How to remove superimposed screenshots on Safari?

From a terminal I found that killing the stuck "/usr/sbin/screencapture" process got rid of the screen selection on my desktop.

ps -ef | grep -i screen

.... found

  501 78359   484   0  1:08PM ??         0:49.89 /usr/sbin/screencapture -zsuis_msg-com.apple.screenshot.launcher -uUpi

then kill the process causing the problem....

kill 78359

The shorter way to do all of this is...

killall screencapture

PS - the problem is REPRODUCABLE when I use spotlight to search for "screenshot" and then hit enter to activate screenshot vs. using the command key shortcuts which close out correctly when doing a screenshot.

Open Terminal: You can open Terminal by searching for it in Spotlight (press Command + Space and then type "Terminal"), or you can find it in the Utilities folder within your Applications folder.

Identify the Process: Before killing any process, it's good practice to make sure you're targeting the right one. The command you've mentioned, ps -ef | grep -i screen, is used to list all processes currently running and filter them to only show those related to screen capturing. This command will help you confirm that the /usr/sbin/screencapture process is indeed the one causing the issue.

Kill the Process: Once you've identified the problematic process (as you did with the screencapture process ID 78359), you can terminate it using the kill command followed by the process ID, like kill 78359. This should resolve the issue and remove the stuck screenshot selection or preview from your screen.

Killall Command: The killall screencapture command is a quicker way to terminate all instances of the screencapture process without needing to identify the specific process ID. This is a useful shortcut if you're certain that no other important screencapture processes are running.

Reproducibility and Reporting: Since you've mentioned that the problem is reproducible when using Spotlight to search for and activate the screenshot function, this could indicate a bug in the software. It would be beneficial to report this issue to Apple through their feedback or support channels, providing them with details about your system configuration, the macOS version you're using (assuming it's the latest, as per your initial message), and the steps to reproduce the issue. Apple regularly updates its software to fix bugs and improve performance, so reporting this issue could help get it resolved in a future update.

To address the stuck screenshot, you would target the screencaptureui process. Here's how you can proceed:

1. Kill the screencaptureui Process: Based on your output (which will most likely be different from mine), the process ID (PID) for screencaptureui is 3089. You can terminate this process by running the following command in Terminal:

bash

Copy code
kill 3089

1. Verify the Process Has Been Terminated: After running the kill command, you can rerun the ps -ef | grep -i screen command to ensure the screencaptureui process is no longer running. If it still appears, you might have to use the kill -9 command followed by the PID for a forceful termination:

bash

Copy code
kill -9 3089

1. Using killall as an Alternative: If you prefer the simpler method and are sure no other critical screen capturing tasks are running, you can use the killall screencaptureui command. However, given the specific process causing the issue has been identified, targeting it directly is more precise.

Hello helenfromstourbridge,

Thank you for posting to the Apple Support Communities. 

Screenshot images are usually opened in the Preview or Photos application. Try to quit the application that you are viewing the screenshot with to close the window. If the application is not responding, you can also attempt to Force Quit. The following Apple Support articles explain more: 

• Quit apps on Mac
• If an app freezes or quits unexpectedly on Mac

Cheers! 

Great the kill command solved the issue for me. It only shows up using Command-shift-5 , and not when I use Command-shift-4. So I have switchet to that until Apple solves the issue.

This is a little too technical for me. Where and how do I do this?