How To Change Download Location On Mac

I've seen a lot of cluttered and disorganized Downloads folders on Mac. A lot. For me, at least, it's much easier to keep my downloaded files cleaned upwards and organized if I download to my Desktop which I'g constantly looking at then to download to the downloads folder which I don't pay attention to until information technology gets too cluttered to find annihilation.

How to Change the Default Downloads Folder on Your Mac

So if you're the same way, information technology'due south good to know that you lot tin can alter where Safari, Firefox, and Chrome automatically put their downloads.

Then for today's article, permit's get over how to alter the default download folder on the Mac!

Luckily, the procedure of changing the default download directory pretty like in the iii principal Mac browsers.

Change the Default Download Location in Safari

Open the Safari app and click on the Safari drop-down menu at the top left.
Cull Preferences.
Make sure General tab is selected then change the File Download Location to wherever you lot want.

As yous can see, I've got mine set to "Desktop," but y'all can pick an alternate location with that "Other" choice. Clicking "Other" will bring yous to the familiar macOS open up/save dialog box, from which you tin select any folder you lot desire to use.

If you're feeling really fancy, yous could instead change that toggle shown in my second screenshot above to "Enquire for each download," which volition mean that y'all can file abroad everything you lot download exactly where you want it to go, every time. While this is a nifty characteristic but information technology can get cumbersome to accept to choose a download location for each and every download yous practice.

Modify the Default Download Location in Firefox

With the Firefox browser, you'll showtime the same way as you did with Safari.

Launch Firefox and click on its named menu(i.e. the FireFox pulldown bill of fare) in the upper lefthand corner.
Select Preferences.
Nether the General tab, at the label: Salvage files to click cull and select the folder you want your downloads to go to.

Over again, the "Always enquire me where to save files" radio button you meet above will brand Firefox enquire y'all each time you initiate a download.

Change the Default Download Location in Chrome

Google made information technology but a teeny chip harder to alter your default downloads binder in the Chrome browser, but the steps begin the same style as the other ii browsers.

Launch Chrome and select the Chrome menu from the top of your screen.
Select Preferences.
Gyre down the settings on the side menu until yous see Avant-garde. Click on it.
Cull Downloads.
Click on Modify side by side to Location and select the folder you want your downloads to go to.

As with Safari and Firefox, there'due south a choice to brand the browser ask you where to put the file you're downloading every fourth dimension.

As Steve Jobs used to say, "Oh yeah, there'south one more affair."

Mail service also uses the Downloads folder to store attachments you save, and so if yous'd like to be really thorough, y'all could change that, too.

Click on theMail pulldown menu at the top of Mail so select Preferences. Next, under the Full general tab, you can alter the download location just as you tin can with the spider web browsers:
So now that y'all've got all of your browsers (and Mail!) fix to do exactly what you need them to, you can go frontward knowing that your Downloads folder will never get too cluttered and disorganized once again. Getting things done is so much easier when you stay organized.

If you're a Mac user and enjoyed this article, you might want to check out this TechJunkie article: How To Flush the DNS in Mac Mojave.

Exercise you take any tips or tricks for managing downloads on your Mac? If and so, we'd love to hear from you in a annotate beneath!