Since Tahoe I can no longer capture the screen—or parts of it—directly to PDF The only option left is to use the terminal command to switch the screenshot format back to PNG or JPG. Has Apple disabled the PDF option altogether? If so, that’s a step backwards, forcing you to open each PNG in Preview and export it to PDF—a real hassle if you need to make multiple screenshots.
Mac mini (M2 Pro, 2023)
The following certainly works on Tahoe 26.0.1 and is sufficiently generic as to have worked on several previous generations of macOS:
defaults write com.apple.screencapture type pdf
dialabrain wrote:
FWIW, ⇧⌘5 is not a screenshot shortcut, it opens the screenshot options panel.
?huh?
It does both. I use Command-Shift-5 as the shortcut for nearly every screenshot I take.
Command-Shift-3 captures the whole screen in one step.
Command-Shift-4 gives you (1) a selection cursor you can position, click, drag and release to capture a region OR (2) if you press Space the cursor becomes a camera icon and you can click a window to capture that window (including a shadowed border).
Command-Shift-5 shows the screenshot options/controls AND gives a bounding box where you can drag the corners (or move the whole box) then capture that selected region by pressing return.
The reason that I use Command-Shift-5 most is that it allows me to reposition the boundaries as desired to select the precise region I want before the capture. With Command-Shift-4, once you click the starting position is fixed.
aist-15 wrote:
If so, that’s a step backwards, forcing you to open each PNG in Preview and export it to PDF—a real hassle if you need to make multiple screenshots.
Although I can capture screenshots directly to PDFs on my Macs running Tahoe, can you explain why you would need to convert scrrenshot pngs or jpgs to pdfs?
It worked perfectly for me as well for many years. Not anymore. I tried different shells, but no luck. Oh well, another mystery. Hopefully it changes with future updates. Thank you all for your comments
u0cram wrote:
Same as aist-15 :
Tahoe 26.0.1
screencapture pdf format don't work : only sound, no screenshot picture in bottom-right, no file in screencapture location, for all shortcuts (⇧⌘3, ⇧⌘4, ⇧⌘5)
Don't know what to tell you. Works fine for me.
FWIW, ⇧⌘5 is not a screenshot shortcut, it opens the screenshot options panel.
Just to add, I have no idea why anyone would want a PDF screenshot.
I regularly make use of screenshots for legal documentation purposes. PDFs are easier to handle for (legal) filing and email purposes, as image attachments are often blocked or may not display correctly for recipients.
that does not work anymore
Works on my Macs.
I guess they both work.
I am glad to hear that. So it is not blocked. Must be a setting on my two macs that blocks it now.
Care to explain what you mean by "blocked"?
FWIW, it’s working here too in two different macs.
aist-15 wrote:
Hopefully it changes with future updates.
Hopefully not, since it's working for the others and myself.
Luis Sequeira1 wrote:
I don't know why people would want a pdf either, but now at least we know why it did work for some but not others :-)
Indeed.
Did Tahoe block changing the default screenshot format to pdf?
