Shadowless screenshots on macOS

The Quick Way (One-Off)

When you want a shadowless capture just this once, without changing any settings:

1. Press Cmd + Shift + 4
2. Press Space — the cursor turns into a camera icon
3. Hold Option and click the window you want

You get the window with its rounded corners, but no drop shadow. Release Option for the default (shadowed) behavior.

The Permanent Way

If you never want shadows, set the system default so you don't have to hold Option every time.

Open Terminal and run:

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

From now on, every window screenshot (Cmd + Shift + 4 then Space then click) will be shadowless automatically.

Reverting

To bring shadows back:

defaults write com.apple.screencapture disable-shadow -bool false
killall SystemUIServer

You can also remove the key entirely to return to the system default:

defaults delete com.apple.screencapture disable-shadow
killall SystemUIServer

Quick Reference

Goal	Method
One-off shadowless capture	Cmd + Shift + 4 → Space → Option + click
Always shadowless	defaults write com.apple.screencapture disable-shadow -bool true + killall SystemUIServer
Restore shadows	defaults write com.apple.screencapture disable-shadow -bool false + killall SystemUIServer
Reset to default	defaults delete com.apple.screencapture disable-shadow + killall SystemUIServer

Notes

• The rounded corners are always preserved; only the shadow is affected.
• Changes to com.apple.screencapture apply to all screenshot tools that use the system capture API, not just the keyboard shortcut.
• No restart or logout is needed — killall SystemUIServer applies the change immediately.