How to find screenshots on macbook air

To take a screenshot of the entire screen of a MacBook, press the Command key, the Shift key, and the number 3 key at the same time. You'll find your screenshot file on the desktop. To take a screenshot of a single window, such as your web browser, press the Command key, the Shift key, the number 4 key, and the Spacebar at the same time. When the cursor turns to a tiny camera, click the window you want to capture. The file will be saved to your desktop. If you just want to capture one particular area of the screen, press the Command key, the Shift key, and the number 4. Your regular mouse cursor will turn into a crosshair. Click and drag the crosshair to select the part of the screen. Release your finger from the mouse or trackpad button to take the screenshot. The final image will be saved to your desktop. For more tips, including how to take a screenshot in Preview, read on!

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If you take a screenshot on your Mac, where does macOS save the screenshot image files? We’ll help you find the screenshot location—and show you how to choose where they end up in the future.

Screenshots Are Usually Saved to the Desktop

By default, when you take a screenshot using Shift+Command+3, Shift+Command+4, or Shift+Command+5, your Mac saves any screenshots you take to your Desktop as PNG files. Each one will have the name “Screen Shot” with a date and time at the end (such as “Screen Shot 2022-06-03 at 10.58.12 AM”).

How to find screenshots on macbook air

If your desktop is messy and full of icons, you might have trouble finding the screenshot. In that case, you can organize your desktop using options in the “View” menu at the top of the screen. For example, you can click View > Use Stacks, and macOS will automatically sort the files into appropriate stacks that expand when you click them.

How to find screenshots on macbook air

RELATEDHow to Organize Your Mac's Desktop Icons

To view a screenshot, double-click its icon and it will open in Preview or another image app. If you don’t see the screenshot on your desktop, then it’s possible that macOS has been configured to save the screenshots somewhere else. To find out where, view the section below.

RELATED: How to Screenshot on a Mac

How to See Where Mac Screenshots are Saved

If your screenshots aren’t showing up on your desktop, press Shift+Command+5. In the screenshots toolbar that appears, click “Options.” Under the “Save To” section in the menu, you’ll see a checkmark beside the location where screenshots are currently saved (such as “Desktop,” “Documents,” or “Preview.”). If anything other than “Desktop” is checked, you can look in that location for your screenshots.

How to find screenshots on macbook air

You can use this same menu to choose a different save location for your future screenshots. If you’re no longer in the screenshot menu, press Shift+Command+5, click “Options,” then choose a “Save To” location from the list. To select a custom folder, choose “Other Location.” The next time you take a screenshot, you’ll find the screenshot file located there.

RELATED: How to Change Where Screenshots Are Saved on Mac

How to Find Lost Screenshots on Mac

If you still can’t find your screenshots, press Command+Space on your keyboard to open Spotlight search. Type “screenshot” in the search bar, and you’ll see a list of matching screenshot files in the results below.

How to find screenshots on macbook air

Double click a screenshot image in the results to open it, or hold down the Command key and click the file in the list to open its location in Finder. Good luck, and happy snapping!

There are few things more frustrating than saving a file, only to realize that you have no idea where on your computer it's actually been saved to.

You could spend your time combing through every folder and subsection, looking for it — or you could just take the time beforehand to make sure your files always go to the right place.

On a Mac, there are several ways to take a screenshot of your entire screen, a specific window, or a selected section. And luckily, it's easy to decide where you want all of your screenshots to go automatically.

Here's what you should know about where screenshots go on your Mac.

Where screenshots go on a Mac, and how to change it

By default, any screenshot you take on your Mac will go to the Desktop. Once you press any of the screenshot shortcuts, the picture will appear on your Desktop, labeled as "Screen Shot," followed by the date and time.

You can also hold down the Control key while you take the screenshot to copy it to the clipboard. Your Mac's clipboard is the space that anything you copy or "Cut" goes to — in other words, once the screenshot is saved there, you can paste it by pressing Command + V. 

When you copy a screenshot to the clipboard, it won't be saved to your hard drive. This means that unless you paste the picture somewhere and save that, the screenshot will disappear as soon as you copy something else.

Although these are the two spaces where screenshots go by default, you can choose a new saving location at any time. To do this:

1. Press Shift+ Command + 5. If you're running MacOS Mojave or newer (if you've bought or updated your Mac since 2018, this should be the case), this will open the advanced screenshot menu.

How to find screenshots on macbook air

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William Antonelli

Tech Reporter for Insider Reviews

William Antonelli (he/she/they) is a writer, editor, and organizer based in New York City. As a founding member of the Reference team, he helped grow Tech Reference (now part of Insider Reviews) from humble beginnings into a juggernaut that attracts over 20 million visits a month. Outside of Insider, his writing has appeared in publications like Polygon, The Outline, Kotaku, and more. He's also a go-to source for tech analysis on channels like Newsy, Cheddar, and NewsNation.