Click on the file you’d like to move to select it. Hold down the Option key (or Alt) on the keyboard while moving the file to its new location. You’ll see that instead of moving the file, your Mac will automatically copy it to the new destination folder. Now you can see that two identical files exist on your computer. Moving an Application out of the Applications Folder on Mac OS. If you want to move an app out of the Applications folder, how you do so is easy: just hold down the Command key while dragging the app out of the folder. This will allow it to pop out of the containing folder and go to the new destination. On your Mac, click the Finder icon in the Dock to open a Finder window. Do any of the following: Put an item in a folder: Drag it to the folder. Put several items in a folder: Select the items, then drag one of the items to the folder. All selected items move to the folder.
- When you install the Microsoft OneDrive sync app for Mac, a copy of your OneDrive is downloaded to your Mac and put in the OneDrive folder. This folder is kept in sync with OneDrive. If you add, change, or delete a file or folder on the OneDrive website, the file or folder is added, changed, or deleted in your OneDrive folder and vice versa.
- Select Preferences. Scroll down the settings on the side menu until you see Advanced. Choose Downloads. Click on Change next to Location and select the folder you want your downloads.
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 up and organized if I download to my Desktop which I’m constantly looking at then to download to the downloads folder which I don’t pay attention to until it gets too cluttered to find anything.
So if you’re the same way, it’s good to know that you can change where Safari, Firefox, and Chrome automatically put their downloads.
So for today’s article, let’s go over how to change the default download folder on the Mac!
Luckily, the process of changing the default download directory pretty similar in the three main 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.
- Choose Preferences.
- Make sure General tab is selected and then change the File Download Location to wherever you want.
As you can see, I’ve got mine set to “Desktop,” but you can pick an alternate location with that “Other” choice. Clicking “Other” will bring you to the familiar macOS open/save dialog box, from which you can select any folder you want to use.
If you’re feeling really fancy, you could instead change that toggle shown in my second screenshot above to “Ask for each download,” which will mean that you can file away everything you download exactly where you want it to go, every time. While this is a nifty feature but it can get cumbersome to have to choose a download location for each and every download you do.
Change the Default Download Location in Firefox
With the Firefox browser, you’ll start the same way as you did with Safari.
- Launch Firefox and click on its named menu(i.e. the FireFox pulldown menu) in the upper lefthand corner.
- Select Preferences.
- Under the General tab, at the label: Save files to click choose and select the folder you want your downloads to go to.
Again, the “Always ask me where to save files” radio button you see above will make Firefox ask you each time you initiate a download.
Change the Default Download Location in Chrome
Google made it just a teeny bit harder to change your default downloads folder in the Chrome browser, but the steps begin the same way as the other two browsers.
- Launch Chrome and select the Chrome menu from the top of your screen.
- Select Preferences.
- Scroll down the settings on the side menu until you see Advanced. Click on it.
- Choose Downloads.
- Click on Change next to Location and select the folder you want your downloads to go to.
As with Safari and Firefox, there’s a choice to make the browser ask you where to put the file you’re downloading every time.
As Steve Jobs used to say, “Oh yeah, there’s one more thing.”
Mail also uses the Downloads folder to store attachments you save, so if you’d like to be really thorough, you could change that, too.
Click on the Mail pulldown menu at the top of Mail then select Preferences. Next, under the General tab, you can change the download location just as you can with the web browsers:
So now that you’ve got all of your browsers (and Mail!) set to do exactly what you need them to, you can go forward knowing that your Downloads folder will never get too cluttered and disorganized 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.
Do you have any tips or tricks for managing downloads on your Mac? If so, we’d love to hear from you in a comment below!
Jan 24, 2020 Move Files to Trash This is a tried and true method of deleting files on your Mac by dragging it to the trash. You can also use the Move to Trash feature by right-clicking the file and selecting. Go to the Finder Usually, the most natural solution to cannot delete files is by dragging them to the Trash. In case you'd want the data back, command + Z would automatically undo your action. To empty Trash, you can access Finder by either double-clicking the Trash icon on your dock or go to the top left section on your Mac and select 'Finder.' Apr 16, 2020 How to Delete Downloads on Mac Directly Go to the Finder from the dock and click on it. After entering the manage page, Find Downloads on the left list. Click on it, it shows all downloads on the right pane. First, locate any files or folders that you want to delete. You just click to highlight file and drag it into the handy trash can at the dock at the bottom of the screen. If you change your mind or make a mistake, you can type Command + Z at the same time to undo the last action.
Audio Transcript
If you’ve got a lot of files and folders on your Mac, you want to clean up every once in a while to stay organized and make it easier to find specific items.
