Full screen shots not saving anywhere

[mavidaru]

I sometimes accidentally hit Control+Shift+Command+3, taking a fullscreen screenshot, and I hear the camera click sound, but the "Screen Shot" file doesn't seem to save anywhere. I'm concerned about what's accidentally being saved to my computer somewhere. I'm on Monterey for the time being.

I looked in Desktop, Pictures, every typical user folder in my user home folder, including Video which is where I had the Screenshot app settings set to last (due to using Quicktime screen recorder).

It seems the Mac is behaving as if the screen shot is being taken but sending it to limbo.

 

[chown33]

Which macOS version are you using?

"In macOS Mojave or later, you can change the default location of saved screenshots from the Options menu in the Screenshot app."

Take a screenshot on Mac - Apple Support

You can capture the entire screen, a window, or just a portion of the screen.

support.apple.com

 

[IngoX]

The actual command to save a full screenshot to your default location is Command+Shift+3. Adding Control while you press and hold the other keys copies a screenshot to the clipboard. You can then paste it where you wish.

See last part on this page:

Take a screenshot on Mac - Apple Support

You can capture the entire screen, a window, or just a portion of the screen.

support.apple.com

 

[chown33]

The actual command to save a full screenshot to your default location is Command+Shift+3. Adding Control while you press and hold the other keys copies a screenshot to the clipboard. You can then paste it where you wish.

See last part on this page:

Take a screenshot on Mac - Apple Support

You can capture the entire screen, a window, or just a portion of the screen.

support.apple.com

I missed the Control key part. And the "I'm on Monterey" part.

 

[bogdanw]

I sometimes accidentally hit Control+Shift+Command+3

You can disable Control+Shift+Command+3 in System Preferences – Keyboard – Shortcuts – Screenshoots

 

[FreakinEurekan]

Adding Control is my favorite feature of screenshots - then I can just paste it into email/chat/Slack/document/whatever, and not have to worry about the file floating around taking up space.

 

[mavidaru]

"In macOS Mojave or later, you can change the default location of saved screenshots from the Options menu in the Screenshot app."

Take a screenshot on Mac - Apple Support

You can capture the entire screen, a window, or just a portion of the screen.

support.apple.com

As mentioned in the original post, Video was already selected, but screenshots aren't saving there or anywhere else I'm seeing for Control+Shift+Command+3.

The actual command to save a full screenshot to your default location is Command+Shift+3. Adding Control while you press and hold the other keys copies a screenshot to the clipboard. You can then paste it where you wish.

See last part on this page:

Take a screenshot on Mac - Apple Support

You can capture the entire screen, a window, or just a portion of the screen.

support.apple.com

I tried Command+Shift+3, and it made the same camera click sound (as Control+Shift+Command+3), but showed a screenshot thumbnail box at the bottom right. That's nice and all, but the issue mentioned is that I accidentally hit Control+Shift+Command+3, which makes the camera click sound, and which used to save to the Desktop, but now is apparently saving somewhere else... and I'm worried another user of the computer or a manager or whatever may see something they're not supposed to somewhere (especially if I'm sharing my screen), and I'd like to delete these accidental screenshots.

You can disable Control+Shift+Command+3 in System Preferences – Keyboard – Shortcuts – Screenshoots
View attachment 2152268

Ah I see, I missed that Control+Shift+Command+3 merely saved to the clipboard 😆 OK so it's Shift+Command+3 that saves as a file. So the picture I just did of my screen testing that out did save to my Video folder.

Now that opens up a new issue, because I want screenshots to be saved to my Pictures/Screenshots folder, but Quicktime video recordings to be saved to my Video or Quicktime folder... these features seem to be so integrated that I can't have those separate settings.

Oh well, I disabled "Save picture of screen as a file [Shift+Command+3]" so I won't be accidentally saving screenshots of the full screen at all, which I think I'll never need anyway, as I can already do that with the Control+Shift+Command+4 tool and a Spacebar tap, which is convenient enough for me overall, as I most-often just want to screenshot a window or sub-window.

Adding Control is my favorite feature of screenshots - then I can just paste it into email/chat/Slack/document/whatever, and not have to worry about the file floating around taking up space.

I agree. This is what I use most.

 

[bogdanw]

Now that opens up a new issue, because I want screenshots to be saved to my Pictures/Screenshots folder, but Quicktime video recordings to be saved to my Video or Quicktime folder... these features seem to be so integrated that I can't have those separate settings.

The location is managed by the Screenshot.app and is the same for images and video.
If it helps, it can be quickly changed like this

defaults write com.apple.screencapture location ~/Pictures/Screenshots

defaults write com.apple.screencapture location ~/Movies/Quicktime

You could save them in executable .command files or in a simple Apple Script app

set question to display dialog "Save capture in " buttons {"Pictures", "Movies", "Cancel"}
set answer to button returned of question
if answer is equal to "Pictures" then
    do shell script "defaults write com.apple.screencapture location ~/Pictures/Screenshots"
end if
if answer is equal to "Movies" then
    do shell script "defaults write com.apple.screencapture location ~/Movies/Quicktime"
end if

 

[mavidaru]

The location is managed by the Screenshot.app and is the same for images and video.

I suppose I'm confused on the whole thing then.

When I go to record a screen video, I discover that it's done through Quicktime (at least that's what I have to open to change settings for the recording), but it uses the same options interface as screenshot... so Quicktime routes screen video recording to the screenshot app...?

I wonder why Apple integrated these things.

It seems it would be better if they were separate, at least so I could set different save locations for video and image.

 

[bogdanw]

so Quicktime routes screen video recording to the screenshot app...?

Yes, the Screenshot app has buttons to select between taking an image or a video

 

[mavidaru]

the Screenshot app has buttons to select between taking an image or a video

I know that. That's part of the basis of my statements that some things here are overly-integrated to a restrictive degree.

 

[bogdanw]

Apple has constantly removed features from QuickTime Player, it will probably be replaced at some point with a “modern” app.
The screencapture utility in Terminal has a lot of options and can be integrated into scripts, actions, shortcuts, apps.
Some examples https://osxdaily.com/2011/08/11/take-screen-shots-terminal-mac-os-x/