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How to Clean Out Your Downloads Folder
The Problem
More than any other folder (apart from your email Inbox and Sent folders), the Downloads folder on your computer can accumulate a large number of files that you have (perhaps inadvertently) downloaded from websites and email.
Here’s my advice on productive ways to clean out this folder. While these methods can be used with any folder, some of these techniques are specifically adapted to the particulars ways that the Downloads folder is different, including:
- You might not be aware that that’s where your web browser puts downloaded files,
- Which in turn increases the likelihood that it will accumulate duplicate, out-of-date, and unwanted files and subfolders.
Where is the Downloads folder?
In your web browser (Google Chrome, Microsoft Edge, Mozilla Firefox, Apple Safari, etc.), when you click to download a file from a website onto your computer, by default the software will place that file in your Downloads folder (without asking you), which (along with Desktop, Documents, Pictures, etc.) is just another a subfolder of your user folder.
For example, if your username is Mary:
- On Windows, the folder’s path is: C:\Users\Mary\Downloads; if you open the File Explorer, it’s probably also listed among the folders on the left.
- On Macintosh: Macintosh HD/Users/Mary/Downloads; if you open any folder window in the Finder, it’s probably listed among the folders on the left. If your Mac is running MacOS 10.9 or later, in the Finder you can also click the “Go” menu in the Menu Bar at the top of the screen, and then click “Downloads” in the menu that appears.
You can also open it using your web browser, but the details vary. It may have an icon (typically a “downward-pointing arrow” icon) near the top-right of its window that you can click to access recent files in that folder.
Getting started
Once you’ve opened your Downloads folder, I recommend setting its “view” to show a detailed list of its contents, with columns for Name, Size, Type (or Kind), Date Modified, etc., if it isn’t already set that way.
Windows File Explorer: Click View in the Ribbon (toolbar) at the top of the window, then “Details.”
Macintosh Finder: Click View in the Menu Bar at the top of the screen, then “as List.”
The overall approach
Most computer “cleanout” projects have one or both of these high-level goals:
- Free up disk space
- Declutter, organize, make things easier to find later, etc.
Since the Downloads folder can accumulate hundreds (or even thousands) of files over many years, both of the above are good objectives to have in mind, but it’s also important to understand that your computer will probably not run noticeably faster (or better) after you finish.
The techniques that I outline below (in no particular order) are intended to help you decide what to do with each file in your Downloads folder, which usually boils down to one of the following:
- Delete it: It’s a duplicate, or you no longer need it, or you don’t want it, etc.
- Keep it: Move it to a more appropriate folder, and perhaps also give it a better name.
- Keep it: Leave it in the Downloads folder, and perhaps also give it a better name.
Working by Date
If you want to review your Downloads in order by date:
- Click directly on the text of the column title “Date Modified.” That will sort your Downloads by date, either newest first or oldest first. If the order is the reverse of what you want, click one more time to reverse it.
- Scroll to the top.
- Work your way down the list, looking for unwanted files.
- You’ll spot duplicates by looking for sets of files with very similar Names (e.g., “abc,” “abc 1,” “abc 2,” etc.), identical Sizes, and Dates & times that are very close together. Those probably occurred because you may have clicked multiple times in frustration trying to download that file, not realizing that you had already gotten it successfully the first time.
Working alphabetically by Name, A to Z
To review your Downloads by filename:
- Click on the column title “Name.” That will sort your Downloads, either A to Z or Z to A. If the order is not what you want, click again to reverse it.
- Scroll to the top.
- As above, work your way down the list, looking for unwanted files.
- You’ll spot duplicates by looking for sets of files with very similar Names (e.g., “abc,” “abc 1,” “abc 2,” etc.), identical Sizes, and Dates & times that are very close together.
Working by Size, largest to smallest
To work by Size:
- Click on the column title “Size” to sort, either largest first or smallest first. If the order is not what you want, click again to reverse it. It will sub-sort by Name.
- Scroll to the top.
- As above, work your way down the list, looking for unwanted files.
- You'll spot duplicates because they'll have identical Sizes, similar Names, and Dates & times that are very close together.
- In my experience, the largest files in Downloads tend to be videos (.mp4, .mov, .wmv, .flv, etc.), software installers (.exe, .img, .dmg, .pkg, etc.), and audio files (.mp3, .wav, etc.).
Working by Type or Kind
- Click on the column title “Type” or “Kind” to sort, either A to Z or Z to A. If the order is not what you want, click again to reverse it. It will sub-sort by Name.
- Scroll to the top.
- As above, work your way down the list, looking for unwanted files.
- You'll spot duplicates because they'll have the same Type, similar Names, identical Sizes, and Dates & times that are very close together.
- In my experience, .pdf and .jpg tend to be the most common file types in Downloads.
Special handling for .zip files and their related folders
.zip files are different. They are like “suitcases” that pack together collections of files (and sometimes also folders), and when their contents are “extracted,” that creates a new folder with the same name as the .zip file. For example, extracting the contents of “abc.zip” creates an “abc” folder.
Note that on Windows, you can double-click a .zip file to simply view its contents, and then you can decide whether to extract or not. However, on Macintosh, double-clicking “abc.zip” will immediately extract into a new “abc” folder every time without showing anything or asking you, and if you double-click again you’ll get a new “abc 2” folder, then a new “abc 3” folder, etc.
This means that for each “abc.zip” file in your Downloads, there may already be corresponding “abc,” “abc 2,” etc. folders, and for each “abc” folder there may be a corresponding .zip file.
In general, I recommend keeping one of the “abc” folders and deleting any others (after confirming they’ve got the same contents), and deleting the “abc.zip” file as well.
Special handling for .html files and their related “_files” folders
Most web browsers let you try to save a web page onto your computer. For example, if you go to http://perkins.org and then click File->Save, you will actually get two things:
- A new file called “Perkins School For The Blind.html”
- A new folder called “Perkins School For The Blind_files”
That “_files” folder contains support files related to the .html file. In other words, if you decide to delete one, you should also delete the other if it’s still present. The File Explorer on Windows treats them as a related pair of items so it will probably help with that, but the Finder on Macintosh doesn’t.
Note that whether you get an “.html” or “.htm” file depends on which web browser you’re using.
In my experience, “saving” a web page rarely gives you anything useful. “Printing” the web page into a .pdf file often works much better.
Web browser settings
Most web browsers have two settings that control:
- Into which folder it will put downloaded files by default,
- and whether it will ask you each time (giving you the ability to override that default) or not.
This means that when you trigger a download, your browser will do one of the following:
- It will immediately download into the Downloads folder without asking you,
- or it will immediately download into a different folder (like the Desktop) without asking you,
- or it will ask you to choose the folder each time, probably offering to use the folder that you chose recently.
Where to go from here
As always, if any of my advice seems too difficult to follow, I recommend that you find someone you know and trust who can help you.
In the searches below, replace “X” with either “Windows” or “Macintosh.”
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