usage: screencapture [-icmwsWx] [file] [cursor]
-i capture screen interactively, by selection or window
control key - causes screen shot to go to clipboard
space key - toggle between mouse selection and
window selection modes
escape key - cancels interactive screen shot
-c force screen capture to go to the clipboard
-m only capture the main monitor, undefined if -i is set
-w only allow window selection mode
-s only allow mouse selection mode
-W start interaction in window selection mode
-x do not play sounds
file where to save the screen capture


e.g. this applescript:

do shell script "screencapture -i ~/myScreenShot.pdf"

will allow you to choose what part of the screen to capture (-i) and will save the file to ~/myScreenShot.pdf

Note - the file format is defined by system defaults - *not* by the extension you give - so trying myScreenshot.jpg will give you a PDF file that has a JPG extension.

This also means you don't have to have the Beta UI Scripting installed.

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Use MoreInternet Preference Pane to change Internet Helpers without IE

[ Reply to This | # ]

to this use, your cli-utility solution is surely better; but it is nice someone shows me this feature I've only heard of before, to be able to script anything in menus. It sure is usable - even though in this case there is an easier solution..

If you already have terminal windows open, just type the command. If you want to be able to click on it from Finder, then just put it in a file with the extension .command, and chmod 755 it. So this, for example, would be just:

echo "screencapture -i  ~/myScreenShot.pdf" > sreenshot.command
chmod 755 screenshot.command

Why have the overhead of Applescript when you don't need it?

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Tony Lawrence
Free SCO, Mac OS X and Linux Skills Tests: http://aplawrence.com/skillstest.html

[ Reply to This | # ]

i agree with you about not using apple script to run a shell scrip but people like apple script just because they know how to add frills and stuff.

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"The time has come," the walrus said. "To talk of many things..."

is there any way to add the ability to capture the entire scrollable area of
a window? Looking for a replacement for the OS9 app ScreenCatcher.

One must wonder why you are using Grab at all, why not just hit cmd-shift-4 ?

Even better: if you want to take a screenshot of a window, menu, or the dock, do command-shift-4 and hit the spacebar. It will highlight in blue the object under the mouse. Just click, and it will save the screenshot to your desktop.

Grab allows you to select formats other than PDF. For this reason alone, Grab retains some degree of usefulness.

While we're on this subject, is anyone else pissed off at Apple for continuing to change and dictate to us how we will use Finder screen captures? In this case, I am referring to the new behavior (as of 10.2.4) that now splits a multiple-monitor screenshot into individual pages in a PDF document. A total PITA to try to paste back together into a usable form.

Sometimes I just want to fly into Cupertino First Class just so I can invade the NeXTie stronghold and whack them all repeatedly with a rubber chicken until they understand that Macolytes demand flexiblity, not rigidity.

Frederico