Changing Screen Capture Default Format

I'm trying to change the default format of the screen capture created by shift-command-4 from PDF to PNG. I set the string in com.apple.screencapture to png, but it doesn't seem to be "sticking". Any ideas?

Maybe I should specify what I'm looking for, sorry. In another experiment in customization, when I tried to rename my Trash, I found that the new name I put in the Property List wouldn't "stick" unless I executed "killall Dock" in the Terminal to restart the dock.
I'm trying to find out what I should restart to have my screencapture format change "stick". Unless maybe that is totally off track?!

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Screen Capture default format in Tiger OS

Dear Mac OS Fellows:
In Tiger OS, the default file format for screen capture is "PNG." I want to change it to "PDF"!
I found the command tips, never worked for me, on the net=>
defaults write com.apple.screencapture type pdf
killall -HUP SystemUIServer
I tried those 2 commands. The default format is stil set to "PNG."
Help please!
Max NY

Max--
The reason why I try to capture screens with "PDF"
export, is that I want to preserve the "vector"
attribute of the type.
To no avail! After saving capture as a PDF, I zoom in
400% to check on the edge of the type. Disappointing
enough! All become pixelated!
Hmm. This may not be possible. The way I understand it, the screen is a bitmap, rendered by the OS. So, yes you can get a PDF of the screen, but it's just a bitmap in a PDF. That would be the same for any kind of application's windows where the text was drawn on screen, like a dialog box.
The only standard tool I know of is the "Web Capture"
in Acrobat Pro. v.7.
Well, if you're interested in web pages, you can always just use "Print," but instead of printing, save your web page to a PDF from the print dialog. But, since you're "printing," you may find the printout isn't exactly like the web page. Especially if they use a different style sheet for print media.
You can use this same trick with other applications, too, as long as they can print (and as long as they don't "rasterize," i.e., make bitmaps of, the type in their documents before they send them to the printer).
I've never heard of a tool that could do what you want with any window. I think one would have to intercept the commands going to the graphics system before they actually get rendered for the screen, and I'm not sure that's possible.
charlie

How can I change screen capture format from .png to .jpg in LION

how can I change screen capture format from .png to .jpg in LION. The "terminal" suggestions of the past don't work? Thanks!

This works for me:
defaults write com.apple.screencapture type XXX
where XXX is one of png, pdf, jpeg-jfif, jpeg 2000, tiff, pict, bmp, gif, psd, sci, or tga. You need to log out and back in for the change to take effect.

How can I change the screen capture default filename and location?

AS3 and AS4 screen capture keystrokes create badly named files in a bad location, i.e., picture1.png, picture2.png, etc. on the desktop. This is silly, as it creates un-differentiable files. I would at least like to change the filename template, and at best also the location that they go to, but I can't figure out how to do this, if it's even possible. (The filename should have a timestamp, not just a sequence number, for example: picture_200911181234.png or whatever -- pretty much anything but a simple sequence number!)

Use TinkerTool to change the download location for the screenshots. However, AFAIK, you're stuck with those names unless you a folder action to the download location such that it will change the names according to some scheme you devise. For that, try a google search for *folder actions mac*.

Screen Capture File Format

Does anyone know a way to change the default file format in the Mac OS screen capture utility to a different format other than PNG? Thanks.

cbenham wrote:
Does anyone know a way to change the default file format in the Mac OS screen capture utility to a different format other than PNG? Thanks.
There are two default screen capture mechanisms in Leopard:
The direct ⌘ shortcut, and the application, grab.
I presume you are referring to the ⌘ shortcuts since the default for grab is tiff
⌘-Shift-3 = Screen
⌘-Shift-4 = Selection
⌘-Shift-4 + Spacebar = Window
To change the format, in a terminal enter
defaults write com.apple.screencapture type image_format
where "image_format" can be
tiff
jpg
pdf
and possibly others.
When using the terminal, you are on your own and if you are unfamiliar with it, be very careful.
Message was edited by: nerowolfe

Screen Capture (file format) used to be pdf

Is there a way to change the default file format for a screen capture. The file format in OS 10.3 used to capture as a PDF. Now the format is PNG. I know you can open the file in preview and resave it.
I just want to see if there is someway to change preferences or something so it will default as a pdf file.
thanks

