How to Save Pictures to Your MacBook

Written by Jack Lloyd

Last Updated: October 25, 2022 Tested

This wikiHow teaches you how to save a picture from a message, document, or the Internet to your MacBook computer. In most cases, this is as simple as control-clicking the image and then selecting a Save option.

Things You Should Know

Press Control and click the image you want to save. Click Save Image to "Downloads". Your image will be saved to your download folder.
Click and drag the image onto your desktop.
Not all websites will allow you to save or download images. Instagram, for example, does not allow you to save images from the app.

Method 1

Method 1 of 2:

Using the Context Menu

1
Go to a photo that you want to save. Open the message, document, or web page that contains the photo you'd like to save on your MacBook.
- Not all web pages permit images to be saved or downloaded. For example, you can't download pictures from the Instagram website.
2
Open the image if necessary. If the image is in a preview format (e.g., a result on Google), you'll first need to click the image to open it in full-size view.
- Some images, such as occasional images inserted into articles, serve as links to other pages. If clicking an image opens an unrelated page, click your browser's "Back" button to return to the original image.
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3
Place your Mac's mouse pointer on the image. Your mouse pointer should be sitting on top of the image that you want to save.
4
Open the context menu. Hold down the Control key, click the image, and then release the Control key. A pop-up menu should appear on or near the image.
- You have to hold down Control for the entire duration of the click, or the menu won't appear.
- On some MacBooks, you can click and hold the picture to prompt the pop-up window to appear.
- You can also try "right-clicking" the picture by pressing your Mac's trackpad button with two fingers, or by pressing the right side of the trackpad button on some MacBooks.
5
Click Save Image to "Downloads". It's in the context menu. This will prompt the photo to download immediately into your Mac's "Downloads" folder, which is usually a folder literally named "Downloads".
- If you're using a browser other than Safari, you can click Save Image As instead. This option will allow you to select a name and a specific download location for the file before you download it.
- You can open the "Downloads" folder by opening Finder (the blue, face-shaped app icon) and then clicking Downloads on the left side of the window.
- If you set your Mac's default "Downloads" folder to a different folder (e.g., the "Desktop" folder), you'll find the image there instead.

Method 2

Method 2 of 2:

Using Drag-and-Drop

1
Go to a photo that you want to save. Open the message, document, or web page that contains the photo you'd like to save on your MacBook.
- Not all web pages permit images to be saved or downloaded. For example, you can't download pictures from the Instagram website.
2
Open the image if necessary. If the image is in a preview format (e.g., a result on Google), you'll first need to click the image to open it in full-size view.
- Some images, such as occasional images inserted into articles, serve as links to other pages. If clicking an image opens an unrelated page, click your browser's "Back" button to return to the original image.
3
Resize your browser window. Click the yellow circle in the upper-left corner of the window that contains the image. This makes the window smaller so that your Mac's desktop is visible.
4
Click and drag the photo onto your desktop. Click and hold the image with your mouse pointer, then drag the image off of the edge of your browser window until it's suspended over the desktop.
- You should see a transparent version of the image appear when you drag it away.
5
Release the click. When you see a white + in a green circle appear over the thumbnail of the picture, release the click you were holding. This will place the image file on your desktop.

Community Q&A

Question

Where is the desktop on my MacBook?

Community Answer

When you first boot up, click anywhere on screen. This main page is your desktop.
Question

How do I copy a photo in Facebook to my Mac Air?

Peter Betts

Community Answer

Find the photo on Facebook, hold Ctrl and click, then click "save image as". Then decide where to save it.
Question

What if I don't have "view image?"

Praveen Sharma

Community Answer

Open the back panel of your laptop and remove the RAM. Then, clean everything with dry cotton and then return the RAM to its slot and power on .

Warnings

Never use other people's photos in your own content without their explicit, written permission.

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Some photos cannot be downloaded from their webpages or sources.

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