First, locate any files or folders that you want to delete. You just click to highlight file and drag it into the handy trash can at the dock at the bottom of the screen. If you change your mind or make a mistake, you can type Command + Z at the same time to undo the last action. Select the file you’d like to get rid of and to drag it down into the trash.
Now before you empty all the items in the trash permanently, it’s always smart to take a look at the contents of the trash bin and make sure you didn’t accidentally toss in something important. Just double click on the trash icon at the dock to open the finder window that shows the contents. If there’s something in there that you don’t want to delete, you can click on it and drag it back to a safe location. Otherwise, to empty the trash, press the Command + shift + delete at the same time or you can go up to the finder option, in the top navigation and select empty trash.
Now you can only empty the trash when the focus in on the finder. If you’re at another application and you try to use command + shift + delete, it won’t work. You’ll get quick confirmation warning to keep you from doing something. Maybe your cat walked across the keyboard and hit Command + shift + delete. If you’re sure it’s safe to get rid of the files for good, click ok and everything in the trash will be permanently deleted.
If you don’t want to confirm “yes” every single time you delete files from the trash, just go back to the finder menu and select preferences. Then in the preferences window, choose advanced and uncheck the box to show warning before emptying the trash. Now you won’t get that prompt any more when you empty the trash bin.
And that’s how you take out the trash in Mac OS X Leopard. If only cleaning your house were this easy.
Summary: This blog describes a few ways to remove Mac leftover files from the Mac start-up disk.
1. Clean up Mac Leftover Files through Manual Process
2. Automate Clean-up Task through a Clean Up Software
Download the 30-day free clean-up software for Mac to remove your leftovers and junk files.
Uninstalling applications from Mac is quite common and relatively straightforward. /molten-wow-mac-download-335/. macOS has built-in functionality to uninstall an app. But, often, the uninstallation leaves behind traces of programs in the form of preference files, support documents, log files, etc. The app creates these files during usage, but they aren’t removed automatically from your Mac when you uninstall it.
Such files are known as “application leftovers.” And though they don’t harm the system in any way, they do eat up storage space and eventually contribute to slowing your Mac down.
When you free up Mac storage space to optimize system performance, removing or deleting such leftovers is also essential. Here are a few ways by which you can quickly clean up Mac leftovers files.
1. Clean Up Mac Leftover Files through Manual Process
You can uninstall an application on Mac through a simple drag-and-drop to Trash. Though trashing works for most programs, some applications include uninstallers to uninstall them.
To find and remove Mac leftover files after you uninstall an app, do the following:
- Go to the /Home/Library/Preferences/ folder, find leftover preference files of apps that you’ve already uninstalled, and delete them manually.
- Go to the /Home/Library/Applications Support/ folder, find any folders and components of removed apps, and delete them. Delete leftover Application Support folders too.
- Go to the /Library/StartupItems/ and /Home/Library/StartupItems/ folders one at a time, look for leftover start-up items, and remove them.
- Go to System Preferences > Accounts > Login Items and find the item in the list for the application you want to remove. Then click on the “–” button to delete it from the list.
- One by one, go to the /Library/LaunchAgents/ and /Library/LaunchDaemons/ and /Home/Library/LaunchAgents/ folders, look for leftover start-up daemons or agents, and delete them.
- Go to the/Library/Receipts/ folder, find any files that have .pkg extension, and delete them. These files are used by macOS to determine installed apps.
- To find and remove any other leftover files, conduct a Finder search using the application name or the developer name as the search term. Delete any resultant files that you find.
2. Automate Clean-Up Task through a Clean Up Software
If the above manual method seems tedious, you can use a third-party Mac cleaner software to remove all application leftovers with a click of a button. Steps are as follows:
Step1: Download & install the *trial version of Speedup Mac on your MacBook, iMac, or Mac mini.
Step 2: Launch the software and select Macintosh HD from the left pane.
Step 3: Press the Scan button to initiate the scanning process on the selected drive.
Step 4: Check the total size of Mac storage space occupied by the leftover files.
Download
Step5: Click the “SpeedUpNow” button to remove leftovers and other unwanted Mac files.
Remove Junk Files From Mac
Step 6: Let the software perform the cleaning task on the Mac storage drive.
Step 7: Click OK on the “Process Completed” dialog box.
Download Filezilla
*The trial version of SpeedUp Mac software is free for 30 days. If you wish to continue using the software beyond the trial period, activate it for a nominal annual charge.
Mac Move Downloads Folder To Dock
Conclusion
Move My Documents Folder
Getting rid of Mac leftover files is essential if you wish to have ample free space on your SSD or hard drive. And, SpeedUp Macserves the purpose well. The software is secure and reliable and comes in handy when you need to clean your Mac drive free from the data that isn’t required by macOS. Plus, the tool frees up drive space to help improve data access speed and overall system performance. You can even automate the clean-up task at a scheduled time using the software.