Guides

Where does macOS save screenshots?

Updated 1 September 2026

The default

macOS saves screenshots to your Desktop, as PNG files named like:

Screenshot 2026-08-31 at 4.32.11 PM.png

To check where yours are actually going:

defaults read com.apple.screencapture location

If that prints does not exist, you’re on the default — the Desktop. macOS only writes that key once you’ve changed it.

Change it from the interface

1. Press ⌘⇧5
2. Click Options
3. Pick a location under “Save to” — or Other Location… for any folder

Also on that menu: Clipboard (capture without creating a file at all), Mail, Messages and Preview.

Change it from the command line

mkdir -p ~/Pictures/Screenshots
defaults write com.apple.screencapture location ~/Pictures/Screenshots
killall SystemUIServer

The killall reloads the setting; without it the change won’t take effect until you log out.

To go back to the default, delete the key rather than setting it to Desktop:

defaults delete com.apple.screencapture location
killall SystemUIServer

Change the file format

PNG by default. To use JPEG:

defaults write com.apple.screencapture type jpg
killall SystemUIServer

Accepted values: png, jpg, pdf, tiff, heic.

A warning if you use any screenshot-management app: many only handle image formats. Setting this to pdf is a common reason screenshots stop being picked up. Stay on png unless you have a specific reason not to.

Change the filename prefix

To replace “Screenshot” with something shorter:

defaults write com.apple.screencapture name "Shot"
killall SystemUIServer

The date and time are still appended and can’t be removed. Reset with defaults delete com.apple.screencapture name.

Turn off the drop shadow on window captures

⌘⇧4 then Space captures a window with a large transparent shadow around it. To lose it:

defaults write com.apple.screencapture disable-shadow -bool true
killall SystemUIServer

Or hold Option while clicking the window — same result, one time only.

Turn off the floating thumbnail

⌘⇧5 → Options → uncheck Show Floating Thumbnail.

Worth doing beyond the annoyance: while the thumbnail is on screen, the file hasn’t been written to disk yet. Anything watching that folder — including backup, sync and screenshot-management tools — sees the file several seconds later than you’d expect.

The shortcuts

Hold Control with any of them to copy to the clipboard instead of saving a file.

If you’re changing the location to tidy the Desktop

Worth knowing that it usually only relocates the problem — the folder fills up the same way, you just stop noticing. See how to stop screenshots cluttering your Desktop for approaches that hold up over months rather than weeks.