Updated 2026-10-13
How to crop a screenshot
Open the editor, click Crop, and keep the rectangle you want. Type the size in pixels or percent. Return applies it on the Mac.
By FoxPack
- Editor Crop tool
- Pixels or percent
- Stays on the Mac
To crop a screenshot on a Mac, open it in an editor and keep the rectangle you want. In FoxSnip that editor is one step past the capture bar: press Return, click Crop, drag the frame or type its size in pixels or percent, then press Return again. The cut happens on your Mac.
How to crop a screenshot in FoxSnip
The Crop tool is on the editor toolbar. The bar under a fresh selection is for arrows, text, and copy. Press Return there, or click Continue in editor, and Crop is available.
- Open the screenshot in the editor. Take a region, window, or full-screen shot, or open an image you already saved. On the bar under a new selection, press Return or click Continue in editor.
- Click Crop. Click Crop on the editor toolbar. The frame starts as the whole image. This tool has no single-letter shortcut.
- Frame the area you want to keep. Drag on the image to draw a new rectangle. Drag a handle to resize the frame, or drag inside it to move it. A drag smaller than about 2% of the image snaps back to the full shot.
- Set the size in pixels or percent. The bar shows Image size in pixels. Open it to type width and height. Switch between pixels and percent. Lock aspect ratio starts on, so one side updates the other until you turn the lock off. Resize changes the frame only.
- Apply the crop. Press Return, or click Crop on the frame. Pixels outside the frame are removed, and marks already on the canvas are cropped with the image. Escape or Cancel leaves Crop without changing the image.
After it applies, the tool returns to Select. Copy or save from there. The first minute is still capture, mark, copy. Crop is the extra pass when the edges are wrong.
Crop while you capture, or crop the file
| Capture a region | Crop in the editor | Cut a strip | Preview | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| When | You already know the edges | The image exists | A long shot has a middle band to drop | A saved file, outside FoxSnip |
| How | Drag the selection. Shift-Command-4 does this with the system tool | Crop, then Return | Select tool, drag a horizontal band, then Cut | Markup selection, then Tools > Crop (Command-K) |
| Result | Only the dragged area is captured | Pixels outside the frame are deleted | The band is removed and the image joins | The selection replaces the picture when you save |
Shift-Command-4 is a crop at capture time: the discarded area is never in the file. If FoxSnip has taken over the system screenshot keys, that shortcut opens FoxSnip’s region capture instead of the system tool. Change that in Settings.
In-image crop is the pass for a shot you already have. A window grab that includes a sidebar, a scrolling capture that is too tall, or a PNG you opened from disk. Region capture never creates those extra pixels. Crop deletes them.
Preview is the built-in path for a file that is already on disk. Open it, show the Markup toolbar, drag a rectangular selection, then choose Tools > Crop or press Command-K.
Size, aspect ratio, and undo
Image size is the label on the bar while Crop is active. The number is the frame, in pixels, until you switch the unit to percent. Percent is a share of the current image, not of the screen.
Lock aspect ratio starts on. Typing a width keeps the frame’s current ratio and fills in the height, and the other way around. Turn the lock off when the crop should be a different shape from the shot, such as a square pulled out of a wide window.
Resize writes those numbers onto the frame. It does not crop. Return, or the Crop button on the frame, is the step that deletes the pixels.
Applying a crop stores a snapshot first, so Command-Z restores the previous image. Undo is included in the free local tier on Pricing. Revert to Original, on the crop bar, is separate: it puts back the image from the moment you opened the editor, and it leaves you in Crop so you can frame it again. Cancel and Escape leave the tool. They do not undo a crop you already applied.
A strip in a long screenshot
Cut is the other trim. Stay on the Select tool and drag a horizontal band across the image, including across a locked capture. Cut removes that strip and joins the part above to the part below. Use it when a scrolling screenshot has a header, a footer, or a gap you do not want, and the rest of the width should stay.
Use Crop when the result should be a rectangle. Use Cut when the result should be the same width with a band missing.
The editor will not open an image taller than 16,384 pixels. A scrolling capture past that height needs to be shortened before this window can crop it.
What stays on the Mac
The crop is local. Pixels outside the frame are discarded on the machine. Nothing is uploaded because you cropped. A later Pro action, such as a share link, uploads only the image you send. Plain copy and save do not.
In-image crop ships with the free local tier. Pricing lists Pro cloud options. Shortcuts, permissions, and export are on Help. If the job is text inside the shot rather than its edges, extract text from a screenshot is the other pass, and it stays on the Mac too.
Frequently asked questions
How do I crop a screenshot on a Mac?
Crop it while you capture, or open the image and crop it afterwards. Shift-Command-4 grabs a region with the system tool. In FoxSnip, press Return on the selection to open the editor, click Crop, frame the area, and press Return again. Preview crops a saved file after you drag a selection and choose Tools > Crop (Command-K).
How do I crop a screenshot to an exact pixel size?
In FoxSnip’s Crop tool, open Image size and type the width and height in pixels, or switch the unit to percent. Lock aspect ratio starts on, so changing one side updates the other until you turn the lock off. Resize updates the frame. Press Return or click Crop on the frame to apply it.
Can I undo a screenshot crop?
Yes. Applying a crop stores a snapshot first, so Command-Z restores the previous image. Revert to Original, on the crop bar, puts back the image from when you opened the editor and leaves you in Crop. Cancel and Escape leave the tool. They do not undo a crop you already applied.
Does cropping a screenshot upload the image?
No. FoxSnip crops on the Mac. Pixels outside the frame are discarded locally. A later Pro cloud action, such as a share link, is what uploads an image, and only the image you send.
Should I crop the screenshot, or capture a smaller region?
Capture a smaller region when you already know the edges. Use in-image crop when the shot already exists: a window grab with a sidebar, a scrolling capture, or a file you opened. Region capture never creates the discarded pixels. Crop deletes them from the image you have.
How do I remove a band from a long screenshot?
That action is Cut, not Crop. In the editor, stay on the Select tool and drag a horizontal strip across the image. Cut removes that strip and joins the parts above and below. Use Crop for a rectangle. The editor will not open an image taller than 16,384 pixels.