Imagine you need to show someone how to log in to an online account or how to use a feature in a product. You could write out an email. Or you could capture your screen and take a few screenshots.

But best of all might be recording your screen.

Making a screen record with voice over Launch Dropshare (it's free with Setapp subscription). Click a circular icon in the menu bar to record the screen. Choose a microphone to record system audio and audio from your microphone. Once you see the interface, click “File” and select “New Screen Recording”, then a screen recording window will pop up. On this window, you can configure your recording settings. After configuring, hit the red round recording button to start recording your screen. Mac will not let you record your computer’s audio with any of their built in program. If you have ever tried recording your Mac’s screen, you probably know there are so many ways to do it. Recording can prove to be expensive with costly paid software’s. Here are few methods for how to record screen and audio at the same time on mac. Make Screen Recording Easy on Windows and Mac. Vidmore Screen Recorder is a convenient and easy-to-use screen recording software that allows you to capture any part of your screen, record HD video. To capture the entire Mac screen: Press Shift + Command + 3. This will capture the screen and save it on your Mac’s desktop. To take a screenshot of the selected screen on your Mac: Press Shift + Command + 4. To record video on your Mac using QuickTime Player X: Launch QuickTime File New Screen recording. You can now record.

When you record your screen you can include typing the address into your browser and show all your mouse movements and clicks to let people see exactly where to go and how to get there.

You can include video and audio when you record your screen too. Use microphone audio to narrate your video from your computer’s built-in microphone or an external mic.

You can also record your system audio (that’s the sound that comes out of your speakers).

If you’re comparing different screen recording tools, make sure you get a screen recorder with sound recording options built-in.

Screen recording, also known as a screencast, is perfect or creating tutorials, product demos, how-to videos, and other instructional videos. You can even record games or record presentations, or make a YouTube video.

For short, quick recordings

Short, simple recordings that won’t require much editing can be done with something like Snagit (which is what I use most of the time).

For longer, edited recordings

For longer or more complex recordings that may need more editing, something like Camtasia will be better. Camtasia even allows you to enhance the video by zooming in on areas of emphasis, highlighting your mouse clicks, adding text or graphic call-outs and more.

Record your screen today!

Download one of our free screen recorder trials to quickly and easily record your computer screen.

Choose the screen recording software you’ll use. As noted above, Snagit is great for simple, short desktop recordings, while something like Camtasia might be better for longer, more complex jobs.

However, recordings made with Snagit can be easily shared with Camtasia and assembled into longer, more complex videos there.

Today, I’ll show you how to record your screen on Windows and Mac with Snagit for simple recordings, and Camtasia for more polished videos.

How to record your desktop screen with Snagit (For screen recordings with minor editing)

Snagit is great for screenshots and quick and easy screen recordings. It’s perfect for when you want videos that look great, but don’t take hours of editing time.

Here’s how to do it.

Step 1: Choose what you want to record

First, select the video tab from the Capture Window and make sure Region is selected from the drop-down.

Then, hit the big red record icon.

The Snagit crosshairs appear. Use them to select an area to record.

The selection snaps to the windows you have open…pretty sweet huh?

Step 2: Record your audio

With your region selected, it’s time to make some audio decisions.

To record your voice, select the microphone. And if you want to record the sounds that come from your computer, like the beeps and boops you hear, select this option.

When you’re ready, click record and Snagit counts down. Now, anything that appears in the recording area is captured.

If you want your viewers to see your beautiful face, click the webcam button to toggle between recording your webcam or your screen. When finished, click the pause button to bring up the recording controls

Then click stop.

Step 3: Trim your video

Your video appears right on the canvas, in the tray below and is ready to share.

No waiting for rendering. No waiting for that loading bar. The video is ready to go.

Once you’re finished recording, you’ll probably want to edit it a little. Even the most carefully planned recordings will have something you want to cut out. With Snagit, you can easily trim your recording to remove unwanted pieces.

If you find mistakes or parts you want to remove, make a selection with the playhead, and click cut.

If you’re looking for in-depth, super-powered video editing, Snagit might not be the tool for you (Check out the Camtasia section below).

Snagit is simple, gets the job done and is easy-to-use.

Step 4: Save or share

When you’re finished with your video, click Share and choose the option that’s best for you. If you’re not sure what to choose, we recommend Screencast.

You get an easily shareable link that you can paste in an email, slack channel or wherever. (Plus, it’s free!)

If you do want to dive deep into editing your videos or want to create a more high-quality video, we recommend Camtasia, the best all-in-one screen recording and video editing software.

How to record your desktop screen with Camtasia (For polished, professional-quality screen recordings)

Step 1: Choose your recording options

To start a recording after you open Camtasia, click the Record button at the top of the tools panel.

This opens the Camtasia recorder, which by default, is set to capture everything that happens on your screen. This is essentially the control center for your screen and audio recordings.

