Screen Grabs

11 Sep 2017 10:35:01

Roy Rainford

Until recently I have been taking screen grabs by using cmd-shift-4 and they would appear on the desktop. They no longer appear there. Where could they be? I hear the familiar click but nothing appears!

Re: Screen Grabs

11 Sep 2017 11:22:43

Mick Burrell

They take the form of "Screen Shot 2017-09-11 at …" so use Spotlight to search for it.

Re: Screen Grabs

11 Sep 2017 12:05:00

Roy Rainford

Thanks Mick. That has brought the most recent one back in Preview. However before I saw your reply, the screen shots taken this morning suddenly appeared on the desktop! I don't know what I clicked to achieve that. Have just tried two more screen shots and they are not on the desk top! Must be doing something silly!

Re: Screen Grabs

11 Sep 2017 14:59:54

Mick Burrell

Probably not - it may be that it's taking longer than you expect to save the data.

Re: Screen Grabs

11 Sep 2017 17:49:48

Roy Rainford

That seems to be happening, although, until recently screen shots came up almost immediately. They are now taking about 20 minutes to appear! Could this be time to change my iMac (27 inch Mid 2010) or can I try to speed it up?
Memory is 8GB with 4.68 used. Cached Files 2.34 GB, Swap Used 23.3 MB (what is that?). HD capacity 999.35GB, Available 304GB. Any (helpful) suggestions welcome.

Re: Screen Grabs

11 Sep 2017 22:45:01

Mick Burrell

I can't imagine what can cause them to take 20 minutes! Two things to try:

1) Try using Grab to take a screen shot to see if that too takes as long.

2) Run Activity Monitor and see what's happening with the CPU during that time.

Have you restarted the machine recently? If not try it and see if it improves.

Re: Screen Grabs

12 Sep 2017 09:04:37

Trevor Hewson

Since the iMac screens got so big, I must admit I use Grab exclusively now. The only drawback is that it saves in tiff format. However, my one and only success with Automator was to create a folder action so that when I save a tiff file to the folder, it puts a jpg version on my desktop. There is often quite a long delay before it appears though, which is where we came in. . .

Re: Screen Grabs

12 Sep 2017 12:16:57

Roy Rainford

Thanks Mick and Trevor. For some unknown reason cmd-shift-4 is working normally this morning! Haven't taken any remedial action, not even restarted. Was going to do it today but tried a few screen shots first. They appeared almost immediately on the desktop! The iMac must have had a good sleep.😊
Will look at Grab later but I like the simplicity of cmd-shift-4 (when it works!).

Re: Screen Grabs

14 Sep 2017 12:37:03

Derek Wright

I use SnapNDrag Pro - ok it is not free but it easily enables me to grab the various screen capture options. It stores the image away in a folder and presents the screen grabs in an ordered way that I can open in Preview and convert them from PNG format to Jpg where I can manipulate the colour and contrast to get a punchy image (eg of a Maps extract) that I can annotate for use in documents.

No mess no probs, it can be set so that you can or can not screen grab from protected web pages.

PLus I do not have to remember the key combinations to take the screen grab.

Re: Screen Grabs

14 Sep 2017 15:09:44

Roy Rainford

Thanks Derek. It looks useful and has good reviews, plus yours of course! Can't see from the description if grabs can be selected areas of the screen, not just the full screen. I feel sure it could be selective but would appreciate your confirmation.

Re: Screen Grabs

14 Sep 2017 15:44:44

Derek Wright

It does
Selective
Window
Full Screen

with the ability to set a timed delay.

I think you can get a free version to try it out.

Re: Screen Grabs

14 Sep 2017 16:44:14

Roy Rainford

Thanks for confirming Derek. Have bought it.

Re: Screen Grabs

16 Sep 2017 18:33:57

Tony Still

Another option is the Grab utility that's already on your Mac. It's a bit more user-friendly than the keyboard sequences and offers a choice of save formats too. Perhaps give it a try?

Be aware that it implements macOS's irritating and incomprehensible standard for utility programs: if you close all its windows and look at another app, it quietly slopes off and you have to reopen it. I presume it has something more important to do than hang around waiting for users...

Re: Screen Grabs

16 Sep 2017 22:37:54

Mick Burrell

Grab was suggested further up.