macOS – How to Take a Screenshot of the App Switcher

application-switchermacosscreen capture

Pressing Cmd + Tab brings up the application switcher in macOS. I'd like to take a screenshot of this view.

I've tried:

Opening the app switcher with Cmd + Tab, holding Cmd, and then pressing Shift and 3 at the same time to attempt to activate the usual Cmd + Shift and 3 screenshot keyboard shortcut.

It results in the app switcher switching to the next app and no screenshot getting captured.
Changing the screenshot keyboard shortcut to F6 or Shift + /, which were unmapped before. Now after opening the app switcher using Cmd + Tab, holding Cmd, and then pressing this key combination again results in no screenshot getting captured.

Is it possible to take a screenshot of the app switcher? I'm happy to install additional software to achieve this.

Best Answer

Use the timer option in the new screenshot popup app.

Cmd ⌘ Shift ⇧ 5
Select Capture Entire Screen on the left & 5 seconds from the Options menu

Click Capture.
During that 5s countdown, hit Cmd ⌘ Tab ⇥

The resulting image will contain the switcher [intentionally tiny picture]

Interestingly, whilst composing this answer I discovered you can open the Screenshot app, then take a picture of it using the 'old' Cmd ⌘ Shift ⇧ 3 command ;)

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You can use KeyRemap4MacBook to for example turn the right option into an extra modifier key for opening applications:

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<root>
  <vkopenurldef>
    <name>KeyCode::VK_OPEN_URL_FINDER</name>
    <url>file:///System/Library/CoreServices/Finder.app</url>
  </vkopenurldef>
  <vkopenurldef>
    <name>KeyCode::VK_OPEN_URL_SAFARI</name>
    <url>file:///Applications/Safari.app</url>
  </vkopenurldef>
  <item>
    <name>test</name>
    <identifier>test</identifier>
    <autogen>__KeyToKey__ KeyCode::OPTION_R, KeyCode::VK_MODIFIER_EXTRA1</autogen>
    <autogen>__KeyToKey__ KeyCode::F, ModifierFlag::EXTRA1, KeyCode::VK_OPEN_URL_FINDER</autogen>
    <autogen>__KeyToKey__ KeyCode::S, ModifierFlag::EXTRA1, KeyCode::VK_OPEN_URL_SAFARI</autogen>
  </item>
</root>

See http://osxnotes.net/keyremap4macbook.html for more examples.

If you have bought the Powerpack for Alfred 2, you can use workflows like this:

Hotkeys have a short delay by default, but you can reduce it by changing the trigger behavior:

MacOS – How do change focus from the address bar back to the document after CMD+L

You can ⇥ back, or alternatively ⇧⇥ which is usually faster.

It takes me two presses of ⇧⇥ to get back from the address bar to the page: one to move to the Add to Reading List button and one to get back to the page. This may be higher if you have the back/forward buttons on the toolbar, and lower if you have Full Keyboard Access disabled in System Preferences.

You can use Keyboard Maestro to create a macro which lets you get back to the page with a single keyboard shortcut.

Best Answer

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MacOS – Faster than cmd+Tab way for app switching

MacOS – How do change focus from the address bar back to the document after CMD+L

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