Easy Mac Hack: Disable Shadows in OS X Screenshots

Every Monday we show you how to do something quick and cool with Mac OS X. Sometimes it's a tutorial on a lesser-known feature, other times it's a trick that uses built-in functionality such as Terminal — either way, these simple tips can make life better and easier, and they don’t require any special knowledge. All you need to do is follow the instructions!

This week's trick is a double whammy. First, in the event you're unfamiliar with how to screen-grab windows in OS X, we've got a quick refresher. Second, if you've done so, then you've probably noticed that it adds a subtle shadow around your images. The shadow looks nice sometimes, but may not always be appropriate (such as when you're snapping screenshots for use in publications like here at Mac|Life). If you've ever wanted to get rid of those shadows, then this article is for you.

To screen-grab a window, press Command + Shift + 4 on your keyboard, then press the space bar. Your cursor will turn into a camera icon; place it over any window to highlight it, then click to take a pixel-perfect screenshot — usually with a shadow behind it added for effect.

To remove the subtle shadow, launch Terminal (located in /Applications/Utilities), then type in the following command:

defaults write com.apple.screencapture disable-shadow -bool true

Once this command is entered, press the enter key, then type the next command to restart the SystemUIServer:

killall SystemUIServer

When you type this command, you'll see the screen flash, then return to normal. After this command is entered, you can close the Terminal.

Whenever you take screenshots using the method mentioned above, there will be no shadow added to the window.

If you wish to bring the shadow back, type the same the command into terminal, except replace "true" with "false" when entering it. Doing so will cause the shadows to return to your screenshots.