How to find and delete old screenshots on Mac

A practical guide from the makers of Clear Storage — Disk Visualizer

Screenshots are the perfect clutter: created in a second, useful for a minute, kept forever. Screen recordings are worse — a few minutes of screen capture outweighs hundreds of photos. And on a Mac they accumulate in two different places, which is why cleanup attempts usually miss half of them.

The two stashes

• Local folders: by default, macOS drops screenshots on the Desktop (Shift-Cmd-3/4) and screen recordings wherever you configured. Over time they migrate into Documents and project folders.
• Photos library: screenshots synced from an iPhone via iCloud Photos, plus anything imported. These don't show up in Finder at all.

Checking only one stash is why "I already deleted my screenshots" and "why is my disk still full" coexist.

Finding both at once

1. In Clear Storage, run a scan that includes your Photos library and local folders. The Screenshots and Screen Recordings results cover both locations together.
2. Sort recordings by size first — each one is worth dozens of screenshots.
3. Scan the screenshot list by date. The ones older than a month have almost always served their purpose: an error message you already fixed, a receipt you already filed, a meme you already sent.
4. Keep the few that are documents in disguise (confirmations, licenses), remove the rest, review, clean up.

Slowing the refill

Change the screenshot save location to a single dedicated folder (a quick defaults write or the Screenshot app's Options menu does it) — then future cleanups are one folder, one sort, one sweep. And rescan monthly; the app's history shows how much the habit is saving you.