can i adjust the dpi for screenshots?

Hello deborac333,  

Welcome to the Apple Support Communities.  We understand you'd like to change the resolution of the screenshots which are being captured on your Mac. 

While you cannot change the settings at which the screenshot is captured, you can resize a screenshot through Preview. This article will provide you with more details: Resize, rotate, or flip an image in Preview on Mac. 

You can always leave suggestions for features you'd like to see on the Feedback site here: Product Feedback - Apple.

All the best.

I understand your situation. I also understand how talking about dpi can be misleading in this context. Ultimately it is the pixel size that matters, as was already said; but the fact remains that the screenshots are large, due to our retina displays having those many pixels, and a high ppi (pixels per inch).

Here is how I'm dealing with this:

I have set my screenshots to open in Preview directly: did command-shift-5, clicked on Options, and checked Preview;

I also added a keyboard shortcut for the Tools->Adjust Size... command in Preview.

So at the moment, I press, say, Command-Shift-4, then my shortcut, and enter the new size (I actually just scale to 50%; changing the resolution does not change the file, or image, size!), and save.

Not too bad.

Perhaps it can be shortened yet, by creating a little automator service that scales and saves.

deborac333 wrote:

Tips on reducing the dpi for screenshots? It used to be 72dpi but they are capturing at 144 dpi which is overkill and creating big files

If you had one image— sure through the Preview>Tools>Adjust Size> change dpi

or you could create an Automator app work flow

here is one example:

How to Quickly Resize Images on Your Mac Using an ...

you can google around for more specifcs, or more current article how to do this. If you save it as an Application you can have sit on your Dock— therefore drag and drop images onto it, or folders of images onto it.

Maybe a different default file type..

https://www.lifewire.com/change-location-and-file-format-for-mac-screenshots-2260844

Resolution has nothing to do with file size. Not even a little. Pixel count determines file size.

For example, if you clip a screen shot at 500 px wide by 100 px tall, you'll have an image comprised of 50,000 total pixels no matter what the resolution is set to. The resolution could be 10, it could be 800, and the file will still be the same size.

deborac333 wrote:

Thanks, this is helpful to a degree. I did add a script to automatically set the ppi, but what I really want to do is capture a screenshot at only 72dpi, rather than the default of 144, which is creating large files that i then have to manually adjust.

See if there is anything here...

https://talk.automators.fm/t/change-image-resolution-dpi-with-applescript-or-automator/6693

you can't adjust the DPI without resaving the image—keep googling around until you find something helpful or

get a bigger hard drive if storage is an issue and forget about it.

144 dpi which is overkill

overkill for what exactly? Typically print medium you want higher dpi not less.

DPI, or dots per inch, is a measure of the resolution of a printed document or digital scan. The higher the dot density, the higher the resolution of the print or scan. ... You can get more detail and greater resolution from an image with higher DPI.

I don't know if there's a way to do that, but resolution is meaningless until you send the image to an output device. Resolution tells the (typically your printer) how many pixels to use in a linear inch, height & width. 72 dpi will produce very blocky, pixelated prints. 144 dpi less so, but you'll still see it pretty easily. In the printing industry, the standard is 300 dpi.