If you're wondering how to take a scrolling screenshot on Mac, here's the short answer: macOS can't do it on its own. The built-in Screenshot toolbar captures what fits on your screen, and that's it.
If it's a web page, your browser can do it for free. Safari, Chrome and Firefox each have a way to save a full page as one long image. For one page now and then, that's enough, and you don't need to install anything.
For anything else, a chat in Slack or Messages, a long PDF, a Notes document, a settings list, you need an app. The scrolling capture in AtAt, an AI assistant for Mac, works on any window. The free options come first anyway, because for a lot of people they're all you need.
What macOS gives you, and what it doesn't
Press ⌘⇧5 and the Screenshot toolbar shows up. It can capture the entire screen, a window or part of the screen, and it can record the same three. Under Options you pick where files go, set a timer and choose whether to show the pointer. Apple lists all of it in its screenshot guide.
There's no scrolling capture and no full-page mode. Whatever runs off the bottom of the window stays out of the shot.
If you just need the basics, ⌘⇧3, ⌘⇧4 and friends, they're in Snipping Tool for Mac. The rest of this page is about the long stuff.
Full page screenshot in Safari (Web Inspector)
Safari hides this one in its developer tools, but it works well.
- Open Safari > Settings > Advanced and check "Show features for web developers". A Develop menu appears in the menu bar. Apple explains it in its Develop menu guide.
- Open the page you want.
- Choose Develop > Show Web Inspector.
- In the Elements tab, right-click the top-level
<html>line and choose "Capture Screenshot". Pick that top line, not a<body>or<div>inside it.
Safari saves a PNG of the whole rendered page, including everything below the fold.
Safari Export as PDF, then Preview
If you'd rather not open Web Inspector, there's a trick with a PDF.
In Safari, choose File > Export as PDF. This usually makes one long, continuous page with no page breaks. Usually, not always: some people report pages that still come out split. Don't use File > Print > Save as PDF for this, it cuts the page into paper-sized sheets.
Then open the PDF in Preview, choose File > Export, pick PNG or JPEG in the Format menu and save. One long image.
Two catches. Very long pages make very big files. And some pages lay out a bit differently in a PDF than they do on screen.
Full page screenshot in Chrome (DevTools)
Chrome has a full-page command inside DevTools. No extension needed.
- Open DevTools with ⌥⌘I, or View > Developer > Developer Tools.
- Press ⌘⇧P to open the Command Menu.
- Type "screenshot".
- Choose "Capture full size screenshot".
Chrome saves a PNG of the full page to your Downloads folder.
The list also has a plain "Capture screenshot". That one only grabs what's visible. Easy to click by mistake.
Save full page in Firefox
Firefox makes it the easiest of the three, because it's right in the page's right-click menu.
Right-click an empty part of the page and choose "Take Screenshot". Then click "Save full page" at the top right, and download or copy the image. Mozilla's screenshot help page has the details.
Where the browser tricks stop
Two places.
First, pages that scroll inside a box. Lots of web chat apps, web mail inboxes and dashboards keep the page still and scroll a panel inside it. Full-page capture often gives you just the visible part of that panel. Mozilla's own support forum gives this as the reason, and the suggested fix there is capturing in pieces and stitching them together by hand.
Second, everything outside the browser. None of these tools can touch a Slack or Messages conversation, a long Notes document, a PDF open in Preview, Xcode, a Finder list or System Settings.
That's where you need a long screenshot app.
Take a long screenshot on Mac in any app with AtAt
AtAt's Capture is a full screenshot tool: ⌘⇧4 for an area, ⌘⇧3 for the display, ⌘⇧5 for All-In-One. You can change those keys in Settings → Shortcuts. When you first open AtAt, "Set as Default Screenshot Tool" takes these keys over from macOS. You switch the macOS ones off yourself in System Settings, and AtAt shows you where.
For a scrolling screenshot:
- Press ⌘⇧5 to open All-In-One and drag over the part that scrolls.
