Photo: GaudiLab (Shutterstock)
Maybe you want to guide someone through an application, show your parents how to use a website, or capture a wild moment in a video call. Suffice it to say, there are many reasons why you might want to create a video of what’s on your Mac’s screen.
Fortunately, the Mac has a built-in screen recording tool that you can start pretty fast. If you’re running the latest version of macOS, you can use Mac’s new Screenshot Bar tool to record a video, but this feature is only available for Macs running macOS 10.14 Mojave or higher. If you’re using an older version of macOS, you can use the QuickTime app to fall back on (we’ll cover that at the end).
The Screenshot Bar can be summoned using the Command + Shift + 5 keyboard shortcut. Here, you can choose the “Record Entire Screen” or “Record Selected Portion” depending on your needs. Then, click the “Options” button.
Screenshot: Khamosh Pathak
You can enable the device’s microphone if you want to do an audio walkthrough along with the video capture. You can also enable the “Show Mouse Clicks” from the Options section. And lastly, set the Timer if you want. Once you’re ready to go, just click the “Record” button. You can also change the default save location from here.
Screenshot: Khamosh Pathak
A new Recording button will show up in the menu bar. Once you’re done recording, just click that button to save the video. You can also use the Command + Control + Esc keyboard shortcut to stop recording.
Once you’re done recording, just go to the designated location to see the video and play it in QuickTime.
How to record your screen in QuickTime
Speaking of QuickTime, you can also use the app to record your screen. Open the QuickTime app, and go to File > New Screen Recording to get started.
Screenshot: Khamosh Pathak
In macOS Monterey, this just opens the Screenshot Bar that we covered above. But if you’re running older versions of macOS, you’ll see a different screen recording interface.
Here, click the drop-down to choose your microphone and mouse click settings. Then, click the red Record button to start recording the screen.
Click anywhere to record the entire screen. To record a particular area, select it by dragging your mouse. Once the recording is over, click the Stop button in the menu bar to stop recording. You’ll see a preview of the recording in QuickTime itself. Here, you can view, edit, or save the recording.
