Mac (OS X 10.9.2) no longer saving screen shots

When I try to take a screen shot (Command + Control + Shift + 4) I hear the camera shutter sound but no image appears on my desktop.

I Googled the problem and tried to change the saving location using the terminal command line as such:

defaults write com.apple.screencapture location ~/Desktop/

but this did not change anything.

Would anyone know what I can do to fix?

Solution 1:

When I try to take a screen shot (Command + Control + Shift + 4)

That's the problem. The shortcut to put a screenshot on the desktop is just Command + Shift + 4 (or 3). Don't press the control key; when you do, it copies to the clipboard instead. That's why you're not getting a file on the desktop.

Solution 2:

Same problem here: I couldn't see the screenshots on the Desktop anymore (also, I couldn't see them when I viewed the ~/Desktop directory in the finder. However, I checked the ~/Desktop via the Terminal app, and everything was there (indicating that I used the correct keys).

The simplest solution actually helped: I just relaunched the Finder and everything went back to normal!

Solution 3:

As Mark had answered, the issue with the screenshots not saving to the desktop is that the OP was using the wrong keyboard shortcut. Command + CTRL + Shift + 4 does not save to the desktop... instead it saves to the clipboard.

A complete reference of screenshot commands is below, for those interested:

Saving to the desktop

Command-Shift-3: Take a screenshot of the screen, and save it as a file on the desktop

Command-Shift-4, then select an area: Take a screenshot of an area and save it as a file on the desktop

Command-Shift-4, then Space, then click a window: Take a screenshot of a window and save it as a file on the desktop

Saving to the clipboard

Command-Control-Shift-3: Take a screenshot of the screen, and save it to the clipboard

Command-Control-Shift-4, then select an area: Take a screenshot of an area and save it to the clipboard

Command-Control-Shift-4, then Space, then click a window: Take a screenshot of a window and save it to the clipboard

Solution 4:

None of the previous answers worked for me but, with Mojave, this one did the trick.

Instead of doing Command+Shift+3:

1. perform Command+Shift+5
2. In the Options, make sure "Desktop" or "Other Location" is selected
3. Also make sure that "Remmember Last Selection" is checked
4. Perform a "Capture"

Then, next time you will do Command+Shift+3, it should be working.

Solution 5:

If you have installed Dropbox it can change where/how screenshots are saved.