Screen captures and numeric keypads

Most Mac users know that, to take a screenshot of the Mac's display, you type Command-Shift-3. However, a reader reports that, at least in some Mac model and OS configurations, this only works with the 3 on the main part of the keyboard. If you use the 3 from the numeric pad instead, it will not work. [The same would hold true for the Command-Shift-4 selection capture.]

We confirmed the lack of response from the keypad 3 on our iMac running OS 9. However, the keypad 3 did work in OS X.

In another OS X variation, we ran Snapz Pro X and configured it to use Command-Shift 3. With this setup, we found that Command-Shift-3 from the main keyboard indeed launched Snapz Pro, but Command-Shift-3 from the numeric pad still triggered the standard Apple screen capture. This nicely allowed us to have our cake and eat it too.