The Camtasia recorder allows you to customize the controls for your recording.

Step 2: Choose the region you want to record

Start by selecting a recording area that only includes the relevant screen content you want to record.

For some things, it may make sense to record your entire screen. However, if you’re only showing the steps necessary for a particular piece of software or where to click on a website, you may want to choose to record only that window (or a portion of it), rather than the entire desktop.

You can choose to record the full screen or select a custom region to record.

Step 3: Record your desktop with audio (if you want to)

If you’re narrating your recording, having a script or at least some talking points is a good idea to ensure you say what you want to say in the way you want to say it.

But for now, just choose which microphone you want to record from or choose to record the system audio from your computer.

Step 4: Edit your video

Camtasia comes with a built-in video editor and it takes just a few steps and some simple video editing tips.

To start, cut out mistakes by selecting them with the playhead, then clicking cut. To trim extra footage from the ends or your recording, drag the end of the clip in.

When you finish editing the video, add your audio narration. With your narration on the timeline, you can use clip speed and extend frame to sync the audio and video in your project.

Here are a few examples of simple edits:

• If you need more time to explain a concept split the clip and use extend frame to essentially freeze the video.
• To speed up a boring part of your recording, add clip speed, then drag the handles to speed it up.
• Or to focus your viewer’s attention, use animations to zoom in on the important parts.

Step 5: Produce and share

Finally, think about where your video will live. There are many video hosting options to choose from these days. You can share your video to an online video platform like YouTube, Vimeo, or Screencast, or you can choose to save the video as a local file. You can also share directly to your favorite social media site.

We’ve found that most of our users like to store finished videos on YouTube, especially for external videos. There are many great reasons to put your education and learning videos on YouTube.

BONUS TIPS!

• Camtasia’s advanced (but SUPER-easy-to-use) video editing capabilities allow you to add audio tracks after you record your screen. Whether you want to record your narration after the fact or want to add some music, you can do it!
• Be prepared to record your screen a time or two to get what you want. Almost everyone messes something up along the way. But recording your screen is so easy, it won’t matter if you have to do it again.
• Don’t get TOO hung up on making everything perfect. If you’re demonstrating a process, make sure the steps are clear and easy to follow. If you’re narrating, you can decide how many “umms” and “uhs” you can live with. It also depends on your audience.
• Recordings meant for people outside your company probably need to be more polished than things you’re sending to one of your fellow employees.
• We also have a full list of screen recording tips that you can use to get the best recordings possible.

Record your screen today!

Download one of our free screen recorder trials to quickly and easily record your computer screen.

Frequently asked questions

Screen recording is pretty simple. Once you have your screen recorder (we like Snagit and Camtasia) it’s as simple as 1. Record 2. Edit 3. Share.

To record your voice, select the microphone. And if you want to record the sounds that come from your computer, like the beeps and boops you hear, select system audio option.

While Snagit and Camtasia can’t record your iPhone screen, TechSmith has a TechSmith Capture app that lets you quickly and easily record your iPhone screen. After you download the app: Step 1. Enable screen recording on your iOS device. Step 2. Set up your screen recorder. Step 3. Record your screen.

While there are a number of ways to record a presentation, my favorite way to record a high-quality presentation in PowerPoint with audio and video is Camtasia.

How To Screen Record On Mac Desktop

Get Capto for screen recording

Screen grabs and screenshots are useful for sharing information, of course. And sometimes, that is all we need. But there are other times when we need to talk to people, or record something so that someone else, maybe thousands of miles away, can easily understand what we need to say.

How to record Mac screen with sound

To narrate what’s happening on your Mac, you oftentimes need to record your computer screen with audio. Macs don’t have the built-in tools for it so in this article, we explain how you can easily record desktop with voice over using a few third-party apps.

Ultimate screen recording toolkit

Capture scrolling content, record video, create voice-overs, and so much more. With Setapp, your screen recording can be limitless.

A quick overview: We’ll explain how to use Apple’s native QuickTime, which many don't realize comes with the screen, video, and audio recording capabilities — so it’s not just an app for watching videos. If you’re here for a more advanced toolkit you could use to record voice-overs and edit videos, we’ll show how to do it with Capto, CleanShot X, and Dropshare.

Record your screen with audio on macOS

To record audio and screenshots or moving screen grabs at the same time, you can use a small app named Capto. Available from Setapp and easy-to-use. It has a whole range of capturing features to create a detailed and informative screen capture with blocks of text, highlights and even a FaceTime camera recording.

If you are in a hurry and need to get something to a colleague or client quickly, but want it to look professional, record video what you need, give it a quick edit then email it across. Plus you’ve got the ability to mute, fade in, or fade out of the audio recording tracks to get professional sound without clicks and keyboard noise.

