Screen Captures: Change Save to Location
Do you have any idea how to redirect the pictures generated from the desktop image capture (Cmd-Shift-4) to a different folder? Having them all go to the desktop becomes a mess. I am sure I could use SnapzProX to get the pictures but haven’t looked there yet.
The native screen capture application on a Mac is called Grab (in Applications/Utilities), which you can access by simply choosing hot keys. It’s extremely simple and easy to use. When you use the hot keys, all images are captured on the desktop as PNG files. If you open Grab and use the menu options to capture an image, then images are saved on the desktop in TIFF format.
Here are the shortcuts you can use with Grab:
Cmd+Shift+3: Captures the entire screen, saves to the desktop
Cmd+Ctrl+Shift+3: Captures the entire screen, saves directly to the Clipboard
Cmd+Shift+4: Allows you to select the capture area, saves to the desktop
Cmd+Ctrl+Shift+4: Allows you to select the capture area, saves directly to the Clipboard
Cmd+Shift+4, then the Spacebar: Allows you to capture a specific window, saves to the desktop
Cmd+Ctrl+Shift+4, then the Spacebar: Allows you to capture a specific window, saves directly to the Clipboard
Since you can’t change the default save to location in Grab, take a look at these free, third party applications to help you get more out of your screen captures.
InstantShot gives you many, many options to customize your experience. It opens on your taskbar. You can choose the location where captured images are saved, set hot keys, lower or raise the image quality, restrict the size, decide on the file type, and more.
If all you want is to change the default file type of your images and you don’t care about the other options, shotChoice is a very simple choice.
Windows Vista has a built in application called Snipping Tool. It works much the same way as Grab in that it only saves to the desktop. Jing Project is a free application (both PC and Mac) that gives you more options. You can change where the images are saved, and even set up sharing options to sites like Flickr.
Note: for video screen captures, see this post.
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TinkerTool is a free application for the Mac that let’s you change the system settings for a bunch of things, including image capture type and destination. Screen shot settings are under the general tab.
http://www.bresink.de/osx/TinkerTool.html
I just had the same problem yesterday!
My solution was provided by ‘macosxhints.com’
http://tinyurl.com/2uzd66
You can also change the file type using the defaults command as well::
defaults write NSGlobalDomain AppleScreenShotFormat JPEG
You can change the screen capture location with:
defaults write com.apple.screencapture location /Full/Path/To/Folder
and the format with
defaults write com.apple.screencapture type xxx
where xxx=pdf, jpg, tif, png, etc
Both of these require that you log out and log back in.
Any utilities for XP other than Jing? I can’t seem to get Jing to capture the File, Edit, etc. menus.
To change the location where screenshots will be stored type the following command in terminal:
term> defaults write com.apple.screencapture location “${HOME}/Screenshots”
Make sure that location exists!
To change the format of the saved file:
term> defaults write com.apple.screencapture type “jpg”
To restart the system UI server (so screen capture will use your new settings) ether logout or:
term> killall SystemUIServer
To verify the settings:
term defaults read com.apple.screencapture
It should output something like this
{
location = “/Users//Screenshots”;
type = jpg;
}
Mason,
I do a number of screen captures on XP for my lesson plans and I use a free program called PrintScreen which works fine for my needs.
http://www.gadwin.com/download/
Just watched through all unwatched vids on Miro and stumbled upon this episode…
You could use the awesome tool Deeper to change this easily. http://screencast.com/t/ScdnBMpQ2
It can do a lot more as it actually is the non-admin part of Onyx.
You can find it here: http://www.titanium.free.fr/pgs2/english/deeper.html