how to clear mac downloads file How to Clear Downloaded Files and Downloads History on macOS. By default, most apps will use the Downloads folder to save download files. That's the folder where all files downloaded onto a Mac made from the internet – whether via , other web browsers, AirDrop, or sent through iMessages – will end up. And if you don't keep an eye on that folder and clean it from time to time, it will quickly grow into a disk-space hog , perhaps even bigger than the Pictures folder where all photos are stored by default. How Files Are Organized in the Downloads Folder. Unlike other folders, files in the Downloads folder are organized chronologically with the most recent downloads appearing first . The initial set of files displayed in the Downloads folder are the items downloaded on that date, then those files added in the previous seven days. After that the files are grouped together by the previous 30 days, before finally organizing them by month. Of course, macOS allows you to sort the items by size, type, date added and more, but the aforementioned default organization method remains. Download CleanMyMac X from MacPaw’s website and clean up to 500MB of junk data from your computer while enjoying all the features of the software without major limitations. How to Locate the Different Downloaded Files. If you remember when the file was downloaded then it's handy to have a look at this default method of file organization. If not, Finder allows for other options to arrange folders to locate a specific file, letting you search by name, file type, application, date created, date modified or tags – a highly useful addition. How to Locate Safari Downloads. In earlier versions of Safari, the Downloads button was always present, the items that had been downloaded were displayed in a list, and at the click of a button the list was cleared. Recent versions of Safari display the Downloads button only when there are items in the list , but it’s possible to arrange automated deletion by customizing the deletion time of these entries in the General section within Safari Preferences. Within this tab there is a pop-up menu that includes options to delete “After One Day, When Safari Quits”, “Upon Successful Download”, and “Manually”. By default, this is set to the first of these three options. Safari History and Privacy. In the same General tab you'll also find a section that allows for the customization of the removal of the browsing history. By default Safari is set to remove these items after one year , but those keen to protect their privacy will want to utilize three great methods of browsing history wiping. These are: Set it to “Manually” and clear the history when needed. Always use to ensure that Safari doesn't save your browsing history and will ask the websites you visit to not track you. Use Private Browsing combined with a VPN service. Browsing history is valuable data for anyone that wants to know more about you, for example hackers, who can then use that data to scour through your digital life and impersonate you. This is why we highly recommend using a VPN service and the private browsing feature included as part of the browser, since this is the best way to protect your online activity. How to Remove Downloaded Files, and Download and Browsing Histories. While the browsing history doesn't occupy too much space on the Mac, it’s recommend to clear it from time to time in order to close the door to the gold mine for anyone hoping to collect data about you. To do this manually in Safari, click on the History option in the menu bar then select Show History > Clear History. Removing items from the Downloads folder can also be done manually by looking up files based on their size and data added, but there is an easier way to remove them and also protect your privacy . Mac optimization apps such as CleanMyMac provide a simple, clean and easy-to-understand interface that packs in powerful scripts intended to help you to remove the items you don't need . Use the Large & Old Files script, add the Downloads folder as the target and let the software identify “forgotten items” in an instant. Removing web browsing history is done with a single click on all browsers: all you need to do is select the browsers and find this option in the Privacy section. Simple, right? Question: Q: Afraid to delete files in Download folder - BUT I NEED HD space. I'm new to Mac. Trying to free up HD space. I have lots of files in my download folder. I am afraid to delete files. For instance the two largest are VMware (215MB) and Itunes11.0 (206 Mb). I run both iTuens and VM but do I need to keep the downloaded fiels in the download folder? Can I delete them? I'm running VM and iTunes? Will deleting them from the Download folder be safe? iMac, Mac OS X (10.6.8) Posted on Jan 29, 2013 7:21 PM. Helpful answers. you are going to have to delete, move or archive your data to regain at least 15-20 GBs of empty hard drive space. Have you emptied your iMac's Trash icon in the Dock? If you use iPhoto, iPhoto has its own trash that needs to be emptied, also. If you use Apple Mail app, Apple Mail also has its own trash area that needs to be emptied, too! In System folder under Printers folder, delete any printer drivers from manufacturers you aren't using. Other things you can do to gain space. Delete any old or no longer needed emails and/or archive older emails you want to save. Look through your Documents folder and delete any type of old useless type files like "Read Me" type files. Again, archive or delete any old documents you no longer use or immediately need. Download an app called OnyX for your version of OS X. When you install and launch it, let it do its thing initially, then go to the cleaning and maintenance tabs and run all of the processes in the tabs. Let OnyX clean out all cache files, web browser histories, system cache files, delete old error log files. Typically, iTunes and iPhoto libraries are the biggest users of HD space. You may have to Purchase an external FireWire or