Screenshots on the Mac
In OSX screenshots of windows can be done with โงโ4, then pressing the Spacebar, then a click takes a screenshot of the window - including shadows. These screenshots are by default in PNG, change the default to JPG with the following:
defaults write com.apple.screencapture type JPG
Screenshots and Transparency
Upgrading (and moving) to a computer running OSX 11.2.1 (coming from 10.15.7), and changing the default screenshot format to JPG, is resulting in the following:
![](../images/About-OS-Big-Sur-1024x672.jpg)
![](../images/About-OS-Catalina-1024x675.jpg)
Turning Off Shadows in Screenshots
To take a screenshot of windows and elements without shadows there are two options:
- Start with Apple-Shift-4 (โโง4), change to window selection with space, click to take the screenshot. Keeping Option (โฅ) pressed, will take the screenshot without a the shadow.
- Disable the shadows in screenshots altogether with:
defaults write com.apple.screencapture disable-shadow -bool FALSE
Check the status of com.apple.screencapture
:
defaults read com.apple.screencapture
{
"disable-shadow" = 0;
"last-analytics-stamp" = "636440406.505895";
"last-messagetrace-stamp" = "635148504.597851";
"last-selection-display" = 0;
style = selection;
type = JPG;
video = 1;
}
Import Screenshots Automatically to the OSX Photos.app
Folder Actions is a feature of macOS that lets you associate AppleScript scripts with folders. Reference
- Open the
Screenshot.app
. (Find it inApplications/ Utilities
)
![](../images/Screen-Shot-2022-01-27-at-20.52.56.jpg)
- Set the Screenshot Folder in Options to your desired Folder. I am using a Folder on Dropbox, but any is fine.
![](../images/Screen-Shot-2022-01-27-at-21.10.26-1024x623.jpg)
- Open
Folder Actions Setup.app
fromSystem/Library/CoreServices /Applications/
![](../images/Screen-Shot-2022-01-27-at-20.56.46.jpg)
-
Enable Folder Actions and add the Screenshot Folder on the left.
-
Add a Workflow on the right, and click to edit it.
![](../images/Screen-Shot-2022-01-27-at-20.58.17-1024x799.jpg)
- This opens
Automator
.
![](../images/Screen-Shot-2022-01-27-at-20.59.29-1024x620.jpg)
- Add the
Import Files into Photos
Actions
![](../images/Screen-Shot-2022-01-27-at-20.59.37-1024x326.jpg)
- That's it!