You can easily take a screenshot on your Mac computer by pressing Command + Shift + 3 or 4 at the same time. However, some users are complaining that they are unable to save their screenshots on their Macs because a message appears and says:
“Your screenshot cannot be saved. You are not allowed to save files to the location where the screenshots are stored. "
So why can't you take a screenshot on your Mac? What does this message mean exactly? Usually, this message appears when the folder on your Mac where your screenshots are saved has a permission problem. But in some cases, the error of "screenshot which cannot be saved" is caused by a small problem in the system of your Mac. Here are some tips that you can try to resolve the screenshot recording issue..
Take screenshots with FonePaw Screen Recorder
If you cannot save your screenshots because your Mac says "you are not allowed to save files to the location where the screenshots are stored" but you need to take a screenshot immediately, then you can use FonePaw Screen Recorder (opens new window) to take your Mac screenshot right away.
Step 1: Download and install the program on your Mac.
Step 2: Launch FonePaw Screen Recorder, then adjust the blue dashed lines to outline the area of your screen that you want to capture..
Step 3: Click on the camera icon to take a screenshot. The screenshot will be saved to the location you chose in “Preferences” → “General”.
Apart from taking screenshots, you can also use FonePaw Screen Recorder to record videos of your Mac's screen with system sounds (opens new window) .
Restart the Mac
Sometimes it's little macOS bugs that make your Mac computer think you don't have permission to save files to the location where the screenshots are stored. One trick is to restart your Mac. Shut down your computer and then turn it back on. It's that simple..
Check where screenshots are stored
If you still cannot save screenshots after restarting your computer, then the default folder used to save screenshots may have a permission issue.
To find out where the screenshots are stored, you can run a terminal command.
Launch Spotlight, then enter "Terminal" to open the Terminal window. You can also go to “Finder” → “Applications” → “Utilities” → “Terminal”. Then type the following command: defaults read com.apple.screencapture location . Press the Enter key on the keyboard.
You should get a result like "/ Users / default / Desktop" which indicates that the location where your screenshots are saved is the desktop.
Tip: If the "defaults read com.apple.screencapture location" command returns the following result: "defaults delete com.apple.ScreenCapture", it means that your screenshots should be saved to the Desktop by default, but there are incorrect permissions or wrong entries in the access control list.
After confirming the location where the screenshots are stored on your Mac, you can apply one of the following tips to resolve your screenshots location permission issue.
Reset the location where screenshots are stored
In the Terminal window, you can enter a command line to change the location where screenshots are stored. For example, if you want to save your screenshots to the desktop, enter the following command line:
defaults write com.apple.screencapture location ~ / Desktop ”then press Enter.
Then enter the following command line: killall SystemUIServer and press Enter . This will restart the menu bar and ask your Mac to accept the changes to save your screenshots to the desktop.
Now take a screenshot and check if the computer can save your screenshot without showing the error "You do not have permission to save files to the location where the screenshots are. stored ”.
Set the user account as the default account
If the user account you are using is not the default account, then you can enter the following command line in Terminal:
defaults delete com.apple.ScreenCapture
Then restart your Mac. This should fix the issue of screenshots that cannot be saved.
Unlock the folder where screenshots are saved
You can find out which folder the screenshots are stored in by default using the "defaults read com.apple.screencapture location" command line. Now you need to check if the folder is locked and if your user account has read and write access to the folder.
Step 1: Open Finder and right click on the folder where screenshots are stored by default on your Mac, like Desktop for example.
Step 2: Click “Read Info” → “General”.
Step 3: If the “Locked” box is checked, uncheck it.
Step 4: Next, pull down the “Sharing and permissions” section, and make sure the user account you are using can read and write to the folder.
If the screenshot cannot be saved when a browser is running
Some users have noticed that if an internet browser, like Firefox for example, is running, then they cannot take screenshots. In this case, the error stating that "you are not allowed to save files to the location where the screenshots are stored" is caused by a program called Trusteer Endpoint Protection (Rapport), recommended by some banks to fight against fraud and theft in online transactions. The Rapport program has probably been configured to block screenshots. Perform the following steps to resolve this conflict:
Open “Trusteer” → “Console”.
Navigate to "Block screenshots". Select the “Never” option.
These are all the tips you can use to resolve the "You do not have permission to save files to the screenshot storage location" error. If you ever have any additional questions, feel free to ask them in the comments section below!