How do I empty my Downloads folder?

What is the Downloads folder?

The Downloads folder is a default location on your computer where files downloaded from the internet are saved. On Windows PCs, it is usually located in the File Explorer under C:\Users\[username]\Downloads. On Mac computers, the Downloads folder is found in the Finder under Users > [username] > Downloads.

The Downloads folder provides a central place to store and easily access files retrieved from web browsers, email attachments, software installers, media files, and any other content downloaded from online sources. Keeping downloads consolidated in one folder makes it simpler to find, open, organize and manage internet-sourced files.

Files saved to the Downloads folder include:

Documents
Photos
Videos

Music
Software installers
PDFs

Zipped files
Podcasts

The Downloads folder is the go-to destination for content downloaded from the web by default in most operating systems. However, the save location can be customized if desired.

Why empty the Downloads folder?

There are several benefits to regularly emptying your Downloads folder:

Prevent clutter and organize files – The Downloads folder can quickly become cluttered with random files from across the web. Regularly deleting old and unnecessary downloads helps keep your computer organized.

Free up storage space – Downloaded files, like applications, videos, PDFs, and images can take up a significant amount of hard drive space over time. Removing files you no longer need frees up storage capacity.

Improve computer performance – Having a cluttered Downloads folder with many files can slow down your computer’s performance over time. Deleting old downloads helps optimize your system and speed things up.

It’s generally recommended to clear out your Downloads folder every few weeks or monthly. This prevents it from becoming overwhelmed with forgotten installers, unused programs, or other temporary files you don’t need anymore. A cluttered Downloads folder also makes it harder to find the files you actually want to keep.

Locate the Downloads folder

The Downloads folder on Mac and Windows computers provides a central location to store files downloaded from the internet. Locating the Downloads folder is easy on both operating systems.

On a Mac, the Downloads folder is usually visible in the Finder sidebar under Favorites. If you don’t see it, you can access it by going to Finder > Go > Downloads or using the keyboard shortcut ⌘+⇧+O. The default location for the Downloads folder on Mac is in the user’s home folder (see source).

On Windows 10 and 11, the Downloads folder is located at C:\Users\(username)\Downloads. You can quickly access it by opening File Explorer and selecting Downloads in the left sidebar. If it’s not visible, click the Show All Folder icon at the top of the sidebar. The Downloads folder may also be pinned to the Start Menu or Taskbar for easy access.

Knowing the default download locations on Mac and Windows makes it easy to open the Downloads folder and manage the files stored there.

View contents of the Downloads folder

Once you have located the Downloads folder, you can view and organize the contents inside. Here are the steps:

1. Open File Explorer and navigate to the Downloads folder. It is usually located under This PC > Downloads or you can access it quickly from the Quick Access section.

2. Inside the Downloads folder, you will see a list of all the files and folders saved there. These include documents, media files, compressed folders, and any other files you have downloaded from the internet or saved directly to the folder.

3. You can view the files in different layouts by selecting the View tab in File Explorer and choosing Large icons, Medium icons, Small icons, List, Details, etc. Details view shows file names, date modified, type, and size.

4. Sort the files by selecting any column header. Click Name to sort files alphabetically, Date modified to sort by newest/oldest, Type to group similar file types.

5. Use the Search box to quickly find files. Type in keywords to show matching results.

6. Select any file or folder to preview it. Images will show a thumbnail preview. You can also right-click and choose Preview to see the contents.

7. Play media files like videos and music by double-clicking them. The default app will open to play the file.

Organizing your Downloads folder makes it easier to find and manage files later. Delete unwanted files regularly so the folder doesn’t get too cluttered.

Select items to delete

When you want to delete files from your Downloads folder, you have a couple options for selecting them:

Select multiple individual files – You can click on each file you want to delete while holding the Ctrl key (on Windows) or Command key (on Mac). This allows you to select multiple non-contiguous files.

Select a range of files – Click on the first file you want to delete, then hold Shift and click the last file. This will select that range of consecutive files.

Once you’ve selected all the files you want to delete, you can right-click and choose Delete (on Windows) or Move to Trash (on Mac).

You also have the option to select all files in the folder. Click anywhere in the blank space of the folder window, then either press Ctrl+A (Windows) or Command+A (Mac), or go to the Edit menu and choose Select All.

