# How to take a screenshot of a window without the shadow on Mac

> Press ⌘⇧4, then Space, then hold ⌥ as you click the window. To make it stick, one Terminal command; in hypershot, a setting.

To screenshot a window on a Mac without its drop shadow, press **⌘⇧4**, then **Space** (the pointer turns into a camera), then hold **⌥** while you click the window. To turn the shadow off for every window screenshot, run `defaults write com.apple.screencapture disable-shadow -bool true` in Terminal, followed by `killall SystemUIServer`. In hypershot, turn off **Window shadows** in **Settings → Captures**, and window captures (`⌘⇧W`) come out without it.

## Why the shadow is there

When macOS captures a window, it captures it the way it looks on screen: rounded corners, and the soft shadow that floats it above the desktop. That shadow becomes a wide, partly transparent margin around the image. On a white page it looks nice. Pasted into a slide with a coloured background, a tightly cropped doc, or a bug ticket, it reads as a grey smudge and makes the window look smaller than it is.

## The built-in way

**For one screenshot:**

1. Open the window you want and make sure nothing important is covering it.
2. Press **⌘⇧4**, then press and release **Space**. The pointer becomes a camera and the window under it is highlighted.
3. Hold **⌥** and click the window.

The file lands where your screenshots usually go (the desktop, unless you've changed it in the **⌘⇧5** Options menu). Press **Esc** at any point to cancel.

**For every screenshot, from now on:**

1. Open **Terminal** (Applications → Utilities).
2. Run:

   ```
   defaults write com.apple.screencapture disable-shadow -bool true
   killall SystemUIServer
   ```

   The menu bar flickers as SystemUIServer restarts. If shadows still appear, log out and back in.

To bring shadows back:

```
defaults delete com.apple.screencapture disable-shadow
killall SystemUIServer
```

**The limits.** Both work well, and the command has been around for years. Two small catches: it's a hidden preference with no switch in System Settings, so it's easy to forget you set it; and the shadow goes all-or-nothing. A white window on a white page has nothing left to mark its edge, and the built-in tools offer no way to swap Apple's shadow for a lighter one of your own.

## With hypershot

hypershot's window capture works the same way as the built-in one, and the shadow is a setting rather than a held key or a Terminal command.

1. Open **Settings → Captures** and turn off **Window shadows**. It's on by default, and it's a Mac-only setting, since the shadow is a macOS thing.
2. Press `⌘⇧W`, hover the window, and click.

You get the whole window, title bar included, without the shadow and without anything behind it. It can capture a window that's partly behind another one, too, so you don't have to rearrange your desktop first. More on window capture in [How to capture a single window](/blog/capture-a-single-window/).

*Hover a window and click: you get that window, title bar and all, and nothing behind it.*

**Want a shadow, but your own?** That's where hypershot goes further than the system tools. Open the capture in the editor, press **B** for the [Artboard](/docs/hypershot/editing/artboard/) tool and turn on a **Background** (a solid colour, a gradient, or a blurred copy of the capture). Shadow controls appear next to it: **Opacity** (35% by default), **Blur**, and an angle dial for direction and distance. You can round the corners too, and the **Chrome** option adds a macOS- or Windows-style title bar above the screenshot. The result is a window on a background you chose, with a shadow you tuned yourself.

## Which to use

- **Now and then:** **⌘⇧4**, **Space**, **⌥**-click. Nothing to install or remember beyond the extra key.
- **Every time, system-wide:** the `defaults write` command.
- **Every time, plus control over background and shadow afterwards:** hypershot with **Window shadows** off.

## Why is there a transparent border around my window screenshot?

That's the shadow's space. The area around the window is transparent, and the shadow fades out across it. Take the screenshot again with **⌥** held, or use one of the permanent options above.

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From https://hypernuclear.com/blog/screenshot-without-shadow-mac/