How do I take a MacOS Retina screenshot and get the image at its actual size?
1. Print Screen in Mac OS
In Mac OS, CMD+SHIFT+3, CMD+SHIFT+4 or CMD+SHIFT+5 key combinations are frequently used to take a screenshot, probably full screen or part of the screen. For later Macbook computers with Retina display, you will get a screenshot with its size twice as much as that of the area you captured. A few questions arise, "How do I take a MacOS Retina screenshot and get the image at its actual size?", or "How can I disable Retina?."
Basically, there is no way to disable Retina, but here are a few workable solutions for you:
Solution 1: After capturing a screenshot, you will receive an image file. Then you use a photo editing tool to resize it.
Solution 2: Use a third-party screen capture application with the auto built-in image scaling function, LighShot, for example.
Solution 3: In MacOS, open Automator app to create an automatic task. Later on, every time you take a screenshot, it will automatically create a new image file with 50% of the original image size you have just taken. This will help you get better quality images than the first two solutions.
![](https://s1.o7planning.com/web-rs/web-image/en/arf-1168011-vi.webp)
Alright, in this article, I'm going to guide you to use Automator to automatically downsize the image when you take a screenshot with MacOS Retina.
![](https://s1.o7planning.com/web-rs/web-image/en/arf-1168017-vi.webp)
By default, when you take a screenshot, the image file will be saved to the Desktop. Thus, you need to change the default location into the Documents folder to save it.
First, press CMD+SHIFT+5 and select:
- Options > (Save to) Documents
![](https://s1.o7planning.com/web-rs/web-image/en/arf-1168029-vi.webp)
Now open the Automator application in Launchpad.
![](https://s1.o7planning.com/web-rs/web-image/en/arf-1168035-vi.webp)
![](https://s1.o7planning.com/web-rs/web-image/en/arf-1168036-vi.webp)
Create a "Folder Action":
![](https://s1.o7planning.com/web-rs/web-image/en/arf-1168042-vi.webp)
Then choose the Documents folder. That means your Automator will listen for commands in this folder.
![](https://s1.o7planning.com/web-rs/web-image/en/arf-1168048-vi.webp)
Next, select "Files & Folders". After that,drag and drop "Filter Finder Items" to the right window.
- Name > begins with > Screen Shot
- Kind > is > image
![](https://s1.o7planning.com/web-rs/web-image/en/arf-1168056-vi.webp)
Later, drag and drop "Copy Finder Items" to the right window.
- To > Desktop (v) Replacing Exiting File
![](https://s1.o7planning.com/web-rs/web-image/en/arf-1168063-vi.webp)
After that, select "Photos". Thendrag and drop "Scale Images" to the right window.
- By Percentage > 50
![](https://s1.o7planning.com/web-rs/web-image/en/arf-1168070-vi.webp)
Finally, save your "Folder Action" with a certain name, for instance, "Smaller Screenshot Copy".
![](https://s1.o7planning.com/web-rs/web-image/en/arf-1168076-vi.webp)
![](https://s1.o7planning.com/web-rs/web-image/en/arf-1168077-vi.webp)
Remember that you can reopen the recently saved file by selecting:
- File > Open Recent
![](https://s1.o7planning.com/web-rs/web-image/en/arf-1168084-vi.webp)
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