How to change the default screenshot location on Mac

Learn how to change the default location where macOS saves your screenshots to any folder on your Mac instead of piling them up on the desktop.

Mac's desktop showing the screenshot utility toolbar and some screenshots stacked as a bundle on the desktop

To take a screenshot on a Mac, hold down Command + Shift + 3 to capture the entire screen or Command + Shift + 4 to capture a highlighted area. The only annoying part is that all screenshots are saved to the desktop by default. Not only does this clutter your desktop, but it also wastes your bandwidth and cloud storage if you’ve turned on automatic backup of the desktop to iCloud.

We’ll show you a couple of easy ways to change the default location where macOS saves screenshots if you don’t want them to pile up on your desktop.

1. Screenshot interface

Here’s how to set a custom save location in the built-in screenshot tool.

Press the Command + Shift + 5 keys to open the screenshot utility.
Click Options in the screenshot toolbar at the bottom.
Pick a suggested location under Save To. To set a custom save folder, click Other Location, then select the desired folder and click Choose.

To restore the default screenshot saving location, press Command + Shift + 5, click Options, and then choose Desktop below the Save To heading.

Use screenshot utility to change where screenshots are saved on Mac

2. Terminal

You can also change the default location to save location for screenshot in Terminal. It’s the only method if your Mac is running macOS High Sierra (2017) or older.

Using Terminal command to change screenshot save location on Mac

1) Open Terminal on your Mac and paste the following command to set the Downloads folder as the default screenshot save location, then press the Enter key (to use some other folder, replace “Downloads” with a custom folder path).

defaults write com.apple.screencapture location ~/Downloads

2) To apply the changes, paste this command in Terminal and press the Enter key:

killall SystemUIServer

To go back to saving screenshots on the desktop, run this Terminal command:

defaults write com.apple.screencapture location ~/Desktop

Don’t forget to apply the changes by running the killall command:

killall SystemUIServer

Manage screenshots like a pro

With just a few clicks, you can stop screenshots from piling up on the desktop. macOS also lets you set the file format in which screenshots are saved to the space-saving JPG format instead of the default PNG.

You can easily remove the shadow effect from your screenshots and hide the floating thumbnail preview that appears for a few seconds when taking a screenshot, so it’s not captured on subsequent screenshots.

Do you use the screenshot-taking capabilities built into macOS? If so, what are your favorite tips and hidden features regarding taking screenshots on the Mac?