• Can't Find Download Folder On Mac
• How To Find Download Folder On Mac
• Show Me My Download Folder
• How To Find Download Folder On Mac Dock Disappeared
• How To Find Download Folder On Macbook Pro
• Show Hidden Folders Mac
• How To Create A File Folder

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.

Click the down arrow icon next to the Safari address bar to display a list of recently downloaded files. If you are currently downloading files, this list displays a download progress bar next to each file. Within the Downloads section of Safari, clicking Clear empties your downloads queue, but does not delete the actual files from your Mac. On a Mac, however, downloads can be accessed the same way you browse your applications, music and movies: via the Finder. Click on the Finder at the bottom left of the screen (the leftmost icon.

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.

Your Downloads panel and Library keep track of files you download while using Firefox. Learn how to manage your files and configure your download settings.

Table of Contents

• 2See downloads history
  • 2.1Download protection

You can access downloads from your current browsing session by clicking on the Downloads button (the down arrow on your toolbar). The arrow will appear blue to let you know there are unviewed downloaded files.

• During a download, the Downloads button gradually fills with color to show your download's progress.
• Click on the Downloads button to open the Downloads panel. The Downloads panel displays your three most recently downloaded files, along with its size and download status:

• To see all of your downloads at any time, go to the Library by clicking on Show all Downloads at the bottom of the Downloads panel.

The Library displays information for all of your downloaded files, unless you've cleared them from your history. Click the Library button, click Downloads and click Show All Downloads at the bottom of the Downloads panel.Click the Library button and click Downloads from the menu.Click the menu button and click Downloads from the menu.The Library window will open showing a list of your downloaded files.

Download protection

Before beginning a download, Firefox will attempt to protect you from potentially malicious or unsafe downloads and will block downloads from insecure connections. See the Mozilla blog posts, 'Enhancing Download Protection in Firefox' and 'Improving Malware Detection in Firefox' for more information. If something is suspected, the download will not begin, but rather:

Potentially malicious downloads are detected using Google Safe Browsing Service. A red dot will appear on the Download arrow:

Click on the red-tagged Download arrow to open the Downloads panel. The file name will be displayed along with the warning message,

• This file contains a virus or malware.

Other files covered under download protection may be potentially unwanted downloads (explained in the Google Policy) that may make unexpected changes to your computer. Or, a download may not be malicious or unwanted but simply not commonly downloaded. A yellow dot will appear on the Download arrow:

Can't Find Download Folder On Mac

Click on the yellow-tagged Download arrow to open the Downloads panel. The file name will be displayed with one of these warning messages:

How To Find Download Folder On Mac

• This file may harm your computer.
• This file is not commonly downloaded.

How do I handle unsafe downloads?

When you see a malicious file or other types of potentially unsafe files in the Downloads panel, click on the right-facing arrow to choose what to do with the file, as shown in this example:

You will be given more information about the type of unsafe file and the option to open or remove the file:

Show Me My Download Folder

Tip: The (right-click) context menu includes other options for handling any potentially harmful or malicious files listed in the Downloads panel that are pending download:

For example: Right-clickHold down the control key while you click on one of the potentially unsafe files that are pending download and select Allow Download to save the file to your computer.

You can check on past downloads at any time. Click on the Downloads button (alternatively, click the Library menu button and then click Downloads) to open the Downloads panel. The Downloads panel displays your three most recently downloaded files, along with its size, source and download time.

You can manage your files directly in the Downloads panel or in your library. Options will appear to the right of each file during each stage of the download.

How To Find Download Folder On Mac Dock Disappeared

• Pause: You can pause any downloads currently in progress by right-clickingpressing Ctrl and clicking on the file and selecting Pause. When you want to continue downloading the file, right-clickpress Ctrl and click the file entry and select Resume.
• Cancel : If you no longer need to download a file, click the X button at the right of the file entry. This button turns into a refresh symbol; click it again to restart your download.
• Open the file: When a download has finished, you can click on the entry directly to open the file.
• Open Containing Folder : Once a file has finished downloading, the icon to the right of the file entry becomes a folder. Click the folder icon to open the folder that contains that file.Show In Finder : Once a file has finished downloading, the icon to the right of the file entry becomes a magnifying glass. Click the magnifying glass icon to show that file in the Finder. To set the folder where your downloads go, see Change where downloads are saved, below.
• Go to Download Page: Right-clickPress Ctrl and click on the file to bring up the menu. Choose this option to visit the webpage where the file came from.
• Remove the file's entry: If you do not wish to keep a record of a particular download, simply right-clickpress Ctrl and click the file entry, then select Remove From History. This will remove the entry from the list but will not delete the file itself.
• Retry a Download : If for any reason a file does not finish downloading, click the button to the right of the entry - a refresh symbol - to retry.
• Clear Downloads: Click the button at the top of the Library window to clear the entire history of downloaded items. This will not delete the downloaded files.

File downloads are saved in the folder specified in Firefox OptionsPreferencesSettings. To change that folder:

1. In the Menu bar at the top of the screen, click Firefox and select Preferences.Click the menu button and select OptionsPreferences.Click the menu button and select Settings.

2. In the General panel, find the Downloads section under Files and Applications.
3. Click the button next to the Save files to entry.
4. Choose the downloads folder you wish to use.

How To Find Download Folder On Macbook Pro

You can change what applications are used for handling downloads while browsing the Web:

Show Hidden Folders Mac

1. In the Menu bar at the top of the screen, click Firefox and select Preferences.Click the menu button and select OptionsPreferences.Click the menu button and select Settings.

2. In the General panel, scroll down to the Applications section.
3. Click on the arrow under the Action column for the file type you wish to change and select the viewer you wish to use from the drop-down menu.
   • Note that PDF files are viewed in Firefox by default.Note that some file types (XML, PDF, SVG, WebP Image) are opened in Firefox by default.

How To Create A File Folder

For more information, see Change what Firefox does when you click on or download a file.