You may want to try it like this to make sure:

mkdir /Full/Path/To/Folder
defaults write com.apple.screencapture location !$

Even if the folder already exists it will work.

or better
mkdir -p /Path/

I can change the location-string in the plist. But no matter which folder I choose, when I save my screenshots, a Popup-window opens, I have to enter the name of the file and to choose the location. And the default location is always "desktop".

This hint applies to using the command shift 3 and 4 keyboard shortcuts for making screenshots. Not for using the 'Grab' application.

usage: screencapture [-icmwsWx] [file]
  -i      capture screen interactively, by selection or window
            control key - causes screen shot to go to clipboard
            space key   - toggle between mouse selection and
                          window selection modes
            escape key  - cancels interactive screen shot
  -c      force screen capture to go to the clipboard
  -m      only capture the main monitor, undefined if -i is set
  -w      only allow window selection mode
  -s      only allow mouse selection mode
  -W      start interaction in window selection mode
  -x      do not play sounds
  -S      in window capture mode, capture the screen not the window
  file    where to save the screen capture

Working well, I have a folder called 'Shots' on the desktop that it's saving to.

However, it now seems to actually write the file a lot slower. For example, if I took 3 successful screenshots without this hint, it made pic 1, 2, and 3 on the desktop.

Now it names all the temp files pic 1 and only produces one file in the destination folder. If I didn't look at the folder to witness this I would assume it's eating my screenshots.

If I wait an extra few seconds between screenshots, there's no problem.

Why is that, do you think?

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http://www.macskill.com/

Strange. Just pressed screeshot keys 20 times and got 20 pdfs in folder I choosed. No problems. But system was unusable for 20-30 seconds. Well, CPU usage was 100% at that time.

When you control click on an image in Safari you get a menu were you can save the image to the desktop as one of the options. My question is this,
can I use something like this hint to change the default location to say a
folder somewhere else. Rather than mix them up with my pictures in Iphoto.

I think it defaults to your Downloads folder, set in Safari's preferences. If you hold Option, it changes to Save Image As…

For those that don't like the command line, I made an AppleScript app. You can get it from ScriptBuilders.net.

If you're too lazy to log out and log back in, issue a "killall SystemUIServer", since SystemUIServer seems to handle the screenshot service.

I don't spend time in Terminal, so please forgive my ignorance.

How would I change the default location for my screenshots to a different drive?