macOS Tahoe won't save screenshots

I've tried changing the default locations multiple time and every time I perform a screen shot it doesn't save.

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Posted on Sep 17, 2025 10:40 AM

Top-ranking reply

ccentrella

Level 1

8 points

Posted on Sep 22, 2025 1:29 PM

dialabrain wrote:

Not sure I understand your comment. The Floating Thumbnail was never meant to be permanently on the screen. And yes, if you drag it somewhere it will close. Just to add, if you don't touch it, it will close after a few seconds and the screen shot will be created according the setting in Options.

Correct, you described the intended behavior. The Floating Thumbnail should appear for a few seconds, then disappear if you don't take any action, at which point the screenshot is saved to the directory you define.

When the bug occurs, when I try to drag the Floating Thumbnail, even immediately after taking the screenshot, i.e. at the beginning of the ~5 second window, the Floating Thumbnail will disappear instead of dragging with the cursor.

I wanted to make sure I wasn't waiting too late to move the image, so I replicated the problem several times and the behavior was consistent: Once I try to drag the image, it immediately disappears instead of moving with the cursor. So I restarted my MacBook. Now it consistently works. When it works, it works every time and I can't replicate it. That's why I was saying it seems there is some background process that randomly stops working. Because when it works, it works every time; and when it fails, it fails every time.

Does that make sense?

I've had zero issues with these setting, before, after and currently macOS 26. as a test —Compare your results. Your option is wait for a point update / submit your feedback

Correct, normally it works fine. But on a couple of occasions, the thumbnail would consistently disappear while trying to drag it--until I restarted my Mac. This happened on two separate occasions which is why I suspect there is a bug in macOS Tahoe, but I haven't seen much information online about it. Is anyone else experiencing this?

I also had a related issue last week where the Passwords app wouldn't recognize I had added a note to an existing password and so update button was disabled. Same issue where it repeatedly appeared. Restarted and it worked perfectly again. Not sure it is related, but normally I've never had to restart my Mac.

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31 replies

Nov 20, 2025 8:50 AM in response to Danin

This is 100% related to updating to Tahoe. I believe it's a bug in Tahoe, and it only appears if you have a custom preference file. Essentially if you had used terminal at one point to change where screenshots are saved. Maybe you even changed the folder using the screenshot UI. I used terminal.

Use the terminal command:

defaults delete com.apple.screencapture type

If you get a message after like:

"Domain (com.apple.screencapture) not found. Defaults have not been changed."

Try a comprehensive reset that doesn't rely on the domain existing.

# 1. Reset image type to PNG (macOS default)

defaults write com.apple.screencapture type -string "png"

# 2. Reset location to Desktop

defaults write com.apple.screencapture location -string "$HOME/Desktop"

# 3. Reset showing the floating thumbnail (default is true on newer macOS)

defaults write com.apple.screencapture "show-thumbnail" -bool true

# 4. Reset including shadows in window screenshots (true by default)

defaults write com.apple.screencapture "disable-shadow" -bool false

# 5. Reset naming pattern (optional: "Screen Shot <date> at <time>")

defaults write com.apple.screencapture "name" -string "Screen Shot"

#6. Reload the UI:

killall SystemUIServer

If you see no matching processes were found, that's okay. Logout, then log back in, or restart.

Perform a test and it should start working again. Good luck and I hope this helps.

macOS Tahoe won't save screenshots