# Screenshots not working on Mac? How to fix them

> Check the shortcuts in Keyboard settings, the Save to option in ⌘⇧5, and Screen & System Audio Recording for third-party apps. Then restart.

If **⌘⇧3**, **⌘⇧4** or **⌘⇧5** do nothing, open **System Settings → Keyboard → Keyboard Shortcuts → Screenshots** and make sure the shortcuts are switched on and set to their defaults. If the shortcut works but no file appears, press **⌘⇧5**, click **Options** and check **Save to**: if it says **Clipboard**, nothing is being saved as a file. If it's a third-party screenshot app that stopped working, open **System Settings → Privacy & Security → Screen & System Audio Recording**, make sure the app is switched on, then quit and reopen it. If none of that helps, restart the Mac.

## The built-in way

Work out which part is broken first, because the fixes are different.

### Nothing happens when you press the shortcut

1. Open **System Settings → Keyboard**, click **Keyboard Shortcuts…**, and choose **Screenshots** in the sidebar. Each shortcut has a checkbox; make sure the ones you use are ticked. If a shortcut has been changed, **Restore Defaults** puts them back.
2. Check whether another app has claimed the keys. Other screenshot tools, cloud storage apps and remote-desktop tools can take over **⌘⇧3** and **⌘⇧4**. Quit the likely suspects and try again.
3. Test the tool without the keyboard: open Spotlight, type **Screenshot**, and open the app. If its toolbar appears and captures work, the problem is the shortcut, not the screenshot feature.

### The capture happens, but the file isn't where you expect

- **Check Save to.** In **⌘⇧5 → Options**, **Save to** decides where every screenshot goes. If it's set to Clipboard, the image is waiting to be pasted, not saved. If it's set to a folder, look there. [How to change where screenshots are saved on Mac](/blog/change-screenshot-save-location-mac/) covers both the setting and the Terminal version.
- **Wait for the thumbnail.** With the floating thumbnail turned on, the file is saved once the thumbnail slides away, a few seconds later. Drag the thumbnail somewhere and the screenshot goes there instead of to your usual folder.
- **Search for it.** Spotlight for "Screenshot" finds recent ones by name, wherever they landed.

### Parts of the screenshot come out black

That's usually on purpose. Protected video (streaming services, the TV app) is captured as a black rectangle, and some apps mark their windows as not capturable. A work-managed Mac can also have screenshots restricted by its device management profile; if so, that's a question for your IT team, not a setting you can change.

### Still broken

Restart, and install any waiting macOS update.

## When a third-party screenshot app stops working

Apps other than Apple's need permission to see your screen. In macOS Sequoia and later it's **System Settings → Privacy & Security → Screen & System Audio Recording**; on Sonoma and earlier the same list is called **Screen Recording**.

1. Find the app in the list and make sure its switch is on.
2. If it's on and the app still can't capture, switch it off and on again, or remove it with **−** and add it back with **+**.
3. **Quit and reopen the app.** macOS generally needs a relaunch before a new grant reaches an app that's already running.

Since macOS Sequoia, Apple also asks you from time to time to re-confirm apps that can record your screen. In the shipping release the prompt comes about once a month and offers **Allow For One Month** or **Open System Settings**, and Apple has adjusted the timing between versions. If an app went quiet right after one of these prompts, check its switch in the list above.

Switches also get flipped by accident: a **Deny** clicked on a lookalike prompt, or an update that resets per-app permissions. When an app breaks right after an update, check its permission first.

## If hypershot stops capturing

The above applies, and hypershot tries to make the failure obvious instead of silent ([permissions revoked mid-use](/docs/hypershot/getting-started/permissions-revoked/)):

- **If Screen Recording is turned off** while hypershot is running, the next capture is cancelled and the **Permissions** window opens. Re-enable hypershot in **Screen & System Audio Recording**, then quit and reopen hypershot.
- **If it was off when hypershot launched**, the Permissions window appears before anything else.
- **To check where things stand**, choose **Show Permissions Setup** from the menu bar menu. It shows the live status of each permission.
- **Accessibility** matters only if you've set a capture hotkey that uses a macOS system shortcut, like **⌘⇧4**. The default hotkeys, such as `⌘⇧2` for a region, deliberately avoid those and keep working without it. While Accessibility is off, **Settings → Shortcuts** shows a banner with a **Set up** button.
- **If a hotkey can't register** because macOS or another app owns the combination, **Settings → Shortcuts** says so instead of quietly swapping in something else ([hotkeys](/docs/hypershot/settings/hotkeys/)).

## Questions people ask

### I can't find the hypershot icon to open Settings.

macOS hides menu bar icons when the bar is full, and on a MacBook with a notch they often sit under it. Hold **⌘** and drag other icons to make room, and hypershot's icon reappears. More in the [FAQ](/docs/hypershot/faq/).

### Can I use ⌘⇧4 for hypershot instead of the macOS tool?

Yes. Turn the macOS shortcut off in **Keyboard Shortcuts → Screenshots**, assign it in hypershot's **Settings → Shortcuts**, and grant Accessibility when asked. hypershot notices the system shortcut is now free.

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From https://hypernuclear.com/blog/mac-screenshots-not-working/