Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

hajime

macrumors G3
Original poster
Jul 23, 2007
8,092
1,368
Hi, I just updated to Big Sur. After I took a screenshot using command+shift+4, it shows up at the bottom right of the screen. When I clicked on it, some kind of editor is opened. It seems to allow me to annotate. From there, how do I save the screenshot on the desktop or specify a folder to save into? It is not saved there automatically and there is no such option under the editor.
 
If you have no edits just click “Done” in the upper left next to the trash can. The next time you open the screen shot it will open in Preview at which point you can use the File -> Save command in the Preview menu bar at the top of the screen. Or you could just drag and drop it to a desired location.
 
If you have no edits just click “Done” in the upper left next to the trash can. The next time you open the screen shot it will open in Preview at which point you can use the File -> Save command in the Preview menu bar at the top of the screen. Or you could just drag and drop it to a desired location.
Thanks. I just tried it. After clicking "Done", an icon of the photo showed up on the screen for a second and then disappeared. As it disappeared, I cannot open it in Preview. Do you know what happened?
 
This excerpt from a larger article: (Link to complete article below)

Where to find screenshots​

By default, screenshots save to your desktop with the name ”Screen Shot [date] at [time].png.”
In macOS Mojave or later, you can change the default location of saved screenshots from the Options menu in the Screenshot app. You can also drag the thumbnail to a folder or document.

 
  • Like
Reactions: hajime
Thanks. I updated to 11.2.2. Even I went to option to reselect Desktop, still either the file disappeared after showing up for about a second or never appeared on the desktop.
 
Try this:
1. Make a new folder.
2. Set it as the destination for screenshots.
3. Make a few screenshots.

If this works, then make sure your Desktop settings are set to show all files. Since the earliest days of Mac OS X, you can choose what appears on the Desktop, and those settings only apply to the Desktop, not to any other folders.

If the new folder still doesn't show any screenshots, then post that in a reply, stating where the new folder was made.


Is iCloud or iCloud Drive storing your Desktop and Documents? If so, try turning that off.

Or just log out of your iCloud account temporarily, then make a few screenshots.
 
  • Like
Reactions: hajime
Try this:
1. Make a new folder.
2. Set it as the destination for screenshots.
3. Make a few screenshots.

If this works, then make sure your Desktop settings are set to show all files. Since the earliest days of Mac OS X, you can choose what appears on the Desktop, and those settings only apply to the Desktop, not to any other folders.

If the new folder still doesn't show any screenshots, then post that in a reply, stating where the new folder was made.


Is iCloud or iCloud Drive storing your Desktop and Documents? If so, try turning that off.

Or just log out of your iCloud account temporarily, then make a few screenshots.

Your method works! Thank you.

How to set all Desktop settings to show all files? I tried Shift+Command+. on the Desktop folder but those photo files did not show up. As far as I am aware, I am not connected to iCloud from my Mac.
 
Well, at least the problem seems to be narrowed down to "What shows on the Desktop" or maybe "What can be saved to the Desktop", instead of "Screenshots aren't being saved".

I can't suggest anything directly relevant to controlling what shows on the Desktop, because I have nothing running Big Sur here.

The settings for what shows on the Desktop used to be under this Finder menu:
Finder > Preferences...
which brings up a window with choosable panes.


If you can't figure out how to change what shows on the Desktop, I suggest making a folder on the Desktop called "Screenshots", then setting that as the destination for screenshots. Screenshots will then be one double-click away.

If you can't make a new folder on your Desktop, then post again. I can give instructions on how to look at the permissions in Terminal.
 
Here's something else to try: Use a simple app like TextEdit to save a new non-empty file to the Desktop. The file can contain something simple, like your name.

Does the file appear on the Finder's desktop?

Does it appear in the Desktop folder's window, when you double-click the Desktop icon in your Home folder?

Close the file and quit TextEdit. Then rename the file you saved. Double-click it to open it again in TextEdit. Does it open? Is it shown as the new name?
 
  • Like
Reactions: hajime
The only problem I have seems to be the one mentioned at the top of the thread. I would settle with saving all screenshots in my newly created folder on the desktop. Thank you.
 
Thanks. I updated to 11.2.2. Even I went to option to reselect Desktop, still either the file disappeared after showing up for about a second or never appeared on the desktop.
I'm running the same software on M1 MBA, I literally just did cmd+shft+4 and the screenshot went to my desktop, I've not manually changed any settings in finder or preferences at all.

I ignored the thumbnail at the bottom rhs, went to finder-desktop, "Screen Shot 2021-03-01 at 2.22.41 pm"

Have you changed any presets?
 
put in a a file, maybe word, and then save these files
Please do not ever do this, especially for Word. Anyone can receive and open an image, but not everyone will be able to open a Word (or Pages) document. The resulting document will also be larger than the image alone and will be harder for the receiver to save or process.
 
What happens if you take a screenshot and when it appears bottom right of the desktop just do nothing.
Don't click on it.
It should appear a couple of seconds later on the desktop.
 
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.