This is an easy way to delete everything, though be careful in case there are any files you want to keep.

For more tips, see:
https://forums.linuxmint.com/viewtopic.php?t=402187

Delete files from the Downloads folder

There are two main ways to delete files from the Downloads folder on your computer:

Send files to the Recycle Bin/Trash

This method moves the files to the Recycle Bin or Trash so they can be restored if needed. To do this:

Open the Downloads folder and select the files you want to delete.
Right click on the selected files and choose “Delete” or “Move to Recycle Bin”.
The files will be removed from the Downloads folder and placed in the Recycle Bin.

You can access the Recycle Bin to restore deleted files if needed. Files in the Recycle Bin are permanently deleted after a certain number of days.

Permanently delete files

This method completely removes the files, bypassing the Recycle Bin. Files deleted this way cannot be recovered. To permanently delete:

Open the Downloads folder and select the files to delete.

Press the Delete key on your keyboard.
A prompt will appear asking “Are you sure you want to permanently delete these files?” Choose “Yes”.
The files will be permanently deleted from the Downloads folder.

Use caution when permanently deleting files, as they cannot be recovered. Consider moving files to the Recycle Bin first in case they are needed later.

See this forum post for more details on deleting Downloads files: https://forums.androidcentral.com/threads/deleting-files-from-downloads-folder.321893/

Clear all files from the Downloads folder

The quickest way to clear all files from the Downloads folder is to select all and delete in one step. Here are the steps:

Open the Downloads folder and select all files by pressing Command + A (Mac) or Ctrl + A (Windows). This will highlight all files in the folder.
With all files selected, press the Delete key to send all files to the Trash (Mac) or Recycle Bin (Windows).
Open the Trash or Recycle Bin and select Empty or Clear to permanently delete all files.

This will instantly clear out the Downloads folder. Just make sure you don’t need to recover any of the deleted files. Once emptied from the Trash or Recycle Bin, the files are gone for good. For more details, see this tutorial video.

Change auto-save location

To prevent future downloads from automatically saving to your Downloads folder, you can change the default download location in your web browser or other programs.

In Microsoft Edge, click on the three-dot menu icon in the top right and go to Settings > Downloads. Under “Save files to,” click the Change button and select a new location like your Documents folder. This will now be the default location for new downloads in Edge.

Other browsers like Chrome and Firefox have similar options to change the default download folder under Settings. For certain programs like Steam or Skype, you would need to change the download settings within each individual application.

Setting a new default download location prevents items from automatically saving to Downloads. You can choose a folder like Documents or a specific drive where you want to store new files going forward.

Automatically clear the Downloads folder

You can use built-in tools on your operating system to automatically clear out the Downloads folder on a set schedule.

On Windows 10, you can use the Storage settings to automatically delete files from the Downloads folder that are over a certain number of days old. To set this up, go to Settings > System > Storage. Under “Storage sense,” turn on “Automatically delete files in Downloads folder” and choose the number of days to keep files before deletion. See this guide for details: Automatically Delete Files From Downloads Folder In Windows 10.

On MacOS, you can create an Automator workflow to delete files older than X days from the Downloads folder. Specify this workflow to run on a schedule, like daily or weekly. See this Apple Stack Exchange answer for details on setting up the Automator workflow: Automatically Delete Files From Downloads Folder Daily Unless Tagged With “Keep”.

Setting your Downloads folder to auto-clear based on a schedule helps keep it tidy and manageable. Just be sure to check what files may get deleted before turning the auto-delete on.

Best practices for managing Downloads

Here are some tips to keep your Downloads folder organized and optimized:

Regularly sort through and clear out the Downloads folder. Don’t let old or unneeded files accumulate over time, as this can slow down your system. Go through periodically and delete anything you no longer need. An uncluttered Downloads folder will perform better.[1]

Use folders and subfolders to categorize your downloads. For example, create folders for documents, photos, software installers, and other file types. This keeps things neatly organized so you can find what you need more easily.

Change the default download save location periodically. For browsers like Chrome, you can set downloads to save to a specific folder like Documents or the desktop instead of Downloads. Rotating the save location helps avoid overloading a single folder.[2]