Send Mac screenshots to a folder, not the desktop

By default every screenshot lands on your desktop, and a busy afternoon buries it under thumbnails. Point macOS at a dedicated folder instead and the desktop stays clean. There's a menu you can click or one Terminal command — here's both, plus the folder-must-exist gotcha that trips people up.

Change the location from the Screenshot toolbar

The friendliest route is built into the screenshot tool itself, no Terminal needed:

1. Press Shift+Cmd+5 to open the Screenshot toolbar.
2. Click Options.
3. Under Save to, pick a listed folder — Documents, Clipboard — or choose Other Location… to select or create any folder you like.

From then on, every screenshot saves straight into that folder. This menu exists on macOS 13 Ventura, 14 Sonoma, and 15 Sequoia.

Set it from Terminal

If you'd rather script it, one command points screenshots at a folder — but create the folder first (see the next section):

# Make the folder, then set it as the screenshot location
mkdir -p ~/Screenshots
defaults write com.apple.screencapture location ~/Screenshots
killall SystemUIServer

# Undo — send screenshots back to the desktop
defaults write com.apple.screencapture location ~/Desktop
killall SystemUIServer

The killall SystemUIServer line applies the change immediately. To clear the setting entirely instead of pointing it back at the desktop, run defaults delete com.apple.screencapture location followed by killall SystemUIServer; screenshots return to the default desktop location.

The folder has to exist first

This is the catch that catches everyone. If you point location at a folder that doesn't exist yet, screenshots don't create it — they quietly fall back to the desktop as if nothing changed. That's why the command above runs mkdir -p ~/Screenshots first. If you set the path through the Screenshot toolbar's Other Location… instead, you can create the folder right there in the save dialog, so it's made for you.

Want them smaller as well as tidier?

While you're changing where screenshots go, you can also change what they are. Saving them as JPG instead of PNG shrinks each file:

# Also save screenshots as smaller JPGs
defaults write com.apple.screencapture type jpg
killall SystemUIServer

A clean folder full of light JPGs beats a desktop buried in heavy PNGs on both counts.

Can't find an old screenshot?

If you've moved the location and misplaced earlier grabs, where screenshots are saved on Mac walks through tracking them down.