How to Record Your Mac’s Screen

Recording your screen on Mac is very easy. Here’s what you need to know to get it done, whether you have a machine running macOS Mojave or newer, or an older device.

Taking a screenshot on Mac is very easy, but what about screen recording? What if you need to record your screen to confirm a particular operation? Or maybe you want to make YouTube tutorial videos on how to use the software, how to start the game, or something else. There are many projects that may require you to record a screen.

Keep in mind that there are two methods listed below. One is for Macs running macOS Mojave or newer, and the other is for those with a Mac that doesn’t have Mojave rights – so it’s running a pre-Mojave version -. So make sure you choose the right method for your machine.

Recording Screen on macOS Mojave or later

1. Press Cmd + Shift + 5 to open the Screenshot tool.
2. The fourth and fifth buttons on the left are for video recording.
3. If you want to record the entire screen, press the fourth button.
4. Click the fifth one if you only want to capture part of the screen.
5. Click Options if you need additional tools such as microphone activation.
6. When you’re done, click the Stop button at the top of the screen.

Keep in mind that recording the entire screen will capture the menu bar, status bar, and everything else. If you have elements you don’t want to be shown, choose to record only part of the screen instead.

Screen Recording with QuickTime on Older Macs

In truth, the screen recording feature in macOS Mojave is not new. It comes from QuickTime Player, which was a special method for doing this in older versions of the OS. The functionality hasn’t changed much, but if you have a computer with an older version of macOS, you’ll need to use QuicTime Player.

1. Launch QuickTime Player.
2. Click File and select New Screen Recording.
3. To start recording, click the “Record”button.
4. To see more options, click the down arrow button next to the Save button.
5. After you click the “Record”button, click anywhere on the screen to start recording the entire screen, or drag the slider to select a portion of the screen to record.
6. When finished, click the Stop button in the menu bar.