.
Other browsers
- Open the page and the browser’s developer tools (⌥⌘I in many browsers).
- Open the command menu (often ⇧⌘P) and type “screenshot”.
- Choose the full-size screenshot command. The PNG goes to your Downloads folder.
Some browsers skip the developer tools: right-click an empty part of the page and look for a screenshot item with a “full page” option.
Any app: a scrolling capture with SimpleShot
A browser only captures its own pages. SimpleShot, a free capture app for Mac, captures anything that scrolls, in any app: a chat, an e-mail thread, a Notes page, a settings list, a PDF, a spreadsheet. Press ⌥⇧⌘S, select the part of the window that scrolls, and scroll; or let SimpleShot scroll for you. A panel beside it shows the joined picture as it grows. A fixed header or footer appears once, not on every screen, and the result can be up to 40,000 pixels tall. Then mark it up, crop it or hide the private details on it like any capture. Step by step: scrolling screenshot on Mac.
| A browser’s full-page capture | SimpleShot scrolling capture | |
|---|---|---|
| Works in | That browser’s pages | Any app that scrolls |
| How | Draws the whole page at once, no joins | Joins the screens while you or SimpleShot scrolls |
| Parts loaded on scroll | Sometimes missing | Captured as you scroll to them |
| Afterwards | A file in Downloads | Copied, saved, ready to mark up or redact |
Questions
Can a Mac take a full-page screenshot without an app?
For web pages, yes: Safari does it from its Web Inspector, and most other browsers from their developer tools or right-click menu. ⇧⌘3 and ⇧⌘4 capture only what is on the screen.
How do I screenshot a whole web page in Safari?
Turn on Show features for web developers in Safari’s settings, open the Web Inspector with ⌥⌘I, right-click <html> in Elements and choose Capture Screenshot. Or export the page as a PDF.
How do I screenshot a long chat or document on a Mac?
Use a scrolling capture: in SimpleShot press ⌥⇧⌘S, select the chat or document and scroll. You get one tall image.
Why is part of my full-page screenshot blank?
Many pages load pictures only when you scroll to them. Scroll to the bottom once before capturing, or use a scrolling capture, which records what you actually see.
Related
The whole page,
in any app.
Free · macOS 26 or later · Apple Silicon