Each operating system needs to have an easy method for users to take screenshots, which can then be used for a variety of purposes, such as for how-to guides, presentations, and so on. macOS has a bunch of shortcuts that allow you to quickly capture screenshots of the entire screen, a specified portion, or a specific window.
All screenshots are saved in a PNG format by default, but you can choose to change the default format of the screenshots depending on your needs. We’ll show you how to customize the file format, save destination, and more for your Mac screenshots below.
How to Take a Screenshot in macOS
If you’re not familiar with how to take a screenshot using the default keyboard shortcuts, we’ve listed them below for you:
- Press Cmd + Shift + 3 to take a screenshot of the entire screen.
- Press Cmd + Shift + 4 to take a screenshot or a portion of the screen.
- Press Cmd + Shift + 4, then hit Space to take a screenshot of the highlighted window or area.
- Hold Control while taking a screenshot with the shortcuts above to save it to the clipboard.
It’s a good idea to memorize these keyboard shortcuts, as they can be very helpful. Mac screenshots are formatted as PNG images and saved to the Desktop by default.
How to Change the Image Format for Mac Screenshots
PNG is a very useful format for screenshots that preserves the file quality (especially for text screenshots). A drawback of the format is that files tend to be larger than the other formats (like JPG), which may not be convenient for those who want to upload their screenshots to the web. Some people also prefer JPG files for the ease of opening them in more applications.
If you’re familiar with image-editing software, you can easily change the format of an image after taking it. However, this can be quite time consuming if you have a bunch of files. It makes more sense to change the original format in which the images are saved so that all your screenshots are taken in your preferred format.
We’ll be using Terminal to change the default file format for screenshots in macOS. You can open Terminal from Finder > Applications > Utilities or by searching for it with Spotlight.
In Terminal, enter the following line of code and press Enter to change the screenshot format.
defaults write com.apple.screencapture type JPG;killall SystemUIServer
This command will change the default screenshot format from PNG to JPG in macOS, and your menu bar will refresh itself. You’ll now notice that all new screenshots will now be saved in the JPG format instead of on your Desktop.
If you want to change the screenshot format to something other than JPG, you can do so using the same command above. Just replace JPG with your desired format (such as GIF). The supported image formats are JPG, PDF, GIF, TIF, BMP, PNG, and a couple of others that are less common.
How to Change the Destination for Mac Screenshots
Mac screenshots are automatically saved on the Desktop. This is usually great, unless making screenshots is a staple of your job, like mine. In this case, it’s much better for the screenshots to be saved in a folder within a pre-defined location, rather than cluttering the desktop.
To change the destination folder for a screenshot, press Cmd + Shift + 5 on your keyboard, which should open the Screenshot Tool. From here, click on Options, and choose the location you want to use to save your screenshots.
This will be the default location for all future screenshots you take on your Mac.
How to Remove Shadows From Window Screenshots
By pressing Cmd + Shift + 4 then hitting Space, you can automatically grab a screenshot of an entire app window and its shadow. It looks very pretty, but the image won’t save well in JPG because of the shadow’s transparency.
Without the shadow, the image is more clean-cut and it can be saved as a JPG. It also saves you a lot of time from cropping.
To get rid of the shadow and only capture the window, you can use the shortcut Cmd + Shift + 4. However, after pressing Space to take the screenshot of a window, hold the Option button when you click the screenshot. This will capture the window only without the shadow.
Alternatively, you can change the default setting for this option with the following Terminal command:
defaults write com.apple.screencapture disable-shadow -bool true; killall SystemUIServer
This will remove the shadows for all screenshots captured using this shortcut. To revert the modification and restore shadows, enter:
defaults write com.apple.screencapture disable-shadow -bool false; killall SystemUIServer
How to Change Mac Screenshot Filenames
macOS saves screenshots as "Screenshot [datestamp] at [timestamp]" by default. You can choose to change the file prefix and remove the date and time from the filename using two separate commands in Terminal. We’ve covered both of them below.
How to Change the File Prefix
To change the file prefix—the "Screenshot" part—enter the following line of code in Terminal, but replace prefix with your desired filename prefix:
defaults write com.apple.screencapture name prefix; killall SystemUIServer
This should change the filename for all future screenshots you take.
How to Remove the Date and Time
To remove the date and time that is appended to each screenshot you take, use the following command in Terminal:
defaults write com.apple.screencapture "include-date" 0; killall SystemUIServer
This will remove the date and time parameters from each screenshot you take. If you want to restore them somewhere down the line, run the same command but replace 0 with 1.
How to Save an Existing Screenshot as JPG on Mac
If you’ve taken a specific screenshot and just want to save it as a JPG instead of changing the default screenshot format, you can choose to edit the one image only. This is fairly easy and can be achieved using Preview. To do this:
- Open the screenshot you want to change the format for in Preview.
- From the top menu, select File > Export.
- Choose the file format and quality you want to save it as, such as JPEG (another name for JPG files). You can also choose to rename the file or change the file location if you want.
That’s it! The image should now be saved as a JPG (or any other desired format) for you to use.
Getting the Most From of Your Mac
The screenshot features on macOS offer a decent set of options. A few keyboard shortcuts allow you to take all types of screenshots, eliminating almost every need for a third-party screenshot tool. Using the commands described above, you can further enhance this system by tuning it according to your liking, by changing the file format, file location, and more.