Changing default format for images captured with Grab utility

[Rafagon]

Hi, I'm having some difficulties changing the default format for images that I capture with the Grab utility. They're always in .TIFF, and I would like them to be in .JPG.

I have tried a defaults write command in Terminal that I found on at least different sites, to no avail.

The command I used was:

defaults write com.apple.screencapture type jpg

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Rafael

 

[iphonewarrior]

You ever tried using Shift-Command-4? This allows you to save a selection of the screen.

 

[iphonewarrior]

Erm, just realised. When you wrote the comman into Terminal did you kill the existing process to enable the change? You need to run:

defaults write com.apple.screencapture type jpg *Return*

Killall SystemUIServer *Return*

 

[Rafagon]

Erm, just realised. When you wrote the comman into Terminal did you kill the existing process to enable the change? You need to run:

defaults write com.apple.screencapture type jpg *Return*

Killall SystemUIServer *Return*

Affirmative, sir. I followed the instructions on the those websites that I got the instructions from. Copied-and-pasted the commands to avoid typos, too.

 

[iphonewarrior]

Affirmative, sir. I followed the instructions on the those websites that I got the instructions from. Copied-and-pasted the commands to avoid typos, too.

Have you relaunched Finder and/or rebooted your machine?

 

[Europa]

If it doesn't work, you can right-click on the image and change the file extension. I've always used command+shift+4 for selection capture and command+shift+3 for full screen capture. It's faster than Grab.

 

[iphonewarrior]

If it doesn't work, you can right-click on the image and change the file extension. I've always use command+shift+4 for selection capture and command+shift+3 for full screen capture. It's faster than Grab.

That's exactly why I use:

Shift-Command-4
Command-i
Change extension-.jpg

Boom.

 

[Rafagon]

That's exactly why I use:

Shift-Command-4
Command-i
Change extension-.jpg

Boom.

Thank you Europa, and thank you iPhonewarrior for your responses ! It worked, and I didn't even have to do the third step (changing the extension). It went straight to .JPG due to the command that I had entered earlier on Terminal (defaults write com.apple.screencapture type jpg)--it causes all screen captures to be in the format of your choice. I guess that command doesn't work for screen captures performed via Grab.app, so that's why those were all coming out as .TIFFs and I. I especially liked (until now) Grab.app because it gave me the crosshairs to capture just a portion of the screen, but I just realized thanks to you guys that Shift+Command+4 also gives me the crosshairs.

Europa, for future reference, can you simply change the .TIFF extension on a file to .JPG without corrupting the contents of the file--although I won't have an immediate need for this step now that I can capture straight to .JPG!

Thank you again iPhonewarrior and Europa for your prompt replies !