Taking screenshots of my screen automatically open Mail app

You can check the current settings for screenshots by opening a Terminal window and copying and pasting the following line:

defaults read com.apple.screencapture

Do you see any reference to Mail in there?

If you want to revert to the default setting, you can issue the following command in Terminal:

defaults delete com.apple.screencapture

Do you have some sort of application shortcut defined for that is the shift + command + 4 (go to System Preferences and then Keyboard and then Shortcuts tab. Then click on "App Shortcuts" and do you have something defined for the Shift+Command+4 perhaps)? Or perhaps you might be using some special 3rd-party app like TextExpander or something like that?

Good luck...

Mail doesn't work this way for me so would guess it's some sort of issue with your system.

Another thing to try is running mail from another account. If you don't have a second account you can create a new one in the Users & Groups System Preferences by clicking on the + at the bottom of the list of accounts right below the "Login Options". Also make sure the padlock icon is open at the bottom left of the window.

If that works OK, I would try moving your com.apple.mail.plist file in ~/Library/Preferences to your Desktop temporarily (after quitting Mail), and then start Mail back up and see if problem still is happening. You could also try this same test before creating the second account.

Good luck...

FWIW, I don't think the OP's problem is caused by Mail.

My understanding is that taking a screenshot automatically adds the file to a new mail message as an attachment.

This seems to be caused by the settings associated with screenshots; it is not as if Mail were "listening" to screenshot taking.

If it weren't a problem with Mail, how could screenshot app or macOS possible force Mail to attach it to a mail message? In other words look at the issue from the opposite point of view - how could you do this if you wanted to get Mail to attach a screen shot automatically to a mail message with some kind of animation like the OP describes? Set a screen capture option or do something in Mail or ????

Agree, that this is certainly strange, so am looking forward to finding out whatever the problem is. Hope the OP reply's soon about your defaults suggestions.

dot.com wrote:

If it weren't a problem with Mail, how could screenshot app or macOS possible force Mail to attach it to a mail message? In other words look at the issue from the opposite point of view - how could you do this if you wanted to get Mail to attach a screen shot automatically to a mail message with some kind of animation like the OP describes? Set a screen capture option or do something in Mail or ????

It could actually be done rather easily with a script.

Suppose you have your screenshots saved to some folder (for example, since I do hundreds of screenshots, mine go to a folder ~/Desktop/Screen Shots - otherwise my desktop would be a complete mess... well, more than it already is :-))

Now suppose you have a folder action attached to that folder. You could have one that, whenever a new file is added, attaches it to a mail message...

It should not be a problem. The fact that no settings exist just means that the OS defaults should apply (therefore screenshots would be saved as png files and stored in your Desktop).

Does command-shift-3 suffer from the same problem or only command-shift-4?

I suggest you run Etrecheck and post its report here. There may be some sofware that is running on your machine and interfering.

Vailfox wrote:

Yes, command+shift + 3 suffer from of same problem...

What is Etrecheck?

It is a utility by etresoft, a respected member of these communities, that produces a report describing the hardware and software you are running. This helps folks here every day. By looking at these reports, we can find software that has proven problematic (e.g. cleaners, antivirus), software that is too old, etc.

FWIW, that being the case there is little doubt it would work in a new user account.

whatever you did here…

I think it could be happened just after I've personalized touch bar with take screenshot buttons...

you need to undo.

I have the same problem. It's been months. I can't find an answer anywhere on the web. New MBP 15 with touchbar. The touchbar screenshot automatically opens in mac mail.
If I login as a guest or test user, it saves to the desktop.
I have reset all the permissions, changed the path for screenshots, check file permissions. I'm going crazy.
What exactly did you do to fix your problem?

Chris