Hi, amantia and costicladop —
amantia, welcome to Apple Discussions!
There are various options to accomplish your objective.
OnyX 1.6.5 (a free utility) and Cocktail 3.6.5 ($14.95 shareware utility) offer the option to change graphic file format with a "single click" — in OnyX »» Appearance »» Screen Capture and Cocktail »» Interface »» Misc. »» Screenshot file format, respectively.
They're both just implementing Terminal commands — which provide another option.
bmp, gif, jpg, jpg-2000, pdf, photoshop, pict, png, sgi, tga, and tiff options are available in both utilities.
Hope this helps . . .
Regards,
Dean
p.s. costicladop — following your link engages an automatic download. (Duh.) Wanting to read something first, I went to http://www.arenasoftware.com/ — which forwards to http://www.digitalarena.co.nz/. The software page on that site only mentions three software products, none of which is shotChoice. Could you provide a descriptive link? Thanks!

Screen capture image format

hi there,
after i installed Adobe Acrobat, I got .pdf image when I use "commandshift3(4)" to capture the screen.
How can I set up it to get .jpg format image as I did before.

You can change it in the Terminal, but for those of us who like GUI's I've used Tinkertool to change this format.
Oh... I've just noticed Tinkertool says it only supports this function in 10.1 or 10.4 not 10.2 or 10.3. Even these other two only work under 10.4 apparently... so you'll have to go for the Terminal route. Type in one of the following to the Terminal and hit return:
defaults write com.apple.screencapture type pdf
defaults write com.apple.screencapture type png
defaults write com.apple.screencapture type jpg
defaults write com.apple.screencapture type tif
defaults write com.apple.screencapture type psd
mrtotes

Color changes (darkens) in screen capture - color sync gamma setting?

I encountered this weird effect that the color darkens when I did a screen capture in one Mac but not the other.
In fact, it darkens more with shift-ctrl-cmd-4 (selection capture) than with shift-ctrl-cmd-3 (whole screen capture).
The knowledge base mentioned the gamma setting in http://support.apple.com/kb/ht3712 but the color darkens in the clipboard, so there is no way to change the color sync if it is not a file. I tried to re-calibrate my display using different gamma setting, but it didn't change any color.
In my other Mac, I can do a screen capture and the color is preserved as is. It is only in one Mac that did this. The color darkens so much that it practically becomes black-and-white.
Any suggestion would help. I think it has something to do with the color sync profile setting.

I found out that the darkening of the color in screen capture is caused by screenshot captured into jpeg. The darkening happens when the lines are thin, due to the averaging effect of jpeg. If the lines are thick, then the change in color is not apparent.
Now, the problem is, I can't change screen capture to capture in png. I used Tinker Tool, and deleted com.apple.screencapture.plist , nothing would change it back to capture in png.

Screen Shot file format

Is there any way to change the default screen capture file format from .png to something like .jpg?

In addition to what Niel suggested, you could use a program called Deeper that offers you a GUI interface to change not just screenshots, but many other aspects of OS X. It's available from Apple Downloads as well as from places like versiontracker.com.

Is there a pref to turn off border/shadow in window screen capture?

Somewhere along the line, Apple changed screen capture of a window (cmd-shift-4 and then spacebar) so that now you get a white border and drop shadow around the window in the screen capture file. This is very pretty, but for the purposes of posting captures on websites, for example, the original 'just the window' capture is really much more useful. Is there a *defaults write com.apple.screencapture* (or something) preference that can be changed to set the border/shadow to off?
- padmavyuha

Yes, annoying isn't it? I got mine changed using this command in Terminal:
defaults write com.apple.screencapture disable-shadow -bool true
You then need to log out and back in. This fix is courtesy of "atverd" at MacOSXHints. Bless him, and Rob Griffiths.
Francine
Francine
Schwieder

How do I change the default iPhone screen capture format to .jpg? I have an iPhone 5.

How do I change the default iPhone screen capture format to .jpg?
I have an iPhone 5 (but I'm sure users with other models would like to do this as well).
My online searches have not found an answer -- I did find a discussion thread that was essentially, "Why would you want to do that?" Those posts are not welcome! Not looking for a work-around, an intermediate step, or the need to change the file format on a computer, etc. Just want to hit the two buttons and have the resulting capture be a JPEG file.
Not interested in jailbreaking or using apps that require jailbreak -- Want to do this with a new phone.
Thank you in advance for any help!!
--tim

You can't.

