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How to Rename Screenshots on Mac (One, Many or by Default)

Name: Pizazoo
Author: Pizazoo

Rename screenshots on Mac one by one or in batches with Finder, change the default Screenshot name and date in Terminal, and automate it with Shortcuts.

October 6, 20266 min read

Muhammed BasilFounder & maker of Pizazoo

To rename a screenshot on a Mac, select it in Finder, press Return, type the new name and press Return again. To rename a batch, select them, Control-click one, choose Rename, and pick Replace Text, Add Text or Format. These Finder steps are the same on macOS 26 Tahoe and macOS 27, while the default "Screenshot" name itself can only be changed with a Terminal command.

We make Pizazoo, a screenshot organizer for Mac. It does not rename files; the last section explains the different approach it takes.

What are Mac screenshots named by default?

Apple's Mac User Guide for macOS 27 says screenshot filenames begin with "Screenshot" and include the date and time, and screen recordings begin with "Screen Recording" (Apple: Take screenshots on Mac). A typical file looks like Screenshot 2026-10-06 at 9.41.12 AM.png, with the time format following your region settings. The time uses periods rather than colons, and Finder names can't contain a colon anyway.

Older versions of macOS used "Screen Shot" (two words), which Apple's screenshot support article still shows. The Screenshot app's Options menu has settings for the timer, save location, floating thumbnail and mouse pointer, but none for the file name.

How do I rename a single screenshot on Mac?

From Apple's rename guide:

Select the screenshot in Finder, then press Return (or force click its name).
Type a new name. You can use numbers and most symbols, but not a colon, and the name can't start with a period.
Press Return.

Keep the .png at the end. Apple warns that if you change a file's extension, the file may no longer open in the app that created it.

How do I batch rename screenshots on Mac?

Finder has a built-in batch rename:

Select the screenshots, then Control-click one of them.
Choose Rename in the shortcut menu.
In the pop-up menu below Rename Finder Items, choose Replace Text, Add Text or Format.
Click Rename.

Each mode suits a different job:

Replace Text swaps one string for another. Find Screenshot and replace it with Acme invoice to get Acme invoice 2026-10-06 at 9.41.12 AM.png, keeping the date.
Add Text puts text before or after the current name, such as a project prefix.
Format builds new names from a custom name plus an index, counter or date, placed before or after the name, starting from a number you choose. It's handy for a numbered set of tutorial steps.

To gather only screenshots first, use a Finder search or a kMDItemIsScreenCapture:1 Smart Folder, both covered in how to delete screenshots on Mac. That screen capture flag is stored on the file, so renamed screenshots still show up in the Smart Folder.

How do I change the default screenshot name on Mac?

Use Terminal. Replace "Capture" with any prefix you like:

defaults write com.apple.screencapture name "Capture"
If your next screenshot still uses the old name, run killall SystemUIServer or log out and back in.
To go back to "Screenshot": defaults delete com.apple.screencapture name

Apple doesn't document this preference on its support site. It comes from long-standing community references (MacRumors), so Apple could change it in any release. Take a test screenshot on macOS 26 Tahoe or macOS 27 to confirm it works, and delete the key if it doesn't.

How do I remove the date from screenshot file names?

A second preference controls the date and time:

defaults write com.apple.screencapture include-date -bool false gives names like Screenshot.png, Screenshot 1.png and so on.
defaults delete com.apple.screencapture include-date restores the default.

The macOS defaults reference lists this key as tested on macOS Mojave through Sonoma, so check it on newer versions the same way. Think before turning dates off: in a Finder list, the date in the name is often the only clue to what a screenshot is. The file's created date is still kept, so Finder can sort by it either way.

Can Shortcuts rename screenshots automatically?

Yes, with some setup. The safest start is a Quick Action you run on screenshots you select in Finder:

In Shortcuts, create a new shortcut and add Repeat with Each on the Shortcut Input.
Inside the loop, add Get Details of Files set to Creation Date, Format Date with a custom format such as yyyy-MM-dd HH.mm.ss, then Rename File with a name like "Receipt" followed by the formatted date.
Open the shortcut's details, select Use as Quick Action, then choose Apple menu > System Settings > Privacy & Security > Extensions > Finder and turn the shortcut on.
In Finder, select screenshots, Control-click, and choose Quick Actions > your shortcut (Apple: Run a shortcut from another app on Mac).

Include the time in the format so two screenshots from the same day don't end up with the same name, and check that the result keeps the .png extension.

To rename every new screenshot with no clicks, attach a trigger. macOS 27 adds a Screenshot trigger ("When a screenshot is saved") (Apple: New in Shortcuts 27). On macOS 26 Tahoe, the Folder trigger ("When files are added to my Documents folder") works on your screenshots folder (Apple: What's new in Shortcuts 26). An automatic rename runs on every capture, so test it on a folder of copies first.

Do screenshot names matter if you can search what's inside them?

Less than you might think. A filename is a guess you make at capture time, but what you remember weeks later is usually something that was on screen: an error message, a price, a person's name. Our guide to searching text inside screenshots on Mac covers the built-in options.

We make Pizazoo. Pizazoo does not rename screenshot files; they keep whatever name macOS or your capture app gave them. Instead it lets you find screenshots by content:

Text search. On-device Apple Vision OCR reads the text in every screenshot, so typing any word you remember finds it. Text search is free.
Categories. On-device AI sorts screenshots into categories such as Code, Receipts, Chats, Errors, Design, Documents and Travel, and you can override any of them.
Tags. A review popup after each capture lets you tag a screenshot, keep it, recategorize it or discard it. Pro adds color tags and saved searches.

It works with screenshots from the macOS tool and from apps like CleanShot X, Shottr and Xnapper by watching their save folders, and it runs on macOS 14 Sonoma or later. If you also want descriptive filenames because you share files or browse them in Finder, a batch rename or Quick Action works alongside it. Download Pizazoo to try the content-first approach.