Screenshot suddenly has stopped working!

It has been working fine for years up until yesterday... as of today I do CMD/Shift/4 and nothing happens. Nothing at all. I'm on OS 10.6.8, all four of the keyboard shortcut options are ticked in the Screenshots box in Keyboard/Preferences, I've tried logging in as a new user with a test account I created, same problem. I have been having a few keyboard issues lately (it's starting to get a bit sticky), however, the CMD key works fine independently, as does the SHIFT key and the number 4. I've been doing lots of google searches on the subject, and just can't find an answer to this inexplicable and sudden mystery. Can anyone help please? I find it virtually impossible to work without this function... Thanks in advance!

Just wondering, should I maybe try and reinstall the OS? It would be a bit of a hassle I guess as my original installer disks are 10.6.3 and I'd have to update again to 10.6.8! Also worried about losing settings and passwords and stuff, never re-installed OS before. I'm really desperate to find an answer - as I said it's very difficult for me to work without this function? Any ideas at all out there please???!!! Thanks!

Your computer may just need to repair a few permissions and some additional clean up/maintenance. Do you happen to have Onyx...the Mac utlity app? For Snow Leopard, you will need version 2.4.0. If you go this route, install the software (it will walk you through). Find the Automation icon. Select Automation and tick all boxes and click Execute. This may do wonders for your Mac's peformance. Make sure you have a backup of your hdd first. This may save you from doing a OS install. Good luck.

Brent

Thanks! I've got a Quad-Core Intel Xeon Power Mac - would it be right for this?

Yes...the only thing with Onyx is getting the right version for your particular OS. They are listed on the Titanium website. I, too, continue to run Snow Leopard. I will upgrade to Yosemite when it is released.
I don't know how to insert links on this forum...buit simply Google Onyx+Titanium.

OK so I've got it installed, selected Automation, and clicked all the boxes under Maintenance, Rebuilding and Cleaning. I'm a bit paranoid - can anything go wrong? I've got all my work backed up on Time Machine. No back-up of applications and software though. It also says "it can take along time" - any idea how long it might be? Just afraid to click the Execute button, it all seems so overwhelming and I don't really understand it to be honest...

Actually maybe I should just use Grab instead - slightly less accessible but it might solve my problem short-term until I upgrade my OS. I'm kind of stuck on Snow Leopard because I'm concerned about incompatibilities (mainly Word) when I upgrade to, I guess Lion would be the next. Isn't that right that as soon as you go up from Snow Leopard you end up with various compatibility issues?

Hopefully you should be able to go straight to Yosemite from Snow Leopard. I will be installing a new ssd and additonal RAM before loading Yosemite, so it will be like a clean install instead of overwiriting the old OS.
Maybe some of the more knowledgable members will chime in and give you some assurance that executing Onyx in Automation mode is very safe and will probably be quite beneficial. I understand your hesitancy.

Is Yosemite basically the OS after Mavericks? I'll have to find about it. I've got a Mac Pro that I got in mid 2009 and it might not be up to it... What mac have you got?

Before you pull the trigger and update your OS think about the apps you are running. Any software that uses PowerPC code won't work on 10.7 and higher. You're going to need at least 4GB of ram to run 10-7 or above effectively. More would be better.

Have you tried ⌘⇧3 and/or ⌘⇧4, [space bar], [mouse click]?

Also in OnyX, you can limit yourself to just one step at this point: under Parameters | General try changing the destination folder and file name for screenshots - might bring the function back.

I've got 6GB of RAM so I'm OK as far as that goes for updating OS. I have to go through all my apps and double-check compatibility but I think the only problem might be my Word:mac software, which is version X (quite old I think). Not too worried about word-processing software but I've got plenty of old files (correspondence, invoices, etc) that might become inaccessible.

I had a look at Onyx Parameters/General for destination folder for screenshots and it is my desktop, which it's always been. I tried to change it in Onyx just to test things out but then I got this warning/prompt that I didn't understand, so I chickened out! I'm working all the time right now and can't afford any possible down-time.

I don't understand what you mean about doing command,shift, 3 (or 4), followed by space bar and mouse click?

Finally, I'm wondering if it's the keyboard. This keyboard has been a bit sticky for a while but I haven't changed it cuz I'm too cheap and probably waiting for it to completely not work. But I notice that when I power up and I'm asked to put in my account password, all these characters (dots) inexplicably appear, like a string of them, where the password is supposed to go, and I have to just quickly highlight them and put my password in over them, then I'm in with no problems. It's as though, some invisible force is typing gibberish on my password line! But this never happens in any other way, weird. Does anyone think it could possibly be a keyboard thing? Even though I've tested the command key, the shift key, and the 4 key, individually, and they all worked fine?

