Where do screenshots go on a Mac, and how to change it

Short answer: macOS saves screenshots to your Desktop by default, as PNG files named like Screenshot 2026-10-08 at 10.14.32 AM.png (no AM/PM if your Mac uses a 24-hour clock). Screen recordings land there too, as Screen Recording 2026-10-08 at 10.15.02 AM.mov. You can change the folder in ⌘⇧5 › Options › Save to.

The shortcuts, and where each one saves

• ⌘⇧3: the whole screen, saved as a file.
• ⌘⇧4: drag to pick an area. Press Space after it to capture one window.
• ⌘⇧5: the screenshot toolbar, with screen recording and the Options menu.
• Add Control to ⌘⇧3 or ⌘⇧4 (⌃⌘⇧3, ⌃⌘⇧4) to copy the screenshot to the clipboard instead of saving a file.

All of them save to the same place: whatever Save to says in the ⌘⇧5 Options menu.

Check where yours go

Press ⌘⇧5, open Options, and look at the checkmark under Save to. From Terminal:

defaults read com.apple.screencapture location

If that prints an error (“does not exist”), no custom folder is set, so screenshots go to the Desktop, unless Save to is set to Clipboard, Mail, Messages or Preview.

Save them somewhere else

In ⌘⇧5 › Options, pick Documents, Clipboard, or Other Location… to choose any folder. Or from Terminal:

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

To go back to the Desktop, pick Desktop in ⌘⇧5 › Options. From Terminal: defaults delete com.apple.screencapture location, then killall SystemUIServer.

Moving them keeps the Desktop clear, but the screenshots still pile up in the new folder. Nothing on a Mac clears them out for you.

Find every old screenshot

macOS marks screenshots in Spotlight, so you can list them all, wherever they ended up:

mdfind kMDItemIsScreenCapture:1

In Finder, sort the Desktop by Date Added, then click the column header again to put the oldest first.

Can’t find a screenshot you just took?

• Check ⌘⇧5 › Options › Save to: it may be set to the clipboard or another folder.
• If Show Floating Thumbnail is on, the file only appears once the thumbnail in the corner goes away (or right away if you swipe it off).
• If the Desktop is in iCloud Drive, a new screenshot can take a moment to show up on your other Macs.

Keep them from piling up

Attic is a small menu bar app that reads the same Save to setting, so it finds your screenshots wherever macOS puts them. Once a day it moves the ones older than 2 days into ~/Attic, sorted by month. If you’ve changed Save to, Attic leaves the screenshots already on your Desktop alone unless you turn on Put away other files on the Desktop in its Settings, which moves loose Desktop files after 2 weeks. It never deletes anything, and every file is one click from coming back.

More: How to automatically clean up your Mac Desktop · How to clean up the Downloads folder

Updated October 8, 2026