Guides
Screenshots on macOS, explained properly
Eight guides to the things people actually get stuck on — where the files go, what Spotlight will and will not find, and how to get the text back out.
How these are written
- The free way comes first. If macOS or a Shortcut already solves your problem, the guide says so and shows you how.
- The answer is complete. Nothing is held back to make you download something — an article that withholds the answer gets flagged on the forums this product depends on, and deserves to be.
- Screenshot Inbox is mentioned once, at the end, where it is relevant. Several of these guides end by telling you that you do not need it.
Start here
The two questions almost everyone arrives with. Both have short answers, and both answers are more useful than they first look.
How to find text in a screenshot on MacLive Text and Preview get the text out of a screenshot you already have open. The harder problem is finding which screenshot it was.Does Spotlight search text inside images?No, not across your files — and the reason why explains most of what is frustrating about a large screenshot folder.
Fix it today
Things you can change this afternoon with what macOS already gives you. No app required, and each one says how far it will actually get you.
Where does macOS save screenshots?The default location, how to move it from the UI or the command line, and how to change the file format while you are there.Stop screenshots cluttering your DesktopSix approaches, from a thirty-second `defaults write` to something that still holds up in six months.Batch OCR from a folder of screenshotsBatch OCR with Shortcuts, with a script, or with an app. All three run on your Mac and none of them uploads anything.How to blur sensitive data in a screenshotWhy blur and pixelation are not redaction, what to use instead, and the things people reliably forget to cover.
When it stops being a one-off
For when the pile is years deep, or the screenshots contain things that must not leave the machine.
How to search thousands of old screenshotsMaking a backlog findable, starting with the free manual triage and ending with indexing every one of them.Screenshot tools that don't uploadHow to check for yourself where a screenshot app sends your images, rather than taking anyone's word for it — this site's included.
Also
If you already use the app
Documentation →Setting it up, the permission it needs, importing a backlog, and what to do when something goes wrong.Comparisons →How it sits against CleanShot X, Shottr, Caplio, Xnapper and the built-in macOS tools — including when to buy theirs.Verify it yourself →The claim several of these guides make about this app, written out in full with instructions for verifying it.