Changing the Default Folder for Screenshots

[2arch]

What Happened?

Hi, I want to save all screenshots to go to my obsidian vault, and to do so I need to change the default folder for screenshots.

What can I edit in the source so that I can make this feature available?

Steps to Reproduce

Searched online on forums, but all solutions seem to be outdated

Expected Behavior

Screenshot -> /custom/directory instead of Screenshot /Pictures/Screenshots

OS Version

7.x (Horus)

Software Version

Latest release (I have run all updates)

Log Output

No response

Hardware Info

No response

[jeremypw]

The workflow for screenshots is being rethought in #253 and that includes the possibility of specifying the destination rather than defaulting to the Screenshots folder. As a workaround you could try replacing the actual screenshots folder with a symbolic link to your desired location (renamed to Screenshots)

[teamcons]

It is exposed on dconf. So you can install dconf-editor and go to /io/elementary/screenshot/
And change the path for the key "folder-dir"

[jeremypw]

I think that for the Flatpak version of screenshot, that setting is compiled inside the sandbox so not so easy to change? However, just tried the OS8 flatpak version and it gives a chance to choose where to save the screenshot and the chosen folder is persisted between runs.

[jeremypw]

Another approach would be to edit the file .config/user-dirs.dirs in your home folder to change the path of XDG_PICTURES_DIR . However, that would mean all your pictures would be saved in the new directory at least by apps that use XDG_PICTURES_DIR (which Screenshot does).

[ernstki]

Another approach would be to edit the file .config/user-dirs.dirs in your home folder to change the path of XDG_PICTURES_DIR . However, that would mean all your pictures would be saved in the new directory at least by apps that use XDG_PICTURES_DIR (which Screenshot does).

If you accidentally move ~/Pictures, say, into ~/bin, which is easy to do with an errant drag-and-drop with Files, you'll end up with a ~/Screenshots folder and much confusion.

Presumably, xdg-user-dirs-update is responsible for this, as its documentation states that it's run very early in the login phase […] and sets up a config file in $(XDG_CONFIG_HOME)/user-dirs.dirs.

If you get in this situation, or generally want to customize where that Screenshots folder ends up, the only solution at the moment seems to be to manually edit ~/.config/user-dirs.dirs, e.g.

--- user-dirs.dirs.old	2024-12-20 03:45:41.697799443 -0500
+++ user-dirs.dirs	2024-12-20 03:46:27.299647451 -0500
@@ -11,5 +11,5 @@
 XDG_PUBLICSHARE_DIR="$HOME/"
 XDG_DOCUMENTS_DIR="$HOME/Documents"
 XDG_MUSIC_DIR="$HOME/Music"
-XDG_PICTURES_DIR="$HOME/"
+XDG_PICTURES_DIR="$HOME/Pictures"
 XDG_VIDEOS_DIR="$HOME/"

Regardless, for the time being, you'll have to live with the Screenshots part, being a subdirectory of whatever XDG_PICTURES_DIR is defined as in ~/.config/user-dirs.dirs.

[ernstki]

Related:

• https://elementaryos.stackexchange.com/questions/5384/change-the-folder-where-screenshots-are-saved