Whenever you take the screen shots on Mac it directly save those on desktop. This would be better if you specify a folder on Mac to automatically save the screen shots because in that way it’ll be easy to organize them. So, if you want to change the default storage location, which is the desktop on Mac for screen shots then follow these steps to do so.
See also: How to capture screen shots on Mac
Step 1
Click on Finder
Step 2
Navigate to Utilities folder and click on Terminal icon to launch it
Step 3
Type the following command in Terminal and press enter button to execute. You have to specify username and foldername in command according to your Mac settings and most importantly do not use space in folder name otherwise command will not provide the required results
defaults write com.apple.screencapture location /Users/username/desktop/foldername
where: mac09 = mac user name & twscreenshots = specified folder on desktop
Step 4
Now, type and execute another command in Terminal
killall SystemUIServer
Close the Terminal window, the default location to save the screen shots has been replaced by the new specified folder
I was just wondering that how to change the default location to save screenshots on mac, thanx for this
I want to say – thank you for this!
that’s right, when you take screen shots on mac they all store on desktop and create a mess. Nice tip to set a folder to save them all
nice tip, Is there any separate program available to capture screens in mac?
Whydo you need a separate program for screen capture only. I think built-in screen capture shortcuts are enough to capture screen shots of Dialogs, region, icons etc.
Thanks neMo
cool blog
I bookmarked this link. Thank you for good job!
Yes, built-in functinality is eniugh to take screen shots
Mac default screenshot taking feature works nice and especially your this informative writing adds value to that
Thanks
thanks for Mac article
great work all the time I have problems while taking screen shots on mac
you people are doing nice work
That’s a posting full of insight!
thanks a lot really helped me out to change the default location of screen shots to save in mac
I was really wondering about this mac screenshot problem thanks for this knowledgeable work
Nice mac work
nice Mac OS tips
this was really a problem for me that screen shots came directly to desktop where already i have a lot of stuff. After reading your article I fixed a folder for screen shots on mac.
Didn’t work. I did exactly what you told. Below is what I typed.
defaults write com.apple.screencapture location/Users/my mac/desktop/screen cap
I tried it 4 times and still doesn’t work. Did I type it wrong or what?
Thanks in advance 🙂
Don’t use space in folder name that you use to store screen shots. You are using “screen cap”, so remove space, you can use “_” or “-” instead of space in folder name.
Create a folder with name like “screen_cap” on your desktop then run the command from terminal.
Command Syntax:
defaults write com.apple.screencapture location /Users/username/desktop/twscreenshots
username = Your Mac Username
twscreenshots = Folder name that you want to use for screenshots
Feel free and reply if you still have any problem with command, Thanks.
Thanks man. It works like a charm!
It didn’t work for me either, there was a step missing. To create the folder on the desktop. Got it now. Thank you!
thanks for this mac tip it works perfect
Well written and its easy to set folder for screenshots, thanks
exactly what I was looking for!
works perfectly!
thnx.
Thank you for making this so easy!
For some reason I can’t get this to work for me. I followed the directions thoroughly, didn’t include any spaces in my folder name (defaults write com.apple.screencapture location /Users/CJ/Desktop/Screenshots) Also restarted my computer and everything keeps going to my desktop.
Nevermind. I was using a mouse shortcut to select screen captures, which is actually “Region capture”. When I used the default OS X screencap settings it worked fine.
Bless you!
Thanks!
Does this work in Lion? When I typed:
defaults write com.apple.screencapture location /Users/sally/desktop/screenshots
and followed the instructions nothing happens – the screenshot stays on the desktop. Any tips for fixing this?
Same for me. 🙁
Thanks, this works for me in my Mountain Lion OS.
Best!
I can not get it to work… and I’ve tried many times. What am I doing wrong?
Thank you, sir. It really did help a lot.
I have done this before, but for some unknown reason it rerouted to an old folder path I had set up. I had to look up how I did it which lead me here and now it will not work – defaults write com.apple.screencapture location /User/RichRusset/desktop/screencapture
good
Thanks for the awesome ‘eli5’! Worked flawlessly for me as of 3/13/19 running Mojave 10.14.3! Thanks again ???
tried this several times and didn’t work for me
It should work, please tell me which OS version you have installed on your Mac.