How to hide personal info in a screenshot on a Mac

The short answer

Copy the screenshot to your clipboard, open Blur screenshot and press Cmd+V. Emails, phone numbers, keys and other personal details are highlighted automatically. Accept them, cover anything else and download the cleaned image.

On a Mac, Cmd+Shift+4 lets you select an area to capture, and holding Control as well copies the screenshot to the clipboard instead of saving a file. That way the uncleaned version never lands on your desktop, and you can paste it straight into the editor.

Clean the screenshot step by step

1. Take the screenshot with Cmd+Control+Shift+4 to copy it, or drag an existing screenshot file into the page.
2. Open Blur screenshot in Safari, Chrome or Firefox and press Cmd+V.
3. Review the highlights: emails, phone numbers, URLs, IP addresses, card numbers and API keys or tokens are found for you. Turn on the optional on-device AI to also find names, places and organisations.
4. Drag boxes over anything that wasn't caught, such as profile pictures, avatars or a sidebar full of contact names.
5. Use Solid for numbers, keys and short text, then download.

Drawing a shape over a screenshot in an image viewer or markup tool can leave the original pixels recoverable if the file keeps editing layers. Exporting a fresh image, where the box is part of the pixels, avoids that.

Where personal info hides on a Mac screen

• The menu bar and Dock: notification banners, a Wi-Fi network name, other open apps.
• Browser chrome: tab titles, bookmarks, the address bar and signed-in account avatars.
• Mail and Messages sidebars: names and previews of other conversations.
• File paths: Finder windows and terminal prompts often include your username or a client's name.
• Notifications: one-time codes and message previews that arrived at the wrong moment.

The simplest fix is to capture less. Select just the window or area you need instead of the full screen, then cover what's left. What to hide in screenshots has a longer checklist.

Before you hit send

On export, the image is read again and anything still legible under a box is flagged. If you're sharing a screenshot for a bug report, How to share a bug report screenshot safely covers the extra things developers tend to leak.