Pin a screenshot on top of other windows on Mac

How to pin a screenshot

1. Press ⇧⌘9 and drag over the part of the screen you want to keep in view.
2. Add an arrow, text or a highlight if you need one; the pin shows the screenshot with your drawings.
3. Click Pin to Screen (the pin button in the toolbar). The screenshot floats above every window, at the place you selected it.
4. Drag the pin by its body to move it anywhere.
5. To close it, click it and press Esc, or double-click it.

With a pin on screen:

• Press ⌘C to copy it again, or right-click it for Copy, Save… and Close.
• Hold ⌥ and drag it into another app or into Finder to drop it as a PNG file.
• It stays in view when you switch Spaces and next to apps in full screen.
• Pin as many screenshots as you need; each one moves and closes on its own.
• To pin an earlier screenshot, open Recent Screenshots in the menu, hold ⌥ and click it. Screen2Shot keeps your last 10 screenshots there.

Built-in macOS options and their limits

The Screenshot app (⇧⌘5) has an Options menu with a timer, the save location, the floating thumbnail and the mouse pointer. None of them keeps a screenshot on screen: the floating thumbnail sits in the corner for a moment and then the screenshot is saved to the desktop. The nearest built-in substitute is to open the screenshot in Preview and keep that window next to your work, which goes behind the other app as soon as you click into it. The keys for every built-in capture are in how to take a screenshot on a Mac.

Checked on 2026-09-29. Sources below.

What people use it for

• Copying figures or a layout from one window into another without switching back and forth.
• Keeping instructions or an error message in view while you follow or fix them.
• Comparing two versions of a screen side by side.