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Recover Deleted Screenshots on Mac in 4 Working Ways

Updated on Wednesday, January 3, 2024

iBoysoft author Ciki Liu

Written by

Ciki Liu
Professional tech editor

Approved by

Jessica Shee

English

How to Recover Deleted Screenshots on Mac [4 Effective Ways]

Summary: If you accidentally delete screenshots on Mac, this post covers four effective ways to recover deleted screenshots on Mac. By employing iBoysoft Data Recovery for Mac, you can restore permanently deleted screenshots with ease. 

how to recover deleted screenshots on Mac

Without the extra help from some third-party software, you can easily take a screenshot on Mac by utilizing the built-in program Screenshot or pressing keyboard shortcuts. By default, screenshots taken will be stored on the Mac desktop. Nevertheless, users may accidentally delete the screenshots on Mac, having no clue where to find the images.  

The good news is that, in most cases, the screenshots are not gone for good. With proper practice on how to recover deleted screenshots on Mac, you can restore deleted files on Mac with a fair success rate. Let's move forward.

Table of Contents:

Recover deleted screenshots on Mac from the Trash

Possibly, you just move the picture to the Trash without emptying the bin further. To recover deleted screenshots on Mac under this circumstance, open the Trash folder and scroll through to find deleted items, named in the form of Screen Shot 2023-02-23 at 3.13.40 PM. You can then drag them to the desktop or right-click and select the Put Back option.

recover deleted screenshots from Trash

 Note: Mac will automatically remove items from the Trash after 30 days. Therefore, you won't be able to recover deleted screenshots on Mac once they've run out of warranty. To recover deleted screenshots on Mac without time limits, try the next method.

Please share this post to help others know how to recover deleted screenshots on Mac.

 

Recover deleted screenshots on Mac with iBoysoft Data Recovery

Regardless of how you delete or when you delete a screenshot on Mac, iBoysoft Data Recovery for Mac gets you covered in any data recovery situation. By employing advanced algorithms to search for as many of the deleted files as possible, with 95% of them being identified and recovered, iBoysoft Data Recovery for Mac is the best data recovery tool for deleted screenshots recovery.

For permanently deleted files, iBoysoft Data Recovery for Mac handles with ease too. That's to say, even if deleted screenshots expire after 30 days or you've emptied the Trash, this powerful Mac data recovery tool can also restore the data back. In addition to screenshots on Mac, it recovers data in a rich range of file types, including documents, videos, audio, emails, etc.

By offering a user-friendly and intuitive interface, iBoysoft makes it easy to navigate for both beginners and experienced users. Follow the steps below to recover deleted screenshots on Mac with this professional Mac data recovery tool.

 Note: To avoid data being overwritten and prevent data loss again, you need to prepare an external hard drive to store the recovered screenshots.

Step 1. Free download and install iBoysoft Data Recovery for Mac. After proper installation, launch it from the Application folder.  

Step 2. Under Storage Device, choose your Macintosh HD and click on Search for Lost Data.

scan internal disk

Step 3. Filter the scanning results by Type and Path. Then free preview deleted screenshots.

preview files

Step 4. Once making sure which images to recover, check the box in front of them and tap on the Recover button. Restore deleted screenshots on Mac to the external hard drive you prepare.

Share this tool if you find it helpful.

 

Recover deleted screenshots on Mac from Time Machine backup

If you happen to back up the system with Time Machine before deleting the screenshots on Mac, luckily for you, data recovery can be done without data recovery software.

How to recover deleted screenshots on Mac with Time Machine

Step 1. Connect your Mac with the external storage device used to keep Time Machine backups.

Step 2. By default, the screenshots are stored on the Desktop, which is no need to open a Finder window. However, if you've modified the destination folder of Mac screenshots, open the folder containing the screenshots from Finder.

Step 3. Tap on the Time Machine icon from the Mac menu bar to open this program.

Step 4. To spot the screenshots you wish to retrieve, use the arrow and timeline to navigate through the previous backups and snapshots.

Time Machine backups

Step 5. Click the Restore button after selecting the screenshot that needs to be restored. The screenshot will be placed back where it was saved originally.

Similarly, if you've backed up important files with iCloud, you can recover deleted screenshots on Mac with the iCloud backup copy.

Recover deleted screenshots on Mac from Tmp/Temp folder

The Tmp/Temp folder on Mac stores temporary files created by macOS and applications. It's likely the screenshots are placed in the temporary folder. To find and recover deleted screenshots on Mac from the tmp folder, check the tutorial below.

Step 1. Open Terminal from the Application folder.

Step 2. Enter the following codes and press Enter to run the commands.

open $TMPDIR

recover deleted screenshots from the tem folder

Step 3. The tem folder in Finder will pop up. Search for your missing screenshots by utilizing the search bar.  

tem folder

Step 4. After finding the target pictures, drag-drop the items to a preferred location.

Now that you know how to recover files from the temp folder on Mac, don't forget to share it with your friends.

 

Conclusion

This post covers practical solutions on how to recover deleted screenshots on Mac with easy-to-follow tutorials. While other data recovery methods have limitations of all sorts, iBoysoft Data Recovery is the most versatile choice no matter which case you are in. Don't hesitate to download this Mac data recovery tool to recover permanently deleted screenshots on Mac.  

FAQs about how to recover deleted screenshots on Mac

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You can recover permanently deleted screenshots with the help of iBoysoft Data Recovery. This professional data recovery software offers strong support in restoring permanently deleted files on both Windows and Mac computers with a high success recovery rate.

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On Mac models, you can find deleted screenshots in the Trash. Click on the trash icon from the Dock. To locate the target files more quickly, you can type in Screen Shot in the search bar at the top-right corner.

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If you use the keyboard shortcuts to take a screenshot on Mac, say, Command + Shift + 4, a thumbnail of the screenshot will appear at the bottom-right corner of the screen. However, if you forget to right-click on the item and assign a location for it, the screenshot won’t be saved to your Mac. In other words, there are no unsaved screenshots on your Mac.