Change the Screen Shot Save File Location in Mac OS X
By default, anytime you take a screen capture in Mac OS X it will save the screenshot file to the current users desktop. You can adjust where Mac OS X saves a captured screenshot to any other location, here is how to do this:
Launch Terminal and use the following syntax:
defaults write com.apple.screencapture location /path/
For example, if I want to have the screenshots appear in my Pictures folder, I would use:
defaults write com.apple.screencapture location ~/Pictures/
To have the changes take effect, you then must type:
killall SystemUIServer
So the next time you take a screenshot (or as Windows converts like to say, Print Screen on a Mac), the screenshot file will appear at the location you specified.
You can change the saved screenshot location back to the default setting by specifying the desktop again:
defaults write com.apple.screencapture location ~/Desktop/
Again, you’d need to kill SystemUIServer for changes to take effect.
I always wondered if there was a way to do this
I just tried it and it worked… But only after I logged out and back in again. Your mileage may vary.
This is really great. Cluttering up the Desktop with Screen Shots is really disruptive so changing the location is very helpful. Thank you so much for this tip.
[...] it, you have to do some programming… Here's a link, let me know if you have any questions. Change the Screenshot Save File Location in Mac OS X __________________ Baby, why'd you leave me, why'd you have to go I was counting on forever, [...]
[...] – a nasty habit I can’t seem to kick. I came across the majority of this solution through OS X Daily, although, I did make some minor adjustments to suit my [...]
Very convenient! I added a ‘Screenshots’ folder to the path so that it reads
defaults write com.apple.screencapture location ~/Pictures/Screenshots/
Easy! Thanks!
I’m doing it and it doesn’t work! For some reason the computer is TAKING the shots and NOT saving them on the desktop and I don’t know WHERE it’s saving them or how to find them… very annoying… then I did all this and it doesn’t work for some reason. I’d like to show you snapshots of what I’m doing, but for obvious reasons can’t, haha…
does not work on OSX lion. someone managed?
ok. copy pasting a comment i found in another forum. to make it work you need to follow this. instructions in the blog above are not enough…
“You have to change the username (in caps below) and then the following needs to be consistent with the directory you want to use for the screen shots. Your user name is the user name of your computer which can be found by opening finder, click on “Macintosh HD” in the top left, then users and your user name should be the top folder. If you havent named it and you have an air, for example, it will just say “air”
defaults write com.apple.screencapture location /Users/YOUR USER NAME GOES HERE/Desktop/printscreen/”
This method worked for me. Don’t forget to have the changes take effect, you then must type:
killall SystemUIServer
I have OSX Lion… and worked great for me. Have been wondering how to do this for a while now. Thanks!
I can take snapshots but they don’t appear on the desktop so I wanted to try to change the location so that I could find my snapshots in the future but I can’t find the program Terminal even though I know I had it. Also, my search tool or whatever doesn’t work either. I have the new Macbook with Snow Leopard (I think it is).
Thanks for the tip, worked great! It was so annoying having them scattered all over the desktop.
I have OSX lion, and it also worked great for me too! I’m stoked! Here’s my path with its own screen shots folder. I named the folder: Screen_Shots.
defaults write com.apple.screencapture location ~/Pictures/Screen_Shots/
THANK YOU!
[...] than changing file names, you can also change where screen shots save to and change file type to a format other than the PNG [...]
Just what I needed. Thanks!
If you’re temped to run sudo, don’t. Just run defaults write etc.
This is great btw. Thanks for the tip.
Fantastic, exactly what I was looking for!
Here’s what I did, including cleanup:
mkdir ~/Documents/screenshots
defaults write com.apple.screencapture location ~/Documents/screenshots
killall SystemUIServer
mv ~/Desktop/Screen\ shot* ~/Documents/screenshots/