Can I change where Android saves screenshots?

Last reviewed: September 25, 2026 · Markdown version

Not with any setting Google or Samsung documents. Android's help tells you where screenshots go, not how to send them elsewhere, and the save-location option on Galaxy phones belongs to screen recordings. What you can change is where the pictures live after they are taken.

Where Android puts them

Android defines the destination as a standard folder: DIRECTORY_SCREENSHOTS is the "Standard directory in which to place screenshots that have been taken by the user. Typically used as a secondary directory under DIRECTORY_PICTURES" (Environment — Android Developers, read 25 September 2026). Google's user help covers taking and finding them — "At the bottom, tap Collections On this device Screenshots" in the Photos app — and has no step for choosing a different folder (Take a screenshot or record your screen on your Android device, read 25 September 2026). The full route to them.

What Samsung offers, and for what

Samsung's screenshot guide ends with where to view them: "open the Gallery app, then tap the Albums tab, and then tap the Screenshots folder", or open My Files and tap Images. It lists no option for changing that folder (How to take a screenshot on a Samsung phone or tablet, US edition, read 25 September 2026).

Screen recordings are the exception. Samsung's recorder settings include "Save screen recordings in : Select where your screen recordings will save", with the note "This option may not be available on all devices" (Record and capture your Galaxy phone or tablet's screen, US edition, read 25 September 2026). Samsung's UK page confirms it — "You can change the save location in the Screen recorder settings" — and gives the menu path: Settings › Advanced features › Screenshots and screen recordings (How to record your screen on your Samsung Galaxy device, read 25 September 2026). Neither Samsung page offers the same choice for screenshots. If your phone shows one, it is a feature of your model and software that these pages do not describe.

Moving them yourself

Files by Google moves several at once: in the Images category, press and hold one screenshot, "tap the circle" on each of the others, then More › Move to, "Tap Internal storage", pick the folder and "Tap Move here" (Move files to an existing folder in Internal storage, read 25 September 2026). On a Galaxy phone, My Files does the same with Move and "Move here" (Samsung's US guide: Manage files on your Galaxy phone or tablet, read 25 September 2026). Making the destination folder first.

Expect the moved pictures to leave the Screenshots album. Samsung's own wording above treats that album as "the Screenshots folder", so a screenshot that is no longer in the folder is no longer in it.

Having it done after every screenshot

This is a case where Adinand Auto File Sorter is a direct answer, with one important qualification: it does not change where Android saves the screenshot. It moves it afterwards. Screenshots is one of its watched-folder presets on Pro, offered only when that folder exists on your phone, and watched folders need Android 11 or later. Each picture then goes to Downloads › Sorted Files, under Images by default. A custom rule (also Pro) can name a different folder, but it is always created inside Sorted Files.

What to know before switching it on: with background auto-sort (also Pro) it runs on a schedule, from every 15 minutes to once a day, but Android and some phone makers can delay or stop background work, and the app shows a warning when that has happened. It only takes files sitting directly in the folder, never anything in a sub-folder. Every sort is recorded in History, and on Pro any past sort can be put back.