How to turn off screenshot sound on Mac

How to turn off screenshot sound on Mac

I want to disable the noise played when screenshotting something (Cmd+Shift+3/4), but not other sounds such as emptying the Trash or moving a file. I can turn all of these on or off via the "Play user interface sound effects" checkbox in System Preferences > Sound > Sound Effects, but that's not what I want here. Can I rename/remove the system file (where?) that plays when this action is taken so the OS can't find it, or something?

How to turn off screenshot sound on Mac

level 1

You can call screencapture from the command line with -x. open a terminal window and type

screencapture --help

for a list of options, not nearly as nice as the cmd-shift-3/4, but I couldn't find any other way. Note that in Catalina you'll have to give terminal permission to record the screen.

level 2

Ah, smart! And I could try binding this to an Automator Service workflow or something – and bind it to Cmd-Shift-3/4, and disable the native shortcut there, essentially replacing it. Thanks for the suggestion!

EDIT: It works! Minus a small (~1 second) delay, unfortunately.

level 1

Why do you want to do this if I may ask?

level 2

I'm used to it, as this was the behavior on my old computer (not sure how I got it that way). Also it's just an annoying sound effect. Essentially I'd like to disable all of them except moving/copying files – it's nice to have auditory confirmation for that.

How To Turn Off Screen Shot & Empty Trash Sound Effects on Mac OS

How to turn off screenshot sound on Mac

So after many requests from our users, here is a guide about How to Turn Off Screenshots & Empty Trash Sound Effects in Mac OS X.

When you take a screenshot in Mac OS X or empty the trash, you will hear a small sound effect accompanying the action. With a screenshot, it sounds like a camera shutter clicks, and with the trash can, it sounds like many papers are being crumpled and thrown away.

Nice sound effects certainly alert a user of completing the task at hand, but are they necessary? Whether you want the audio feedback is up to you to decide, but you can easily turn off those Finder sound effects by changing a setting:

  • How to Disable user interface trash, screen recording, and sound effects in Mac OS X.
    • Advanced Use the command line to empty the trash and take screenshots silently
    • Defaults Write a command to disable sound effects in the system user interface
  • How to Turn Off Screen Shot & Empty Trash Sound Effects in Mac OS X Guide is free?
  • How to Turn Off Screen Shot & Empty Trash Sound Effects in Mac OS X benefits
  • How to Turn Off Screen Shot & Empty Trash Sound Effects in Mac OS X FAQ
    • Tutorial Summary How to Turn Off Screen Shot & Empty Trash Sound Effects in Mac OS X
    • How this tutorial helping you?
    • What is actual time in which this method is complete?
    • What are the supported Device?
    • What are the supported Operating systems?
  • How to Turn Off Screen Shot & Empty Trash Sound Effects in Mac OS X Tutorial final note

How to Disable user interface trash, screen recording, and sound effects in Mac OS X.

  1. Open the  Apple menu and open System Preferences
  2. Choose the “Sound” preference pane
  3. Under the ‘Sound Effect’ tab, uncheck the box next to ‘Play UI Sound Effects

How to turn off screenshot sound on Mac

You can confirm that the changes took place by taking a screenshot, emptying the trash, or performing another Finder-level task that usually has audio feedback. Of course, the actions are still taking place, but no sound effects are associated with them anymore. This also seems to mute the notification centre sound effect if you’re tired of hearing that too.

Muting system audio also has the same effect, but that mutes everything; otherwise, there is no way in the GUI to remove the sound effects outside of the Preferences switch.

Advanced: Use the command line to empty the trash and take screenshots silently

However, if we turn to the command line, we have options to take a screenshot both silently and silently with Trash.

You can also use the ‘screencapture’ command line tool to take a screenshot in silence:

screencapture -x quiet.jpg

The screencapture command has many other uses as well. You can read more about it here.

Likewise, you can empty the trash from the command line, which will also not provide audio feedback during the process:

rm ~ /. Garbage can / *

Accompanying that trick using sudo or chflags will also forcibly empty the trash from the command line, again without audio, even in the most stubborn situations.

Defaults Write a command to disable sound effects in the system user interface

If you’d rather use a standard command to turn off the system interface sound effects on the Mac, here’s How to do it:

Defaults write com. apple.system sound “com.apple.sound.audio.enabled” -int 0

Use the following to return the setting to the default setting, that is, system UI audio back on:

Defaults write com. apple.system sound “com.apple.sound.audio.enabled” -int 1

Thanks to @jhuckaby for the idea of ​​default settings!

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How to Turn Off Screen Shot & Empty Trash Sound Effects in Mac OS X: FAQ

Tutorial Summary: How to Turn Off Screen Shot & Empty Trash Sound Effects in Mac OS X

In this guide, we told you about How to Turn Off Screen Shot & Empty Trash Sound Effects in Mac OS X; please read all steps so that you understand How to Turn Off Screen Shot & Empty Trash Sound Effects in Mac OS X in case if you need any assistance from us, then contact us.


How this tutorial helping you?

So in this guide, we discuss the How to Turn Off Screen Shot & Empty Trash Sound Effects in Mac OS X, which undoubtedly helps you.


What is actual time in which this method is complete?

The time to complete the How to Turn Off Screen Shot & Empty Trash Sound Effects in Mac OS X tutorial is 10+ minutes.


What are the supported Device?


What are the supported Operating systems?




How to Turn Off Screen Shot & Empty Trash Sound Effects in Mac OS X Tutorial: final note

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How do I mute my screenshot voice?

There are several methods to turn off the screenshot sound on iPhones and Android..
Open Settings..
Go to Sound and Vibration. ... .
Scroll down and tap on Additional Settings..
Toggle off the Play sound when taking screenshots..

Does Mac screenshot make a sound?

Move a file to the trash, empty the trash, or take a screenshot of your Mac's desktop and your Mac will play a sound. If you're sick of those paper crumpling and camera shutter sounds, you can disable them by changing a single option. This option isn't necessarily where you'd expect it.

How do I turn off Sound Effects on Mac?

Choose whether to hear user interface sound effects: Your Mac plays sound effects when you perform certain actions, such as dragging an item to the Trash. To turn off these sound effects, turn off “Play user interface sound effects.”

How do I turn on screenshot sound?

You can go to Settings>Screenshot>S-capture(Super screenshot) to turn on/off Record voice. Then the sound will/won`t be recorded while you make a screen recording.