How to change default file type for Grab?

The command is missing an argument after type, and if you replace type with the format it results in

Rep argument is not a dictionary
Defaults have not been changed.

You must add the format type after the type key:

defaults write com.apple.screencapture type <format> && killall SystemUIServer

where <format> could be any of gif, jpg, tiff, pdf, psd, or png, e.g.:

defaults write com.apple.screencapture type png && killall SystemUIServer

Grab is an app in your Utilities forlder. The format is .tiff

If you access the Grab through Preview>File>Take a Screen Shot you have the option to change/save what ever file type you want.

If you take a screencapture through the short cut keys ex shift-command-4 this is different application and the file type can be changed through terminal with the following:

defaults write com.apple.screencapture type && killall SystemUIServer

In this command, "TYPE" is one of the following: gif, jpg, tiff, pdf, psd, or png.

Message was edited by: leroydouglas

How do I use Terminal to change default file type for Grab?

As far as I know, you can't change this for Grab.

Thanks for the screen capture code, but I don't use it as I want to be selective about the area of the capture.

The "traditional" screen capture allows this-

shift-command-3: entire screen

shift-command-4 : selected area (drag a rectangle and release the mouse)

shift-command-4, then <spacebar>: a window (move the "camera" over the window and click

Preview>File>Take a Screen Shot

This will access Grab- you can save as any file type:

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If you like the functionality of Grab, but want to make it a JPEG for example, add this fairly quick extra step. First, use Grab to get exactly what you want, and SAVE it. Then, the extra step is to open it up, which it does in Preview, and select a Save As, where you can save it as a JPEG or whatever you want.

If APPLE is listening ... PLEASE --> simply add the file format choice to Grab's Saving option, or make it a Prefenece choice <-- PLEASE. Thanks!!

YES APPLE please give us a way to change the default output of grab

thank you

Still the case in Mavericks... So APPLE please add this!

Please apple! It is really anoying to use grab with tiff save format. Most of my colleagues use Windows, and tiff is not as simple to open there. We have to uderstand them... 😉

Here's an excellent YouTube video on how to change the screen grab default from PNG to JPEG (or anything else). Worked great for me!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6SD7rAfBJPk

Awesome...ToddQMason's link worked perfectly for me!!! Changed to JPEG, and now the screen captures are 1/3 the file size as well.

To make them jpg, type this into you terminal:

defaults write com.apple.screencapture type jpeg

Replace jpeg with file name of choice to get desired result 🙂. Also you'll have to restart your system for it to have an effect.

Thank you, @leroydouglas! I had been annoyed by this for years—having to save as tiff, close, open, reserve as jpeg. Now I just use the key commands.

Thanks for this! Very helpful!