A typical problem new Mac users have is a Downloads folder that quickly fills with lots of files taking up a large amount of hard drive space. The Downloads folder is the default location for web downloads and it can be easy to forget to maintain it. It is accessible like any other Finder folder and you can easily sort it and delete or move items from it to keep it clean.

• Mac Downloads Folder Disappeared
• Clean Downloads Folder Mac

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Check out A Beginner’s Guide to the Mac Downloads Folder at YouTube for closed captioning and more options.

Video Transcript: Now if you're new to Mac you may not fully understand how the Downloads Folder works. The Downloads Folder is a special folder on your Mac that's used as the default location for all sorts of downloads from all sorts of different apps. Typically when you download something from Safari it may end up in the Downloads Folder. Now let's look at this image here on NASA's website and let's say we want to download it. Now sometimes a website will have a download button. You click it and it automatically starts to download. You don't get the choice of where it goes. In this case there is no automatic download button but if I Control click on the image you can see that one of the options I've got is Download Linked File As. This allows me to select a location. So I'm bypassing the Downloads Folder. But if I select Download Linked File it's not going to ask. It's just going to do it. When it does it you'll see the downloads button in the Toolbar show me the progress of what's going on. That's in the upper right hand corner. So it's right up here and you see the download happening. You also see the item leap from the page into the Downloads Folder which is in the Dock here and it's going to change to show its content. So in this case its got the item in there. I can click on it and depending upon how you've got your Dock setup it may show you the items in there. In this case I've got that one image. I can click here to open in Finder to get to the Downloads Folder. In Safari I can also click this button here and it will show me a list of recent downloads. It will allow me to clear these downloads here and that does not change what's in the Downloads Folder. That's just the list of downloads in Safari. So that button was representing what was local to Safari but the Downloads Folder is a normal folder in the Finder. So if I were to click here and open in the Finder I would see my Downloads Folder has got that one image I've downloaded. Now I can move this somewhere else and I probably should. If you want to keep something it's best to move it out of the Downloads Folder. A big problem a lot of people have is they keep stuff in the Downloads Folder. Maybe they take a look at the image and they say that's nice and they move on. Then a few months later they find they've got 400 items in the Downloads Folder. So you want to kind of maintain your Downloads Folder. Get rid of things you don't need anymore. Move things out of there to a folder that you've created in your Documents folder or somewhere if you want to keep them. Try to keep things pretty clean.You can also get to the Downloads Folder in the Finder by creating a new Finder window. Then you may find it in the left sidebar under Favorites or you can always say Go and then it's listed here Downloads and there's even Option Command L to get there. Or you can look in your Home folder and then it's one of the main folders in your Home folder as well as Music, Documents, Pictures, etc. Any way you get to it a handy way to look at the items there is the List View here. The List View will show you all these headings. You can alter these by going to View, Show View Options and add Date Last Opened, Date Added. Now you'll see these here as options where you can Sort. You can see which items are the most recent ones that you've used, which recent ones you've added to your Mac. That kind of thing. You can also sort by size. Just click any of these headings here to sort by those.So it will help you manage and keep things pretty clean in there. It's useful to try to go those every once in a while. Keep your Downloads Folder clean. A lot of times when people run out of hard drive space maybe they've gone, it could be years, with downloading things and the Downloads Folder is just stuffed with lots of large files that they don't need anymore. I try to make it the rule that if I'm going to use it I move out of the Downloads Folder and if not I delete it immediately and keep my Downloads Folder clean.

With the release of macOS Sierra, iCloud gets even more syncing capability, allowing you to sync your Documents and Desktop files across all your devices automatically. It works like a charm, but leaves out one other folder I use even more frequently: Downloads.

macOS doesn’t currently have an easy solution to automatically sync Downloads, but there is a relatively easy workaround to make this happen. Best of all, you don’t need macOS Sierra for most of this to work.

Note: While you can still sync downloads on older versions of OS X (as long as iCloud Drive is supported) only Sierra users can get the custom iCloud Drive shortcuts working in Finder.

1. Create New Downloads Folder in iCloud Drive

First, you need to create a new folder in your iCloud Drive from your Mac. Call it “Downloads” — though technically you can name it whatever you want. Make sure that the folder is directly accessible after clicking iCloud Drive rather than buried as a subfolder.

Optionally, you can then transfer all of the contents from your regular Downloads folder into the iCloud Drive one so you don’t have to start from fresh and can automatically all of your older files. If you want to start fresh with your iCloud Drive Downloads folder, then ignore this step.

Mac Downloads Folder Disappeared

The easiest way to move all of your files from your old Downloads folder into the new one is to first go to the folder and click the List view icon at the top. Click the first item in the list, scroll all the way down and while holding the Shift key, click the last item. This should highlight everything in your Downloads. Now copy and paste into the new iCloud Drive folder.

2. Change Browser Settings

Once the folder is set up, now you just need to change your browser settings so that every time you download a new file, it automatically stores in your new iCloud Drive folder. In Safari, this is done by clicking Preferences… under the Safari menu. In the General tab, locate the File download location option and use the dropdown menu to browse for your new folder in iCloud Drive.

Chrome users, you can click the Menu icon and go down to Settings. At the bottom of the page, click Show advanced settings… and find the Downloads option. Click Change… to select your iCloud Drive folder.

Close your preferences/settings and download an image or link in your browser to verify it’s working.

3. Create New Shortcuts

Note:

Clean Downloads Folder Mac

This part is technically optional, but highly recommended if you want the full experience of synced downloads that are also easy to access.

Once your iCloud Drive Downloads is functioning as it should, it’s time to replace old Downloads shortcuts around your Mac with new ones. First, we’ll look to Finder.

If you’re running macOS Sierra, you’ll probably want to keep your shortcut under the iCloud Drive section of your sidebar, so drag your Downloads folder over and keep it with your Desktop and Documents. For OS X users, just drag your Downloads folder into the Favorites.

Additionally, drag that same iCloud Drive Downloads folder onto your dock to replace the old one. That way you have shortcut access to your synced files directly from your dock. It should also live update too for a convenient way to immediately get to files from other devices.

You’re just about done enabling your iCloud Drive Downloads folder. The only task left to do is delete the old one.

ALSO SEE:4 Brilliant New Organizational Tools Built in to macOS Sierra

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