How To Set / Change Screenshots Directory in macOS

macOs by default save screenshots in the Desktop. For users who are into content writing, saving screenshots in the Desktop folder is not the ideal way. The more you add screenshots your Desktop view gets ugly with time. This short tutorial will show users how to change or update Screenshots directory on macOS.

First decide the directory where screenshots should be saved in your computer. In this guide I’ll change my macOS screenshots directory to ~/Pictures/mac/screenshots.

Let’s create this directory.

mkdir -p ~/Pictures/mac/screenshots

Once you’ve created the desired directory, run the commands below to update screenshots directory in your macOS.

defaults write com.apple.screencapture location -string  /path/to/screenshots/directory

In my case I’ll run the commands below.

defaults write com.apple.screencapture location -string ~/Pictures/mac/screenshots

Confirm your settings.

$ defaults read com.apple.screencapture
{
    "last-analytics-stamp" = "615817431.071682";
    location = "/Users/jkmutai/Pictures/mac/screenshots";
}

Optionally set finder to show file extensions which also affect images.

defaults write NSGlobalDomain AppleShowAllExtensions -bool true

We can test our settings by taking a new screenshot. The keyboard shortcuts for taking screenshots on macOS are:

Shift+Command+3	Take a screenshot. 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
Shift+Command+4	Capture a portion of the screen by manually selecting.
Shift+Command+4+ Space	Capture a window or menu. Click the window or menu to capture it.

Check to confirm the new screenshot is saved in the directory we just created.

$ tree ~/Pictures/mac/screenshots
/Users/jkmutai/Pictures/mac/screenshots
├── Screenshot\ 2020-07-09\ at\ 00.51.52.png
├── Screenshot\ 2020-07-09\ at\ 00.51.54.png
├── Screenshot\ 2020-07-09\ at\ 00.51.56.png
└── Screenshot\ 2020-07-09\ at\ 00.52.03.png

0 directories, 4 files

There you have it. You can update the directory by following the same steps.

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