everyday mac tools

Find every screenshot on a Mac and gather them in one place

· 6 min read

macOS tags every screenshot it takes, so you can find them all with one Spotlight query, even ones that were renamed or moved. From there, moving them into a single folder takes a few minutes, and changing where new screenshots are saved stops the scatter from starting again.

The steps below use Finder and Terminal, both built in. The only judgment call is which screenshots to leave where they are.

Where screenshots usually hide

By default, macOS saves screenshots to the Desktop with names like “Screenshot 2026-09-15 at 10.12.33”. Older versions used “Screen Shot” with a space. Over a few years they end up in more places than that:

  • The Desktop, sometimes tucked into a Stack so you do not see how many there are.
  • Downloads and Documents, if you ever changed the save location or dragged a batch somewhere to clear the Desktop.
  • Project and client folders, where they were attached to something.
  • The Photos library, if you imported them, or if they came from an iPhone via iCloud. Those are a separate case, covered below.
  • Old folders from a previous Mac, carried over by migration.

Screen recordings follow the same pattern, named “Screen Recording” followed by the date.

Find them with Spotlight’s screenshot tag

Name searches miss screenshots that were renamed. Spotlight stores a flag on every capture macOS makes, and Terminal can search for it directly. Open Terminal and run:

mdfind "kMDItemIsScreenCapture == 1"

That lists every file Spotlight knows was a screenshot, wherever it is. To count them:

mdfind "kMDItemIsScreenCapture == 1" | wc -l

To see them grouped by folder, which tells you where the clutter really lives:

mdfind "kMDItemIsScreenCapture == 1" | while read -r f; do dirname "$f"; done | sort | uniq -c | sort -n

The folders with the biggest numbers are at the bottom.

Two limits. Spotlight only knows about files it has indexed, so external drives that are unplugged or excluded from Spotlight will not appear. And images that arrived from elsewhere (a screenshot someone sent you, or one saved from the web) usually lose the tag. Spotlight cannot find a file you know exists covers the first problem.

Find them by name in Finder

If you prefer to stay in Finder, a name search catches everything that still has its original name.

  1. Open a Finder window and press Command-F.
  2. Set the search scope to This Mac.
  3. Type Screenshot and choose the Name matches suggestion rather than a full-content search.
  4. Click the plus button and add Kind is Image to exclude documents that mention the word.

Save it with the Save button as a Smart Folder and it stays current as new screenshots arrive. Repeat with Screen Shot if the Mac has been around since before the naming changed.

When you need an answer instantly, including files on a drive that is not plugged in right now, Everywhere searches every file name on the Mac as you type. Typing screenshot ext:png narrows to PNG screenshots, path: limits the search to one folder, and files on an unplugged external drive still appear, dimmed, with the name of the drive to connect. Command-Return reveals any result in Finder. It searches names and paths, not image contents, so a renamed screenshot is still a job for the mdfind query above.

Move them into one folder

First make the destination. A folder in Pictures is a sensible choice:

mkdir -p ~/Pictures/Screenshots

Moving by hand is the safest route. Open the Smart Folder from the previous section, select the screenshots you want, and drag them into the new folder. Hold Command while dragging if Finder offers to copy instead of move.

Moving in bulk from Terminal is faster, but read the list first. This moves only screenshots from the Desktop, Downloads and Documents, and does not overwrite a file that already has the same name:

for d in ~/Desktop ~/Downloads ~/Documents; do mdfind -onlyin "$d" "kMDItemIsScreenCapture == 1"; done | while read -r f; do mv -n "$f" ~/Pictures/Screenshots/; done

To preview the list first, run the same line with echo in front of mv.

Limiting it to those folders is deliberate. It keeps the command away from screenshots that belong inside a project folder, and from anything inside an app’s library.

Leave the Photos library alone. Screenshots that live inside it should be managed in Photos, which has a Screenshots album under Media Types. Moving files out of the library in Finder or Terminal damages it.

Save new screenshots to that folder from now on

This is the step that keeps the Desktop clear.

  1. Press Command-Shift-5 to open the screenshot toolbar.
  2. Click Options.
  3. Under Save to, choose Other Location and pick ~/Pictures/Screenshots.

The change sticks for future screenshots. Changing where a Mac saves screenshots covers the Terminal method and what to do if the setting seems to revert.

If you want a set of screenshot changes you can flip on and off together, Mainspring includes a custom screenshot folder power-up, plus options to drop the window shadow and the floating thumbnail. Its Screenshot Studio recipe applies them as a set and reverts them as a set.

Decide what to keep

Once they are in one place, clearing them is quick. Sort the folder by Date Added in list view, and use Quick Look (select, then press Space) to flick through with the arrow keys. Most screenshots are only useful for a day or two; the few that matter are usually worth renaming so you can find them by name later.

Questions

Why did mdfind miss some screenshots I can see? Either Spotlight has not indexed that location, or the file lost its screenshot tag, which happens when an image is edited and saved by another app or sent from someone else. Search for the name instead.

Does moving screenshots affect iCloud Drive? If your Desktop and Documents folders are synced with iCloud Drive, moving files out of them removes them from iCloud as well and keeps them only on this Mac, unless Pictures is also synced. Check before moving a large batch.

Can I find screenshots from my iPhone this way? Only if they are stored as files on the Mac. Those that sync through iCloud Photos live inside the Photos library; use the Screenshots album in Photos.