Tidy and find

Where do screenshots go on a Mac, and how to change it

Updated 25 October 2026 · 4 min read

Mac screenshots save to the desktop by default. How to find them, change the folder from the Screenshot toolbar or Terminal, and where Orrel saves its captures.

Press ⇧⌘3 or ⇧⌘4 and a thumbnail slides into the corner of the screen. Where the file ends up depends on one setting, and once you know where it lives you can send screenshots anywhere you like.

The default: your desktop

Unless the setting has been changed, macOS saves screenshots and screen recordings to the desktop. The files are named with the date and time, such as Screenshot 2026-10-25 at 09.41.11.png; the time format follows your region settings. Screenshots are PNG files, except on macOS Tahoe 26 or later when you have chosen the HDR capture format, which saves HEIF images.

The file is written once the floating thumbnail disappears, a few seconds after the capture. If you click the thumbnail, it opens for markup first. If you drag the thumbnail into a message or a folder, the screenshot goes there instead.

Find a screenshot you have lost

• Check the save folder. Press ⇧⌘5, click Options and look at which Save to entry is ticked. That is where every screenshot has been going.
• Search for them. macOS marks screenshots in the Spotlight index, so this Terminal command lists every one it knows about, wherever it is:

mdfind "kMDItemIsScreenCapture == 1"

• Check iCloud. If Desktop & Documents Folders is switched on for iCloud Drive, your desktop is in iCloud Drive, and on another Mac the screenshot appears there once it has synced.

Change the folder from the Screenshot toolbar

1. Press ⇧⌘5.
2. Click Options.
3. Under Save to, choose Desktop, Documents, Clipboard, Mail, Messages or Preview, or choose Other Location and pick any folder, such as a new Screenshots folder in Pictures.

The choice applies to ⇧⌘3 and ⇧⌘4 too, and to screen recordings. The same Options menu turns the floating thumbnail off, if you would rather files were saved immediately.

Change it in Terminal

The toolbar writes a preference you can also set directly, which is handy in a setup script. Create the folder first, then point macOS at it:

mkdir -p ~/Pictures/Screenshots
defaults write com.apple.screencapture location ~/Pictures/Screenshots
killall SystemUIServer

To go back to the desktop, run defaults delete com.apple.screencapture location followed by killall SystemUIServer.

Skip the file and copy to the clipboard

Add ⌃ to any screenshot shortcut and the image goes to the clipboard instead of a file: ⌃⇧⌘3 for the whole screen, ⌃⇧⌘4 for an area. Paste it into a message or document with ⌘V. You can also Control-click the floating thumbnail and choose Save to Clipboard. If you mostly paste screenshots rather than keep them, choosing Clipboard under Save to stops them landing on the desktop at all.

How Orrel does it

Orrel's own captures, ⇧⌘2 for an area and ⌥⇧⌘2 for a window, save to a folder you choose under Settings › Capture › Save to. It starts as the desktop, the same as macOS. The same tab sets what happens after a capture: open it in the markup editor, copy it to the clipboard or save it straight to the folder, as PNG or JPEG. Captures are named by date and time in the same style as macOS and are marked as screenshots, so Finder and Spotlight treat them like any other. Screen recordings made with ⌥⇧⌘5 go to the same folder as MP4 files.

For screenshots already piling up, the Screenshots template in Tidy files them into a folder per month and renames each one after the words on screen, so Screenshot 2026-10-13 at 09.41.11.png becomes something like Screenshots/2026-10/2026-10-13 Design review notes.png. Every move is shown first and any run can be undone. See how to rename screenshots automatically for more on how the names are chosen.

Where Orrel stops

Orrel does not change the macOS screenshot setting; the system shortcuts keep saving wherever the Screenshot toolbar says. Tidy files screenshots on the desktop and in Downloads, after the waiting period you choose, not the moment they are taken, and it only tidies while Orrel is open. If your screenshots go to a folder elsewhere, add that folder in Orrel or point the save folder back at the desktop.