Updated: 04-Jan-2022
If you are moving from another operating system to Linux, sometimes the adjustment is just easier if you can use the same keyboard shortcuts that you have used in the past. These how-to instructions provide the step-by-step for Ubuntu MATE, but almost any Linux distribution will provide a similar way to accomplish creating custom keyboard shortcuts.
For most Linux distributions and for Windows, the Print key and the Alt + Print key combination are the designated methods of taking a screenshot, but you can use the Keyboard Shortcuts utility in Ubuntu MATE's Control Panel to assign the screenshot application to any key combination you want. The command to run the Screenshot application is
mate-screenshot --interactive
You can choose any available key or key combination you wish as a keyboard shortcut. Ubuntu MATE will warn you if you try to assign a combination that's already assigned to something else. If you are moving from macOS, to select and then capture a portion of the screen you used the somewhat awkward key combination Command + Shift + 4. We'll use that for this example. By the way, if you want to see a list of some of the common keyboard shortcuts used in Ubuntu MATE, see "Keyboard Shortcuts" topic in the online Ubuntu MATE Guide.
NOTE: With some keyboards, assigning the Shift key and a number key (like 4) together does not work. In that case you might want to choose a different key combination like Ctrl + Command + 4 instead.
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