Change default screenshot settings

Question

Change default screenshot settings

Hi,

Currently when I take a screenshot by using Cmd-Shift-3 or Cmd-Shift-4, etc, it saves the screenshot as a PNG to the desktop. I would like to know if I could change the settings to have it save as a JPEG to my Downloads folder. And perhaps even the default naming.

Thanks for your time,
Alex

Macbook Pro (6,2), iPhone 3GS iOS4.0.2 16GB, Mac OS X (10.6.4), 2.66GHz Intel Core i7, 8GB 1067 MHz DDR3, 256GB Crucial SSD

Posted on Sep 19, 2010 3:34 PM

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Answer 1

Best reply

iVmichael

Level 6

13,740 points

Sep 19, 2010 4:06 PM in response to alexyoung1992

You can do this with a Terminal command but the changecapture utility is simpler 🙂

If you want to use Terminal run it and enter the command:
*defaults write com.apple.screencapture type jpg*
To change to jpg as default, substitute the last section of you want BMP TIFF PICT PDF etc.

Either way this will only change the format it won't set the name or save location for you.

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Answer 2

satcomer

Level 4

1,539 points

Sep 19, 2010 6:38 PM in response to alexyoung1992

Try the free TinkerTool. It has a setting to change this with a check mark and restarting the Finder.

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Answer 3

Zeniamin

Level 1

15 points

Oct 20, 2010 1:48 PM in response to iVmichael

Great !

Thank you !

And for those of us who would like to use the shortcut without he need to install any additional software...

Is there a command line for changing the location of the screenshots ?

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