Well further on to my last post I just spoke to Apple and they seem fairly certain that when I install the new OS it will resolve the screenshot problem, as it's unlike to be a hardware issue! They don't think it's a keyboard issue as when I tested the command/shift/4 keys individually they worked fine. It also seems that the inbuilt WP software (Pages I think) will be able to open all my Word:Mac X documents, or I an upgrade to Word:Mac 2013. I primarily use CS, I'm on 4 at the moment but I also have 6. I prefer 4 so I keep on working with it. I'm hoping that I will be able to use CS4 on Yosemite, but if I have to start using CS6 I can do that, begrudgingly. They can't give me any more guidance than that on the screenshot issue without me paying for tech support ticket!

Jenniffer7777 said:

Not too worried about word-processing software but I've got plenty of old files (correspondence, invoices, etc) that might become inaccessible.

Click to expand...

Either OpenOffice or Libre Office (both free) will be able to work with your old Word files, so you won't need to splash out for new MS Office.

Jenniffer7777 said:

I had a look at Onyx Parameters/General for destination folder for screenshots and it is my desktop, which it's always been. I tried to change it in Onyx just to test things out but then I got this warning/prompt that I didn't understand, so I chickened out! I'm working all the time right now and can't afford any possible down-time.

Click to expand...

I actually prefer my screenshots to go into a folder called, surprisingly, "Screenshots"
If you only change that one thing in OnyX and OK it, it shouldn't affect anything else.
If you're still finding OnyX a bit overwhelming, try Deeper from the same Titanium software, it also has the ability to change a few things in OS X,including format and destination for screenshots, but significantly less complex in its appearance.

Jenniffer7777 said:

I don't understand what you mean about doing command,shift, 3 (or 4), followed by space bar and mouse click?

Click to expand...

⌘⇧3 gets you your full screen
⌘⇧4 gives you a cross-hair to drag and select an area
⌘⇧4, [space bar], [mouse click] gets a screenshot of the active window

I was just trying to see if any of these work, or don't, as the case may be.

Jenniffer7777 said:

Finally, I'm wondering if it's the keyboard. .....
Even though I've tested the command key, the shift key, and the 4 key, individually, and they all worked fine?

Click to expand...

It could be the keyboard, and while individually keys work, if the keyboard is malfunctioning, it could be not transmitting the fact, that these keys were pressed simultaneously, so the OS is just reading sequential presses and not a key combination?

Thanks for all your amazing advice and help! No none of those screenshot commands work unfortunately! Very odd, fine for ages and then suddenly not working. So much easier to diagnose problems when there is a gradual change or deterioration in a particular function. I may go ahead and do that process with Onyx. When I click go ahead there is some prompt about 'reconfiguring IC-something", and asking me if I'm OK with that! I can't remember the prompt precisely, I should've taken a screenshot! I would do it again now but it requires me to quit out of Safari. When I attempt it again later I'll make a note of the prompt and tell you what it is, so you an put my mind at rest that it is not some major risk I'm about to take! ;-)

By the way I was going to say that I had posted this question also on Apple Support Communities and Mac Rumours - not one single response. Perhaps this is the best place to go for mac queries maybe?

Right, when I click on select to choose a new destination in Onyx, I get the prompt, "Onyx will relaunch the SystemUIServer process. This process displays the icons at the right of the Finder menu bar." Then I have to either cancel or continue. As I don't understand what this means I pressed 'cancel'.

Jenniffer7777 said:

Right, when I click on select to choose a new destination in Onyx, I get the prompt, "Onyx will relaunch the SystemUIServer process. This process displays the icons at the right of the Finder menu bar." Then I have to either cancel or continue. As I don't understand what this means I pressed 'cancel'.

Click to expand...

Yeah, that's the one:


Don't worry about it (as long as you haven't changed anything else, unintentionally). OnyX will ask you to confirm each change like that.

Once you've done with these:



Just quit the OnyX, and try all three screen capture key sequences.

BTW, the shadow option is illustrated by the above screenshots: first with, second - without.

OK done all that, and it STILL doesn't work! How annoying. I think I'll just have to wait to see what happens when I upgrade to Yosemite and buy myself a new keyboard. I'll just have to use the Grab application for the mean time. Not as intuitive and immediate for me but it'll do! Thanks again for all your help and advice!

I'm sorry to hear that ...

Borrowing a different keyboard might clear the uncertainty though

Also, as a last resort, I suppose, try changing the key sequence(s) in System Preferences | Keyboard | Shortcuts | Screen Shots - to see if that helps. OS X should alert you to any potential conflict (i.e. the new sequence is already in use somewhere else).

One other thing (and rather obscure one at that) to try is to see if the function can be called upon via Services:

In TextEdit, type a few characters, then secondary click on the page, from the menu select Capture Selection From Screen. You should see a message similar to "Drag over the area you wish to capture" or something to that effect. If, once you've done it, you get a picture inside your new document, then the function of screen capture is working, if not ...