How to send a screenshot from your Mac without giving away personal details
Press ⇧⌘4 and drag over the part of the screen you need, click the thumbnail that appears, cover anything private with a filled box in Markup, then drag the image into your e-mail or chat. Before you send, look for what people miss: e-mail addresses, phone and card numbers, a name in a tab, a notification in the corner. If you’re reporting a problem, add a line on what went wrong; dictating it is quicker than typing.
With the tools built into macOS
- Press ⇧⌘4 and drag over the area. For a single window, press ⇧⌘4, then Space, then click the window.
- Click the thumbnail that appears in the corner of the screen to open it in Markup.
- Choose the shapes tool, draw a rectangle over each private detail and set its fill to black.
- Click Done, then drag the thumbnail into Mail, Messages or a support form. To paste instead, take the screenshot with ⌃⇧⌘4, which copies it, and press ⌘V in the message.
Watch out for two things. Blur isn’t a safe cover for text: short words and numbers can sometimes be read back through it. And save the covered image as PNG or JPEG, not PDF, where the box can stay a separate shape that someone could move.
What people forget to hide
- your e-mail address in a header or a signed-in menu;
- phone, card and account numbers, often in small print;
- names in a browser tab, a chat list or a shared-document bar;
- a notification that slides in while you take the shot;
- passwords, keys and tokens in a terminal or a settings page;
- an address bar with a link that signs anyone into your account.
Let SimpleShot find what to hide
Explain it by voice
A screenshot shows where the problem is; your message has to say what you did and what you expected. Saying that out loud takes a few seconds.
Writing to a company in another language? Type or dictate the message in yours, select it and choose Translate and Replace with Kalila from the Services menu: Kalila swaps it for the translation on the Mac, and the original never goes to an online translator.
Questions
Can someone remove a black box from a screenshot?
Not from a PNG or JPEG where the box was drawn onto the image: the pixels underneath are gone. They can from a PDF or an editable file where the box is still a separate shape, so export a flat image.
Is blurring enough to hide a password or a number?
No. Blur and pixelation can sometimes be reversed on short text. Use a solid box for anything secret, and save blur for faces in the background or a cluttered desktop.
Does a Mac screenshot contain hidden information?
Very little: the image size and the fact that it’s a screenshot. It doesn’t record where you were. The file name shows the date and time, so rename it if that matters.
How do I send a screenshot by e-mail on a Mac?
Drag the thumbnail, or the file from the desktop, into a new message in Mail. Or open the screenshot, click the Share button and choose Mail.