Screenshot: change file extension

Question

aburger Author

Level 1

32 points

Screenshot: change file extension

Hi dear community,

I've a problem doing screenshots:

MacOS always wants to safe my screenshots as .tiif, but I want them to be jpg-files.

To change this behaviour I tried different methods:

-Terminal:

defaults write com.apple.ScreenCapture type JPG; killAll SystemUIServer

-> doesn't work: still tiff-files

-Onyx:

changed fileextension and folder, where to save: both changes were not made

-TinkerTool:

same behaviour as Onyx: nothing changed

😠

Why does my Mac not want to save screenshots as jpg's?

And yes: I've restarted it! More than once 😉

Does anybody know, how I can change the extension to jpg?

Thanks a lot!

OS: 10.8.3

MacBook Pro (15-inch Mid 2010), OS X Mountain Lion

Posted on Apr 25, 2013 6:28 AM

Reply

Answer 1

R C-R

Level 6

17,794 points

Apr 25, 2013 6:56 AM in response to aburger

In Terminal, what does the following return?

defaults read com.apple.screencapture

Reply

Answer 2

aburger Author

Level 1

32 points

Apr 25, 2013 6:58 AM in response to R C-R

LionBug9745743 = LionBug9745743;

"disable-shadow" = 1;

name = Bildschirmfoto;

type = JPG;

Using the keyboard shortcuts brings up an jpg-file, using the MacOS App for screenshots brings up tiff's 😟

Reply

Answer 3

R C-R

Level 6

17,794 points

Apr 25, 2013 7:06 AM in response to aburger

I don't know what you mean by the "MacOS App for screenshots."

What is the name of this app?

Reply

Answer 4

macjack

Level 10

111,242 points

Apr 25, 2013 7:11 AM in response to R C-R

Grab?

Reply

Answer 5

aburger Author

Level 1

32 points

Apr 25, 2013 7:15 AM in response to R C-R

In german it's called Bildschirmfoto. I tried to avoid tje name, because I don't now the correct translation 😉

The icon contains a little scissors..

Edit:

Jep! Seems to be Grab: http://www.cni.us.com/newsroom/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/Grab.png

User uploaded file

Reply

Answer 6

Lanny

Level 6

13,225 points

Apr 25, 2013 7:18 AM in response to aburger

Yea, that's Grab in English.

Reply

Answer 7

R C-R

Level 6

17,794 points

Apr 25, 2013 7:24 AM in response to aburger

From Grab > Help (in English, sorry about that):

So it looks like you can't change the format from within Grab itself.

Reply

Answer 8

macjack

Level 10

111,242 points

Apr 25, 2013 7:26 AM in response to aburger

Why use Grab? It's old technology brought along from Next and fairly useless now, IMO.

Reply

Answer 9

Lanny

Level 6

13,225 points

Apr 25, 2013 7:29 AM in response to aburger

Or, don't use Grab. Use the Keyboard programmed screen captures:

Your Terminal, TinkerTool, or MacPilot changes would apply to these.

Reply

Answer 10

aburger Author

Level 1

32 points

Apr 25, 2013 7:30 AM in response to R C-R

Thanks!

Ok thats sad, as this document says I'm already using Preview to convert the image.

Why is it possible to change the extension, when using keyboard commands, but not with the Grab-tool...

Thanks to all of you, in the future I will be using the shortcuts 😉

I just didn't know the shortcuts before 😀 I thought Grab is the only option...

Reply

Answer 11

R C-R

Level 6

17,794 points

Apr 25, 2013 7:30 AM in response to macjack

macjack wrote:

Why use Grab?

Just a guess, but maybe for timed screen captures?

Reply

Answer 12

Lanny

Level 6

13,225 points

Apr 25, 2013 7:30 AM in response to aburger

Grab is an old app. The only thing it has is a timed release capture, otherwise it's a waste of time.

Reply

Answer 13

R C-R

Level 6

17,794 points

Apr 25, 2013 7:38 AM in response to aburger

aburger wrote:

Why is it possible to change the extension, when using keyboard commands, but not with the Grab-tool...

If by keyboard commands you mean the "defaults" command in Terminal, reading the "man" (manual) page for it may help explain what it is doing.

Basically, if an app is programmed to support a preference, even one that doesn't appear in the app's preference choices, you can add it to the app's preference file with "defaults write." But you have to know the correct key/value pair to write to it & the app must be programmed to support it for it to do anything.

Reply

Answer 14

KG2009

Level 1

0 points

Jan 7, 2014 3:18 AM in response to macjack

Not a very helpful comment unless you make a suggestion as to what to use instead.

Reply

Answer 15

Jun 2, 2015 5:25 AM in response to aburger

Entering this on Terminal

defaults delete com.apple.screencapture LionBug9745743

made it work again for me.

Reply