---
name: "mate-screenshot"
section: "1"
platform: "linux"
package: "mate-utils"
version: "1.28.3-2"
release: "Arch Linux 2026-11-01"
platforms: ["linux"]
url: "https://new.carta.tech/mate-screenshot"
---

# mate-screenshot(1)

capture the screen, a window, or an user-defined area and save the snapshot image to a file.

## NAME

mate-screenshot - capture the screen, a window, or an user-defined area and save the snapshot image to a file.

## SYNOPSIS

**mate-screenshot** \[ **-w** \]  \[ **-a** \]  \[ **-b** \]  \[ **-B** \]  \[ **-d** *SECONDS*  \]  \[ **-e** *EFFECT*  \]  \[ **-i** \]  \[ **--display** *DISPLAY*  \]

## DESCRIPTION

**mate-screenshot** is a MATE utility for taking screenshots of the entire screen, a window or an user-defined area of the screen, with optional beutifying border effects.

## OPTIONS

- **-w, --window**

  Grab the current active window instead of the entire screen.

- **-a, --area**

  Grab an area of the screen instead of the entire screen.

- **-b, --include-border**

  Include the window border within the screenshot.

- **-B, --remove-border**

  Remove the window border from the screenshot.

- **-d, --delay=***SECONDS***,**

  Take the screenshot after the specified delay \[in seconds\].

- **-e, --effect=***EFFECT***,**

  Add an effect to the outside of the screenshot border. *EFFECT* can be \`\`shadow''  (adding drop shadow), \`\`border'' (adding rectangular space around the screenshot) or \`\`none'' (no effect). Default is \`\`none''.

- **-i, --interactive**

  Interactively set options in a dialog.

- **--display=***DISPLAY*

  X display to use.

- **-?, -h, --help**

  Show a summary of the available options.

In addition, the usual GTK+ and MATE command line options apply. See the output of --help for details.

## SEE ALSO

mate-options(7), [gtk-options(7)](/gtk-options/7.md)

## AUTHOR

This manual page was written by Christian Marillat \<marillat@debian.org\> for the Debian GNU/Linux system (but may be used by others).

Updated by Theppitak Karoonboonyanan \<thep@linux.thai.net\>, Tom Feiner \<feiner.tom@gmail.com\> and Cosimo Cecchi \<cosimoc@gnome.org\>