How to Change Where Screenshots are Saved on a Mac. There are two ways to change the default screenshot save directory on a Mac, depending on your operating system. The easier way is through the Screenshot app in macOS Mojave. For mac OS High Sierra or earlier, you have to use Terminal, an app for entering command prompts to control your Mac. There are a few options for taking a screenshot on your Mac: Using keyboard shortcuts. ⌘ + Shift + 3 will automatically take a screenshot of your whole screen. ⌘ + Shift + 4 will let you select an area (can switch to the app-window screenshot by hitting Space). ⌘ + Shift + 5 will take an app-window screenshot. Skitch is How-To Geek’s go-to favorite screenshot app for macOS, and with good reason: it has pretty much everything we need. Skitch lets you take screenshots from a selected area (with or without a timer), of the full screen, of a window, or of specific menus.
How to take a screenshot on your Mac
- To take a screenshot, press and hold these three keys together: Shift, Command, and 3.
- If you see a thumbnail in the corner of your screen, click it to edit the screenshot. Or wait for the screenshot to save to your desktop.
How to capture a portion of the screen
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- Press and hold these three keys together: Shift, Command, and 4.
- Drag the crosshair to select the area of the screen to capture. To move the selection, press and hold Space bar while dragging. To cancel taking the screenshot, press the Esc (Escape) key.
- To take the screenshot, release your mouse or trackpad button.
- If you see a thumbnail in the corner of your screen, click it to edit the screenshot. Or wait for the screenshot to save to your desktop.
How to capture a window or menu
- Open the window or menu that you want to capture.
- Press and hold these keys together: Shift, Command, 4, and Space bar. The pointer changes to a camera icon . To cancel taking the screenshot, press the Esc (Escape) key.
- Click the window or menu to capture it. To exclude the window's shadow from the screenshot, press and hold the Option key while you click.
- If you see a thumbnail in the corner of your screen, click it to edit the screenshot. Or wait for the screenshot to save to your desktop.
Where to find screenshots
By default, screenshots save to your desktop with the name ”Screen Shot [date] at [time].png.”
In macOS Mojave or later, you can change the default location of saved screenshots from the Options menu in the Screenshot app. You can also drag the thumbnail to a folder or document.
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Reset Screenshot App Mac Desktop
- In macOS Mojave or later, you can also set a timer and choose where screenshots are saved with the Screenshot app. To open the app, press and hold these three keys together: Shift, Command, and 5. Learn more about the Screenshot app.
- Some apps, such as the Apple TV app, might not let you take screenshots of their windows.
- To copy a screenshot to the Clipboard, press and hold the Control key while you take the screenshot. You can then paste the screenshot somewhere else. Or use Universal Clipboard to paste it on another Apple device.