- In the bar, choose Scrolling.
- Adjust the area if you need to, then press Start Capture.
- Scroll yourself, or choose Auto Scroll.
- Press Done.
While you capture, AtAt shows little tips, and they're worth following. Frame only the part that scrolls, not the toolbar above it. Keep scrolling in one direction. Scroll steadily. If it loses its place, scroll back up a little and it lines up again.
Auto Scroll needs Accessibility permission, in System Settings > Privacy & Security > Accessibility.
With Auto Scroll, the capture finishes on its own when the content runs out. There's a height limit of 32,768 pixels. If you hit it, AtAt stops there and you press Done to save what it has.
AtAt's own windows and capture controls never show up in the image. You can pick PNG, JPEG or WebP in Settings → Capture.
It works on chat apps, PDFs, documents, long settings lists, and web pages too, including the ones that scroll inside a box.
What to do with the long image
When the capture is done, a Quick Access card shows up with it.
Copy and Save are the main buttons. Save puts the file on your Desktop unless you set another place. Annotate opens the Image Editor. Pin to Screen keeps the card around while you work. Or just drag the thumbnail into Finder, Notes, Slack, wherever it's going.
And there's Ask @@.
Often the reason you want a long screenshot is that you want to ask something about all of it. Ask @@ sends the capture to your AI, and the answer comes back with a Copy button. Things like:
- "summarize this thread"
- "pull out the action items"
- "what changed in this settings list"
AtAt runs the AI you already have: Claude Code, Codex or another agent CLI, your own API key, or a local Ollama model. It has no model of its own. Grab the context, ask, keep going, without opening another app. That loop is the whole idea behind AtAt, and there's more of it on the homepage.
On cost. Screenshots, scrolling capture included, keep working without a plan. So do OCR, recording (up to 1080p, 30 FPS and five minutes), Clipboard History and Favorites. Every new install starts with a 14-day AtAt One preview, no account or card needed. After that, Ask @@ needs a plan. Plans are on the pricing section.
AtAt needs a Mac with Apple silicon and macOS 15 or later. You can download it here.
Which one to use
- A web page in Safari: Web Inspector, capture the
<html>line. - A web page in Chrome: DevTools, "Capture full size screenshot".
- A web page in Firefox: right-click, "Save full page".
- A chat, a PDF, a document, a page that scrolls inside a box, or you do this every week: AtAt.
Frequently asked questions
Does macOS have a built-in scrolling screenshot?
No. The macOS Screenshot toolbar (⌘⇧5) captures the entire screen, a window or part of the screen, and records the screen. It has no option to scroll a window or capture a full page.
How do I take a full page screenshot in Safari?
Turn on "Show features for web developers" in Safari Settings, under Advanced. Open the page, choose Develop > Show Web Inspector, go to the Elements tab, right-click the top-level html line and choose Capture Screenshot. Safari saves a PNG of the whole page.
How do I screenshot a whole page in Chrome on Mac?
Open DevTools with ⌥⌘I, press ⌘⇧P, type screenshot and choose Capture full size screenshot. Chrome saves a PNG of the full page to Downloads. Skip plain Capture screenshot, which only grabs what is visible.
How do I take a scrolling screenshot of a chat or a PDF on Mac?
You need an app, because browser tools only work on web pages. In AtAt, press ⌘⇧5, drag over the part that scrolls, choose Scrolling, press Start Capture, scroll or choose Auto Scroll, then press Done.
Is AtAt's scrolling screenshot free?
Yes. Screenshots, scrolling capture included, keep working without a plan, and so do OCR, Clipboard History and Favorites. Sending a capture to your AI with Ask @@ needs a plan once the 14-day preview ends.
Why does my full page screenshot only show part of the page?
Usually because the page scrolls inside an inner box instead of scrolling as a whole, as many web chat apps, web mail inboxes and dashboards do. Browser full-page tools then often return just the visible part. A scrolling capture tool that follows that box gets the rest.