Safari screen grab question...

[StarShot]

Running Safari 10.01 and wondering if there is any way to make screen grabs (cmd-shift-4) default to JPG format instead of PNG? I do a lot of screen grabs that I want to send to others (text/mail). Trying to do a copy/paste with PNG doesn't seem to work for me.

So I have load "Paintbrush", open the PNG snatch and then save it as a JPG. I don't see anything in Safari Preferences.

 

[dianeoforegon]

If you want to change this, then type in the following command in the Terminal. (Applications/Utilities)


defaults write com.apple.screencapture type file-extension


Replace file-extension with the three letter abbreviation of your desired file format, so for JPEG format simply enter JPG and for Acrobat PDF format, PDF.

 

[StarShot]

If you want to change this, then type in the following command in the Terminal. (Applications/Utilities)


defaults write com.apple.screencapture type file-extension

Sorry to be a goof ball, but is "defaults..." part to the thread above? I notice there's a space between defaults and write...

 

[DeltaMac]

You could just cut-n-paste that command in to the terminal. You will need to change file-extension in that command line to the one you want to use.
If you don't care to try the terminal for that, there are also several utilities that provide a GUI to change the screen grab format. OnyX is one that will let you change the default screen grab format. Tinkertool is another.

 

[StarShot]

You could just cut-n-paste that command in to the terminal. You will need to change file-extension in that command line to the one you want to use.
If you don't care to try the terminal for that, there are also several utilities that provide a GUI to change the screen grab format. OnyX is one that will let you change the default screen grab format. Tinkertool is another.

defaults write com.apple.screencapture type file-extension

I understand how to enter this through terminal. MY question was is "defaults" part of the string above?

 

[DeltaMac]

Yes
don't forget the spaces

 

[StarShot]

If you want to change this, then type in the following command in the Terminal. (Applications/Utilities)


defaults write com.apple.screencapture type file-extension


Replace file-extension with the three letter abbreviation of your desired file format, so for JPEG format simply enter JPG and for Acrobat PDF format, PDF.

OK, that didn't work. I entered in terminal with a copy and paste...

defaults write com.apple.screencapture type JPG

I'm wondering if there should be a period (.) between "write com...."

I'm a bit leary of messing around in Terminal without the correct command. After entering the string above, I got a blank reply. After a reboot, I did another screen capture and got the same extension, PNG.

 

[DeltaMac]

After entering the command, you would return to a command prompt. I suppose that is what you mean by "a blank reply".
You don't get any other indication that the command changed anything.

But, in the event that you are missing a character, or just mistyping, try using one of the utilities mentioned.
I use either OnyX, or Tinkertool for those quick changes.

 

[finsfanscott]

Thank you very much for sharing this. I had just assumed the PNG was a Mac thing and I couldn't get a JPG screenshot. Command worked exactly as typed, I could not cut and paste it into the terminal box, whenever I did that the "file-extension" portion was not editable. So I simply typed everything after the $ below (no space between the $ and the rest of the command.

Drag this into the terminal box:

defaults write com.apple.screencapture type jpg


And it should look like this:

Scotts-iMac:~ Scott$ defaults write com.apple.screencapture type jpg



Hit "enter" and you should be on your way!

 

[StarShot]

Drag this into the terminal box:

defaults write com.apple.screencapture type jpg

And it should look like this:

Scotts-iMac:~ Scott$ defaults write com.apple.screencapture type jpg

Hit "enter" and you should be on your way!

Thank you! I did the cut and paste without success, but dragging the thread into terminal worked. To prevent typos, I didn't try to manually type the line into terminal so I don't know if that method would have worked.

This is going to save me a lot of time since I no longer will have to load my PNG shot into Paintbrush and then go through the "save as" option to convert to JPG format.

Thanks to all who replied in this post.