Deleted My Downloads Folder Mac

It is virus free and safe. Select File Types to Scan. Launch the Downloads folder recovery Mac software, you can see all the supported file types are selected. It means the program will scan your Mac for all the deleted files. You can decide to scan which type (s) of files. Steps to recover deleted files on your Mac: Download, install, and launch Disk Drill for Mac. Select the disk or partition that contained the lost files. Click the Recover button to start scanning for deleted files on your Mac. Preview the recoverable files and choose a new location for them. Find and click 'iCloud' to begin to fix the documents folder is empty on Mac. On the top right of the iCloud drive, click 'Options'. Deselect the box for 'Desktop & Documents Folders'. When you do it, a pop-up will warn you that these files will only be stored in the iCloud drive.

  1. Using it to recover the deleted download folder on Mac is as simple as 1-2-3! Selecting a disk. To recover deleted files on Mac, you can select the hard drive partition where you lost your important downloads. Scan for deleted files.
  2. 8 Tried-and-Tested Solutions to Recover Lost Downloads. Method #1: Find the Downloads folder and Locate your Deleted Downloads. Method #2: Check if your Deleted Downloads are in the Recycle Bin. Method #3: Re-download the Deleted Download Files. Method #4: Search for your Deleted Downloads in Temporary Files.

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 Motore di ricerca torrent download free. 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

How To Open My Downloads Folder

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.

How to access my downloads folder

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.

'I accidentally deleted my downloads folder in Mac. Is there any way to restore the Downloads folder on Mac? I really need them back, because there are so many important documents there. Please help!'

There are so many downloads in the Downloads folder since all the downloaded files from web browsers can be saved there. That’s why so many people delete downloads folder since it occupies too much storage, especially when these is not much space for your Mac to work properly.

Is there any way to recover downloads folder on Mac? Sure, there are. You can follow the 3 ways one by one to get the right method to solve the downloads folder loss issue.

Quick Navigation
Method 1. Restore Downloads Folder on Mac from Trash Bin
Method 2. Restore Downloads Folder on Mac from Time Machine Backup
Method 3. Recover Deleted Downloads Folder on Mac with Data Recovery Software

Method 1. Restore Downloads Folder on Mac from Trash Bin

Whether you delete the downloads folder by dragging and dropping it to the trash can, or use Command +Delete, most of times, the downloads folder is put into the trash can. In this case, if you’re lucky enough, you can check the trash can, looking for downloads folder there. Just open the trash can > find the downloads folder > right-click on it and select 'Put Back'. It is the same as what you do to restore a deleted folder or file from trash bin.

There are so many downloads in the Downloads folder since all the downloaded files from web browsers can be saved there. That’s why so many people delete downloads folder since it occupies too much storage, especially when there is not much space for your Mac to work properly.

It’s quite easy to recover downloads folder or files deleted from the downloads folder in the trash bin. What worse is that you have emptied trash bin without noticing the important files are there. Is it possible to restore downloads folder on Mac after you permanently deleted them since they’re nowhere, not in the trash bin, not in the hard drive?

Yes, you can still recover deleted downloads folder. It depends on how you do it. Basically, there are two ways. One is restoring the downloads folder from backup if you have a backup. Another is recovering the download folder with professional data recovery software. All deleted files and folders are not gone right after the deletion, they’re waiting to be erased permanently. Before the data disappear permanently, you can rescue it by using data recovery software to display them and recover them. Check out the details below.

Method 2. Restore Downloads Folder on Mac from Time Machine Backup

If you have backed up important items from the download folder to another drive, then you can copy and paste them on your Mac again. If you don’t have copies but have Time Machine backup, then you need to make use of Time Machine to restore downloads folder on Mac. Here are the steps.

1. Connect the disk which you have used to do Time Machine backup with your Mac.

2. Go to Applications > Utilities > Migration Assistant, click Continue.

3. Select the Time Machine backup file and click Continue.

4. Go forward by choosing the needed files from the downloads folder to transfer until you complete the whole process.

5. When the transfer is finished, please restart your Mac and you will see the restored downloads folder or its items.

Method 3. Recover Deleted Downloads Folder on Mac with Data Recovery Software

If you have copies or Time Machine backup with the downloads folder content, then there is no problem with how to restore downloads folder on Mac at all. The terrible thing is you had not done any backup at all. In this case, you should use data recovery software to recover deleted downloads folder as soon as possible. Any delay may cause the downloads folder and items disappear permanently.

iBeesoft Data Recovery for Mac is one of the best choices for Mac downloads folder recovery. It will scan your Mac, listing all the deleted, missing files where are recoverable for you. After then, you can decide which files to recover.

Best Mac Data Recovery Software – iBeesoft Data Recovery for Mac

As an all-in-one Apple data recovery software, iBeesoft Data Recovery for Mac gives users everything they need for file recovery on Mac internal disks as well connected external hard drives.

Your Effective Mac Downloads Folder Recovery Software

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  • Fully compatible with macOS works very smoothly on Mac.
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Download the Mac data recovery software to restore downloads folder on Mac now!!!

1. Download and install the Mac data recovery on your Mac. If any warning pops up, don’t worry, just set it up as 'install apps from App Store and identified developers' in system preference. It happens because the software is not downloaded from App Store.

2. Launch the Mac data recovery software. If there are many file types in the Downloads folder, just go ahead and click 'Start'. Office 2016 for mac 2019. It will save you time if you filter needed files to start in the first window.

3. Next, please select the hard drive from where the downloads folder was lost. After then, click 'Scan'. Wait for the scanning process to finish, then you can select the found files to preview. When finding the target files deleted from the downloads folder, save them by clicking 'Recover'.

The above mentioned ways are for how to recover downloads folder on Mac. If you have any problem or suggestion for the downloads folder recovery on Mac, contact the support to let us know.

Frequently Asked Questions and Answers

Q: Lost my Downloads folder both from Dock and Finder. How to restore downloads folder?

A: you must want to restore downloads to Mac dock or finder, right? Here are the steps.

How to restore downloads folder to Dock on Mac

1. Open a Finder window and click Go on the top menu bar > click Home.

I Accidentally Deleted My Downloads Folder Mac

Epubor ultimate 3.0.8.17. 2. From the Home window, drag and drop the Download folder to Dock. That’s it!

How to restore Downloads folder to the Finder sidebar?

1. Go to Finder > Preferences > Sidebar

2. Check Downloads to “show these items in the sidebar.

My Downloads Folder Windows

Q: I accidentally deleted downloads in the Downloads folder. Can I get them back?

Downloads

My Downloads Folder Icon

A: no matter you want to restore the downloads folder or download items, the above-mentioned 3 ways can work: restore from trash bin and Time machine backup, or recover with iBeesoft Mac data recovery. You need to find the right way for you.