Change Default Screen Capture Format from PNG to JPG

I'm running Mac OS 10.4.8 on a G5 Duo Core (Power PC). Up until about 10.4.1, my screen captures (Apple-Shift-4) would result in a PDF file. Then they started coming out as PNG files. I would strongly prefer that they default to jpg files, since I typically change the PNG files to JPG.
Can anyone tell me how to change the default for screen captures from PNG format to jpg format?
I have tried to use the process described at http://textsnippets.com/posts/show/131 but this does not change the default format for screen captures. I've also discussed this issue with Apple online help, but they were not able to change the default format either.
Any suggestions?

Download and use Screenshots Preference Pane:
http://www.ego-systems.com/Products/screenshotsprefpane.html
It's free and easy, gives you about a dozen options on how to save the shot and allows you to change where it's saved to.
I also use Capture Me:
http://www.chimoosoft.com/captureme.html
Best screen capture utility I've tried, you can save each screen shot in any format you want or have it go. It also works as a great picture sticky because the windows floats above other windows. It's also free,
Kevin
http://www.bearbyte.blogspot.com/

Changing Default Screen Capture Format in ARD 3.3

Does anyone know how to change the default screen capture format in ARD from PNG to JPG?
Thank you.
Kevin

Download and use Screenshots Preference Pane:
http://www.ego-systems.com/Products/screenshotsprefpane.html
It's free and easy, gives you about a dozen options on how to save the shot and allows you to change where it's saved to.
I also use Capture Me:
http://www.chimoosoft.com/captureme.html
Best screen capture utility I've tried, you can save each screen shot in any format you want or have it go. It also works as a great picture sticky because the windows floats above other windows. It's also free,
Kevin
http://www.bearbyte.blogspot.com/

Changing file type format in Screen Capture (shift command 4)

You'd think this would be in a preference menu! But it's nowhere to be found in any apps preference or system preferences.... I've seen posts how to do it in Terminal... and people sell programs to do it.... but Tiger and Leopard have t built in.. sort of....
The default file format when using SCREEN CAPTURE (ShiftCommand4) was a .pdf ... but then it was changed to .png Some people can't read .png... so I wanted my captures to be in .jpg format.
You can change the file format type of your SCREEN CAPTURE to any of the following:
JPG, JPG-2000, TIFF, BMP, PDF, Photoshop, PICT, SGI, PBG, TGA
But first you have to have a file you want to change (say it is a png).
Open the file using Preview.
Once open, under File (in the menu bar) go down to SAVE AS.
There's you'll see FORMAT and a pull down menu. Choose which one you want...
Screen capture will now open your captured pictures in that format.
Crazy, huh?

The OP here was using a keyboard shortcut, not Grabber.
I did some further exploring. I just tried TinkerTool again, and again was able to change the file format of saved screencapture files to jpeg. TinkerTool modifies the com.apple.screencapture.plist file the same way that the Terminal command does.
This clearly works for command-shift-3 and command-shift-4, which save the screencapture image as a file. However, on looking more closely at the O.P.s initial post in this thread, he/she actually said
I use keyboard shortcut control/command/shift/4
When you include the control key in the command, the screencapture image gets saved to the clipboard instead of to a file, and you wouldn't normally be aware of its format until you pasted the clipboard contents somewhere else. I don't know where the OP was pasting it, but as was noted in the thread cited above by Baltwo, pasting a sceencapture image from the clipboard into a mail.app message results in a .tiff file being pasted. I also find this to be true in my system - perhaps this is what the OP was doing all along.
However this is an issue caused by the receiving app, not by the screencapture function. It's possible to look directly at the contents of the clipboard via:
Finder>Edit Menu>Show Clipboard
With my screenshot format set to jpeg by TinkerTool, I used control-command-shift-4 to save a screenshot to the clipboard. Looking directly at the clipboard in Finder as above, the clipboard image was a jpeg. When I then pasted the clipboard contents into a mail message and used Mail>File Menu>QuickLook Attachments, the pasted graphic in the mail message was a .tiff.

Screen Capture (Screen Shot) file default

The screen capture hidden shortcut using command, shift 4 keys creates an image in the png file format. Is there a way of changing that default to jpg format so I don't have to convert each time in Preview?

Someone will come along in a minute and offer you the unix code to do so, but if you prefer a program that can do it for you, download Deeper (search at macupdate.com or versiontracker.com). Deeper gives you control over file type and default save location for screenshots, as well as all kinds of other (safe) tweaks you can do to the Mac OS.

Changing Screen Capture Default Format

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