# How to change where screenshots are saved on Mac

> Press ⌘⇧5, click Options, and pick a folder under Save to (or Other Location…). Every screenshot you take after that lands there.

To change where screenshots are saved on a Mac, press **⌘⇧5** to open the Screenshot toolbar, click **Options**, and choose a location under **Save to**: one of the presets, or **Other Location…** to pick any folder. The choice sticks, so screenshots you take afterwards with **⌘⇧3**, **⌘⇧4** or the toolbar go there until you change it again. Out of the box, macOS saves screenshots to the desktop as PNG files whose names start with "Screenshot" and the date and time.

## The built-in way

1. Press **⌘⇧5**. The Screenshot toolbar appears at the bottom of the screen.
2. Click **Options**.
3. Under **Save to**, pick a preset, or choose **Other Location…** and select (or create) a folder in the dialog.
4. Press **Escape** to close the toolbar without taking a shot.

A folder like `Pictures/Screenshots` is a good home: out of the desktop's way and easy to find.

One preset deserves a warning: if **Save to** is set to **Clipboard**, screenshots aren't saved as files at all. They sit on the clipboard waiting for a paste, and the next thing you copy replaces them. If your screenshots "stopped saving", check this first.

### From Terminal

The same setting lives in a preference you can set from Terminal, which is handy for setting up a new Mac or a script:

```sh
mkdir -p ~/Pictures/Screenshots
defaults write com.apple.screencapture location ~/Pictures/Screenshots
killall SystemUIServer
```

`defaults read com.apple.screencapture location` shows the current folder. To go back to the desktop, run `defaults delete com.apple.screencapture location` and the `killall` line again. On some macOS versions the change applies without the `killall` line; running it doesn't hurt.

### What the built-in way can't do

It's one folder for everything. Every screenshot lands in the same flat folder, as a flat image. There are no per-project folders, and once you've marked one up with Markup and saved it, the arrows and boxes are part of the pixels for good.

## With hypershot

hypershot keeps its own folder and doesn't touch the macOS setting, so changing one doesn't move the other. Every capture you take with hypershot, such as a region with `⌘⇧2`, is **saved automatically, with no save step**, as an editable `.hypercapture` file in **Pictures/hypershot**.

To change that folder:

1. Click the hypershot icon in the menu bar and choose **Settings**.
2. Open the **General** tab.
3. Under **Save directory**, click **Browse…** and pick the folder.

New captures are saved there from then on. The [preferences docs](/docs/hypershot/settings/preferences/) cover the rest of the General tab.

What lands in that folder is the thing a macOS screenshot isn't: the capture with its annotations still editable and its frame history still scrubbable. Double-click one months later and the arrows can still be moved and the redactions resized. Finder shows each one as a real thumbnail once the [Quick Look extension](/docs/hypershot/getting-started/quicklook/) is on, so a folder of captures looks like a folder of images.

*hypershot captures on disk, each previewed as itself in Finder.*

When you need a plain image file somewhere specific:

- **Export Image…** (**⌘E** in the editor) asks for a location, a name and a format: PNG, JPEG, and WebP, HEIC, TIFF or BMP where macOS can write them. See [Save to file](/docs/hypershot/exporting/save-to-file/).
- **Save As…** on a card in the preview folder writes a PNG, JPEG or WebP wherever you choose, without opening the editor. See [Capture history](/docs/hypershot/capturing/capture-history/).
- **Reveal in Finder** on a card takes you to the `.hypercapture` file itself.

And if you don't want files piling up for one-off shots, set **Settings → Captures → After capture** to **Only Copy**: each capture goes straight to your clipboard, with a small pill you can click to open it in the editor if you change your mind.

## Questions people ask

### Why aren't my screenshots on the desktop anymore?

Someone, possibly you months ago, changed **Save to** in the **⌘⇧5** options. Open them and look. If it says Clipboard, that's why there are no files. If none of the shortcuts do anything at all, that's a different problem: see [what to do when screenshots stop working on Mac](/blog/mac-screenshots-not-working/).

### Can I save screenshots straight to iCloud Drive or Dropbox?

Yes. Choose **Other Location…** and pick a folder inside iCloud Drive or your Dropbox folder. hypershot's **Save directory** can point at a synced folder the same way.

### I use hypershot. Where's the capture I just took?

In the preview folder in the corner of your screen (`⌘⇧L` shows it), and on disk in your save directory. [Where do my screenshots go?](/blog/where-do-my-screenshots-go/) walks through both.

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From https://hypernuclear.com/blog/change-screenshot-save-location-mac/