User profile for user: missStephanie
missStephanie Author
User level: Level 1
16 points

Mac OS Screenshot Delay

https://www.makeuseof.com/how-to-disable-screenshot-previews-on-mac/

defaults write com.apple.screencapture show-thumbnail -bool false

defaults write com.apple.screencapture type JPG;killall SystemUIServer


"Disabling floating screenshot thumbnails helps eliminate the need to wait between screenshots."


.... Even with this feature disabled, there is still a write-to-disk delay before the screenshot file appears on the desktop or in the finder window. Using PNG or JPG format, i estimate it takes about 3 sec for the file to show up.

Is there any other trick to reduce this delay?


I have about 50gb of free space. It could be a memory limitation, but screenshot write to disk used to be faster a few years ago. Currently using Monterey 12.4 on Mac Mini M1 2020.


Another thought is that it might be a delay caused by interaction with Markup.


Any thoughts?

Mac mini, macOS 12.4

Posted on Apr 29, 2023 10:36 AM

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User profile for user: missStephanie
missStephanie Author
User level: Level 1
16 points

Posted on Apr 29, 2023 11:05 AM

Update:


There was a comment in another thread about opening the Screenshot App from the Utilities menu and changing the settings, and how simply changing the settings in the menu is not enough for it to save the settings. Rather you must change the setting, then take a screenshot using that app rather than change the setting and close it. I disregarded this as my settings already has "floating screenshot" disabled.


However, after changing the settings back and forth, the delay seems to be down to 0.5 to 1 sec. So maybe the act of changing the settings is refreshing the underlying system file that may have been wrong or corrupt. I suppose this is the equivalent of "turn the computer off and on again."

  1. Try changing the Timer setting to "5 seconds"
  2. Use the "Capture" button to take a screenshot.
  3. Change the Timer setting back to "none".
  4. Use the "Capture" button to take a screenshot.
  5. Now try shift command 3 and see what the screenshot write-to-disk delay is.


-------

Another user suggested deleting these files:

~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.screencapture.plist

~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.screencaptureui.plist

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Question marked as Top-ranking reply
User profile for user: missStephanie
missStephanie Author
User level: Level 1
16 points

Apr 29, 2023 11:05 AM in response to missStephanie

Update:


There was a comment in another thread about opening the Screenshot App from the Utilities menu and changing the settings, and how simply changing the settings in the menu is not enough for it to save the settings. Rather you must change the setting, then take a screenshot using that app rather than change the setting and close it. I disregarded this as my settings already has "floating screenshot" disabled.


However, after changing the settings back and forth, the delay seems to be down to 0.5 to 1 sec. So maybe the act of changing the settings is refreshing the underlying system file that may have been wrong or corrupt. I suppose this is the equivalent of "turn the computer off and on again."

  1. Try changing the Timer setting to "5 seconds"
  2. Use the "Capture" button to take a screenshot.
  3. Change the Timer setting back to "none".
  4. Use the "Capture" button to take a screenshot.
  5. Now try shift command 3 and see what the screenshot write-to-disk delay is.


-------

Another user suggested deleting these files:

~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.screencapture.plist

~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.screencaptureui.plist

Reply

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Mac OS Screenshot Delay

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