Thunderbolt hard drive to move these files/data off of your internal drive to the external hard drive and deleted off of the internal hard drive. If you have any other large folders of personal data or projects, these should be moved, also, to the external hard drive and then either archived to disc media and/or deleted off your internal hard drive. How to Delete Downloads on Mac. This article explains how to delete downloaded files on your Mac. Additional information covers how to clear your browser history for Safari, Chrome, and . How Do I Find the Downloads Folder on a Mac? If you removed the Downloads folder from the Dock at some point, either on purpose or accidentally, you can still find it on your Mac. To locate the Downloads folder on your Mac, select Go on the Finder menu bar. The Downloads folder appears in the drop-down menu. The Finder is the program that is always running on your Mac. It's where your desktop is with all the icons on the desktop. If you are reading this article in a web browser such as Safari, just click the two-tone blue happy face in the Mac's dock. How to Delete Downloaded Files on Your Mac. After you locate the Downloads folder on your MacBook, you can delete the files inside. Open the Downloads folder. Press Command + A to select all the files. Once the files are highlighted, expand the File menu at the top of the screen and select Move to Trash. Alternatively, use the keyboard shortcut Command+Delete . The files are moved to the Trash can. To permanently delete the trash, click the menu labeled Finder and select Empty Trash . There is no "undo" from this, so make sure this is what you want to do. Remove Traces of What You've Downloaded. You've deleted the actual files on your Mac, but you haven't removed all traces of them. If you used a web browser to download the files, there'll be history stored in the browser with that information. Web browsers, including Safari, Googe Chrome and Firefox, keep a record of all your downloads, making it easy to find where these files are stored. The browser doesn't contain the actual downloaded files, just that you downloaded them. Here's how to find the download history through Safari, , and Firefox browsers. Clearing the download history does not delete the downloaded files from your computer. Deleting the history only deletes a record of the files you downloaded. Follow the steps above to delete the actual files from your Mac. Clear the History in the Safari Browser. Open the Safari browser. Click History in the menu bar to open the browser history. Click Clear History at the bottom of the menu to wipe out the history of your downloads. In the pop-up window, choose all history to delete it all or one of the other options to be more selective. Select Clear History one more time to complete the process. Clear the History in the Chrome Browser. Here's how to find where your computer stores any files you have downloaded from Chrome. To wipe out your download history in Chrome, click the Window menu and select Downloads. Now tap the three dots in the upper right side of the downloads page and select Clear all . The download history is wiped clean. Clear the History in the Firefox Browser. Deleting your downloads history in Firefox is even easier. Open Firefox and click the Tools tab at the top of the screen and select Downloads . A new screen opens showing the downloads with a link to open each file. Click the Clear Downloads button to remove the downloads history. To wipe out your download history in Firefox, click History > Clear Recent History. Select a time range by clicking the drop-down menu next to Time Range to Clear to customize how far back you would like to clear. Finish by clicking OK . All Clear. Remember, you need to move the files to the trash, empty the trash, and clear the history in the web browser if you want all traces of your downloads to be removed. How to Delete Downloads on Mac. As you use your Mac, you’ll be surprised at how fast browser downloads eat away at the internal storage. Program installers, compressed ZIP archives, document file types, and so on can quickly add up to the tens—or even hundreds—of gigabytes. But that isn’t all. Various native and third-party apps (say Apple TV and Spotify) allow you to download multimedia and other forms of content for offline access. That’s not to mention the various miscellaneous downloads (such as iPhone system software files) your Mac can make during regular usage. If you are close to running out of storage on the Mac, you can rely on multiple methods to delete downloads on your Mac and free up space fast. We shall explore them in detail below. Check Mac’s Downloads Folder. By default, all three major web browsers on the Mac (Safari, Google Chrome, and Mozilla Firefox) save files to a specially designated Downloads folder within your user account. You can get to it immediately using Finder. Simply open a Finder window and select Downloads on the sidebar. If the option appears missing, select Go on the menu bar and pick the Downloads option instead. You should then see a list of browser downloads on the Mac. Non-native apps may also use the same directory to save files (e.g., Skype and Transmission), so don’t be surprised to see additional downloads scattered inside. It’s best to switch the Downloads folder to List view and sort files using the Date or Size columns. That should make it easier to identify files that net the most space savings. To delete a file, control-click and select Move to Trash . You can also hold down the Command key to select and move multiple files to the Mac’s Trash simultaneously. Follow by emptying the Trash. To do that, control-click the Trash icon on the Dock and select Empty Trash . Delete Download History. Whenever you perform a download on the internet, Safari, Chrome, and Firefox shall automatically keep a record of it. However, deleting the downloaded file using Finder does not remove the corresponding entry from your web browser. If privacy is a concern, you must delete the download history