How to take a scrolling screenshot on a Mac
The macOS screenshot tools capture the entire screen, a window or a portion of the screen, and Apple documents no scrolling capture. Saving as a PDF keeps a web page or document in one file. For one long image, use scrolling capture Pro (Shotbolt Pro) in Shotbolt.
What macOS does on its own
Apple's documentation for macOS Tahoe 26 and macOS 27 Golden Gate lists the entire screen, a window and a portion of the screen, with no scrolling capture. A screenshot of a long page holds only what fits on the screen.
A page or document you can print has another route:
- Open the web page in Safari, or the document in its app.
- Choose File → Print.
- Click the PDF button, or open the PDF pop-up menu and choose Save as PDF.
- Enter a name, choose a location and save.
The result is a PDF rather than a picture. In Safari, the print options can include the page's background images and colors, and File → Save As with Format → Web Archive keeps a page with its graphics. An app with no Print command has neither route.
Take one in Shotbolt
Scrolling capture Pro (Shotbolt Pro) follows what you scroll and joins it into one screenshot. Every download from this site starts with 7 days of Pro.
- Click the Shotbolt icon in the menu bar and choose Scrolling Capture Pro (Shotbolt Pro). The default shortcuts leave it without a key; you can add one in Settings → Shortcuts. In All-In-One, the overlay that holds every kind of capture, you can drag an area and press S to go straight to step 3.
- Drag an outline around the part that scrolls, then click Start Scrolling or press Return.
- Keep the pointer inside the outline and scroll at an even pace. A small panel shows a preview and the height so far.
- At the end, click Done or press Return. Cancel or Esc drops the capture.
- The result arrives like any other screenshot, ready to copy, save or mark up in the editor.
Like every capture, this needs the Screen & System Audio Recording permission. Help and Features have more.
Let it scroll for you
Click Auto-scroll Pro (Shotbolt Pro) in the panel and Shotbolt scrolls the outlined area for you. It stops when the page stops moving, then asks you to review the preview and choose Done.
Auto-scroll needs the Accessibility permission. Without it, the capture carries on by hand and a message offers Allow…. Once Shotbolt is on in System Settings → Privacy & Security → Accessibility, click Auto-scroll again.
Limits
- Height. The maximum is 40,000 pixels tall, and less for an extremely wide selection. The panel shows how close you are, and at the maximum Shotbolt saves what it has.
- Speed. Scroll too far at once and the capture stops growing. The panel says so: scroll back up a little, then go slower.
- Fixed parts. Headers, footers and docks that stay put appear once. A sidebar that stays still is left out, so only the pane that scrolls ends up in the picture. To keep it once, beside the page, turn on Include sidebar under Scrolling capture in Settings → Capture.
- Pointer and banners. The pointer is left out of the result. So are notification banners, unless you turn off Hide notifications in recordings in Settings → Recording.
Questions
Can Safari take a full-page screenshot on a Mac?
Apple's Safari guide for Mac describes printing a page to PDF and saving it as a web archive. It does not describe a full-page screenshot.
Does it work outside the browser?
Yes. Shotbolt works from what the screen shows, so the steps are the same for a document, a chat or anything else that scrolls inside the outline.