How you record audio and screenshots using a screen recording app

1. Launch Capto or similar screen recorder and find Record button
2. Check the boxes to make sure you are picking up audio and recording the screen (or portion of the screen)
3. Choose to record FaceTime camera, setup recording time limit, and choose the second menu (small dots below) to hide files on your desktop
4. Hit the Record button
5. Once you are done, press the red button in the menu bar or shift + command + esc
6. Edit as needed in the Video section, then upload as an attachment or publish online

It is as easy as that. And, if you have a little more time, use the controls on the left to tweak the sound, trim, add annotations, highlight specific areas, adjust the size and placement of the camera video, and make any other changes as needed.

Make a voice over video of your screen

Another app that lets you create a narrated screencast is Dropshare. It was originally created as a super-easy cloud sharing app because sharing files is a chore. Dropshare solves it by instantly giving you secure links and drag-and-drop file uploads of ready screencasts.

Making a screen record with voice over

1. Launch Dropshare (it's free with Setapp subscription).
2. Click a circular icon in the menu bar to record the screen.
3. Choose a microphone to record system audio and audio from your microphone.
4. Hit the red button to start recording.
5. Hit it again to stop recording.
6. Pack up the file and send it anywhere.

Other times, you may need to record calls made through your Mac. Either this is for training purposes, to demonstrate something to a colleague, or it is an interview that needs recording.

Ultimate screen capturing on Mac

If you deal with screenshots and screen recordings often, you don’t want to be juggling different apps all the time. In this case, CleanShot X is pretty much all you need. This screen capturing app covers 50+ different features — from creating optimized GIFs to scrolling captures to video recordings. So if you’re looking for a universal thing, this is the right choice.

The great thing is CleanShot X lets you tweak lots of small things while recording video. You get snappable resize controls, can choose to display recording time on a video, highlight mouse clicks, or disable notifications in a click. All the options are right at your fingertips.

Here’s how to record screen with CleanShot X:

1. Click Record Screen in the menu bar
2. Pick whether you want to capture video or GIF
3. Drag to select a custom area on the screen
4. Enable/disable audio recording
5. Customize settings (area size, system notifs, mouse click highlighting, etc.)
6. Once you’re ready, hit the Record button
7. Trim the recording outputs from the Overlay Menu in the end.

How to record calls on your Mac

On a Mac, the three most popular ways to make calls are Skype, FaceTime - which comes with a handy feature that allows you to start a call on an iPhone and continue on a Mac (Handoff) - and WhatsApp. Here is how you record those calls using your Mac.

How to record a Skype meetings

Skype, even before Microsoft bought it, has never included a native way to record audio and visuals when on a call. Making it somewhat of a nuisance when important information is being conveyed and you’ve got to make notes quickly or ask for an email follow-up to clarify points.

For making screenshots during a call, you can use the following commonly-used Mac shortcuts :

⌘ + Shift + 3 to grab the entire screen

⌘ + Shift + 4 to capture a selected area

⌘ + Shift + 4 + press Space to take a screenshot of a selected window.

To record your Skype calls with video and audio you could use Capto, or another third-party app, such as Dropshare that we mentioned earlier. Just make sure you get the permission of the person you want to record, to put you on the right side of the law and to be polite. If you are experiencing issues connecting to call, follow these tips to use Skype on a Mac desktop.

Screen record FaceTime and Handoff with audio

One of the most effective ways of recording a FaceTime call is using a QuickTime recorder. How to start recording your FaceTime calls:

1. Open QuickTime on your Mac
2. Click File in the Menu bar
3. Select New Screen Recording
4. Choose the Internal Microphone in the list of audio input options
5. Open FaceTime to make your call (or use Handoff to transition a call from an iPhone to your Mac)
6. Click the Record button and Screen to record the full screen, or click and drag the capture option to limit the recording to the call screen
7. Once the call is over, press Stop to end the recording
8. Then go to File > Save

How to record WhatsApp calls

Similar to FaceTime and Skype, you can make calls using WhatsApp on your Mac and record them using QuickTime, Capto or other third-party apps.

Either download WhatsApp Video Call or use the WhatsApp Web application to make a call. Once you are ready, pick the app you are going to use to record the call. For a quick unedited audio recording, QuickTime should suffice. If you want the ability to record in more detail, and make edits, then Capto or Dropshare are ideal for that purpose.

The default way of QuickTime recording doesn’t give you many options in terms of editing, captions, extra info, additional images, etc. Using Capto allows for a more complete experience if you need a bit more creative freedom with your call recordings.

Plus, both Capto and Dropshare are available as a part of Setapp subscription. If you have Setapp, you get their full functionality + 170 more handy Mac utilities in one suite. There’s a 7-day free trial, so give it a go. Anyways, we hope this guide has been of help, have a lovely day!

Meantime, prepare for all the awesome things you can do with Setapp.

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