separately. Delete Download History – Safari. Open the View menu and select Show Downloads . Then, select Clear to delete Safari’s download history. Or, control-click and choose Remove from List to delete individual entries from the list. Delete Download History – Chrome. Open the Chrome menu and select Downloads . Then, select the More icon to the top-right of the screen and choose Clear all to remove Chrome’s download history. Should you want, you can delete entries individually by selecting the x -shaped icon next to each download. Delete Download History – Firefox. Open the Firefox menu, point at Library , and select Downloads . Then, select Clear Downloads to get rid of the download history. To remove individual entries, control-click and select Remove From History instead. Use Storage Management Utility. Finder aside, you can use the built-in Storage Management utility to delete downloads on your Mac. You can get to it by opening the Apple menu and selecting About This Mac > Storage > Manage . Pick Documents on the Storage Management sidebar and switch to the Downloads tab to bring up a list of downloads on your Mac. Sort through your downloads using the Kind , Last Accessed , and Size columns. Then, select a file and use the Delete button to remove it from your Mac. Hold down the Command key to select and remove multiple items. The Storage Management utility also allows you to get rid of various non-browser downloads located outside the Downloads folder on the Mac. Work your way through the sidebar options ( Messages , Music , iOS Files , etc.) to identify downloads specific to the various apps and services on your Mac. For example, iOS Files lets you remove iPhone system software installers from the internal storage. Additionally, you may want to head over to the Recommendations screen and enable Optimize Storage . That should prompt your Mac to free up space by automatically removing old Apple TV video downloads and email attachments. Remove or Manage Downloads Within Apps. Most apps that allow you to download content offline also provide built-in options to delete them. For instance, in Apple Music, you can select a downloaded album and use the Remove Download option to delete the tracks from your Mac. If an app doesn’t present such an option, you can check for the offline storage location in the app’s Preferences or Settings pages. Then, manually visit the directory using Finder to remove the files. Cloud-based apps and services that sync files to your Mac may also offer options to change how they store files locally. In iCloud Photos, for example, open the Photos menu, select Preferences , and switch to Optimize Mac Storage . That should automatically delete local photos and replace them with low-resolution placeholders when your Mac’s close to running out of storage. Search for Downloads in Finder. If you can’t locate a specific file under the Downloads folder in Finder or within the Storage Management utility, you must try searching for it instead. Start by opening a new Finder window. Then, type the filename or extension into the Search bar at the top-right corner of the window. Finder should start filtering matching files on your Mac immediately. If you see the file you’re looking for within the search results, control-click it and select Move to Trash . Additionally, you can type downloads into the search bar to reveal any hidden download folders on the Mac. For example, you can locate the Mail Downloads folder (which stores email attachments) that way. Use OmniDiskSweeper and Onyx. OmniDiskSweeper and Onyx help you deal with elusive downloads on the Mac. Both apps are lightweight and completely free to use. OmniDiskSweeper. OmniDiskSweeper provides a navigator that displays the storage sizes of every file and folder on your Mac. It lets you conveniently drill down locations and identify anything unusual (such as a concealed download directory). You can then select items and delete them permanently using the Trash icon. OnyX. OnyX doesn’t allow you to interact with the files on your Mac directly. But it gives you the ability to flush out content such as the browser cache, download history, Mail Downloads, and so on, easily. It also allows you to delete the Mac’s application and system caches. OnyX can be a somewhat complex application to use. We recommend checking our OnyX guide for more details. Mac Downloads Deleted. You shouldn’t have difficulty locating the various browser and app downloads on your Mac for the most part. So it’s a good idea to delete them routinely to keep the internal storage under control. If you still need additional free space, you should look into reducing the “Other” storage and “System” storage on your Mac. Dilum Senevirathne is a freelance tech writer and blogger with three years of experience writing for online technology publications. He specializes in topics related to iOS, iPadOS, macOS, and Google web apps. When he isn't hammering away at his Magic Keyboard, you can catch him binge- watching productivity hacks on YouTube. Read Dilum's Full Bio. How to Clear the Cache on a Mac. This article was co-authored by Gonzalo Martinez. Gonzalo Martinez is the President of CleverTech, a tech repair business in San Jose, California founded in 2014. CleverTech LLC specializes in repairing Apple products. CleverTech pursues environmental responsibility by recycling aluminum, display assemblies, and the micro components on motherboards to reuse for future repairs. On average, they save 2 lbs - 3 lbs more electronic waste daily than the average computer repair store. The wikiHow Tech Team also followed the article's instructions and verified that they work. This article has been viewed 639,620 times. This wikiHow teaches you how to clear the cache of temporary system files that your Mac stores as you use it, as well as how to clear the Safari browser's cache of temporary Internet files. Keep in mind that clearing the system cache can cause your Mac to freeze or crash unexpectedly; this is a normal response to clearing the cache.