One thing that can be helpful in OSX if you take a ton of screenshots like I do is to modify the default save location. While this is easy to do it does need to be done from a terminal window but likely it will save you lots of time. Use the information below to modify the default save location for screenshots in OSX.
Modify OSX Screenshot Default Save Location:
First create the folder you want to save screenshots in such as “screenshots” in your users Documents directory. This can be done by issuing the below command in a terminal window while changing the username, which in this case is alex, to the username used on your system.
Create New Directory:
- mkdir /Users/alex/Documents/screenshots
Now in the same terminal window issue the below command to set the default save location for screenshots which by default is the desktop for your user. OSX screenshot settings are all modified using com.apple.screencapture as shown below.
Modify Screenshot Default Save Location Via CLI:
- defaults write com.apple.screencapture location /Users/alex/Documents/screenshots/
Once you have entered the above command you will need to activate the new setting using the below command which restarts the UI Server on your computer.
Apply New Screenshot Setting:
- killall SystemUIServer
You may notice the icons in the top right corner of your desktop disappear and then reappear which is normal while the UI Server is restarting. Now test out the new setting by taking a screenshot using Shift-Command-3 or Shift-Command-4 and verifying the screenshot is no longer saved on the desktop but is instead saved in the folder specified above.
