Sorting items by size can help you quickly discover – and potentially trash – large items. In order to filter what you find, choose View > As List to use the Finder’s column view. Perhaps these files will end up nestled with app installers, PDF copies of bills you need for your taxes, and other accumulated documents you haven’t yet got around to filing properly. You might download music from the likes of Bandcamp or Amazon, but then import it into the Music app, making the original downloads redundant. The Downloads folder can become a messy mix of semi-abandoned cruft and items you actually need. (Clicking the Clear button hides the Downloads button until you download something new.) Managing your downloaded files Clicking the magnifying glass button next to an item reveals the downloaded file in Finder. In Safari’s case, a Download button appears in the toolbar, which you click to view a list of recent downloads. Most people, though, stick with the default.īrowsers typically make it easy to quickly get to downloaded files.

This setting can be changed: in Safari, for example, go to Safari > Preferences, click General, choose Other from File download location, and then select a different folder. It’s where your Mac stores files downloaded by Safari, attachments you download from Messages, and where many other apps save files when you download them from the internet or other devices on a local network.

You can also quickly get to it from Go > Downloads ( Option+Command+L). If you don’t see it under Favorites, go to Finder > Preferences, and turn it on in the Sidebar tab. You can easily access the Downloads folder is easily accessed from Finder’s sidebar.

If you use this feature, your home folder – the one with the house icon and user name – is less important than in the past, but it remains that some important folders remain housed there – one of which is Downloads. Since macOS Sierra, you can opt to store your Desktop and Documents folders in iCloud, making whatever’s within them more easily accessible from other Macs and mobile devices. Apple increasingly nudges people to store their documents in the cloud. How To A Newbie’s Guide to Using the Mac Downloads Folder

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