MacOS – Re-directed screenshot location via defaults file doesn’t work

macosscreen capture

I'm sure everyone knows about the standard changing default location where captured screenshots are stored.

A simple 

sudo defaults write com.apple.screencapture location <enter path to folder>
killall SystemUIServer

should have sufficed but nothing happens.

My screenshots still save to desktop but the worst part is, when I read the file I've just written to, it tells me that the location that screenshots are being saved in is the folder that I've redirected to! 

sudo defaults read com.apple.screencapture

gives

{
location = "/Users/Me/Documents/Screenshots/"'
}

However it continues to save them to my desktop. The folder remains empty; it's not as if it saves it to both the folder and the desktop.

Ideas?

Best Answer

If you use sudo you change the default for the user you are sudoing into, in this case the root user. Just run the commands without sudo and you should be fine.

You can also clear any settings for a user with:

defaults delete com.apple.screencapture

You can test and log out if the system doesn’t realize the change was made. That’s usually better than killing the system UI server.

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