How to Clean Up Your Mac Downloads Folder Automatically

The Downloads folder only ever grows. Installers for apps you set up a year ago, PDFs you read once, a dozen copies of the same image called image (4).png. None of it is urgent, which is why it never gets cleared. Here are four ways to get it under control, from a one-off clean to something that looks after itself.

Step 0: see what is in your Downloads folder

Before automating anything, find out what is taking the space. Open System Settings, then General, then Storage, and click the information button next to Documents. The Downloads tab lists every download with its size and when you last opened it.

Sort by size. The top of the list is almost always disk images (.dmg) and zip files from app installs. Once an app is in your Applications folder its installer is dead weight, and those files alone are often several gigabytes. Select them and click Delete.

Or do the same in Finder: open Downloads, press Command and 2 for list view, and click the Size column header. If you do not see the Size column, press Command and J and tick Calculate all sizes.

Option 1: a Smart Folder that finds old downloads

This takes two minutes and gives you a permanent, self-updating view of everything in Downloads that has been sitting there a while.

1. Open the Downloads folder in Finder and press Command and F.
2. Next to Search, click Downloads so the search is limited to this folder.
3. Click the first pop-up menu, choose Other, find Date Added, and tick it.
4. Set the rule to Date Added is before and pick a date a month ago, or choose is not within last 30 days if your version of macOS offers it.
5. Click Save, name it something like Old Downloads, and leave Add To Sidebar ticked.

You can even drag this Smart Folder onto the Dock, next to the Downloads stack, so old files are one click away. Then once a week, click Old Downloads in the sidebar, press Command and A, look down the list for anything worth keeping, and press Command and Delete to move the rest to the Trash. Our full guide to macOS Smart Folders covers more rules you can combine, such as file kind and size.

This is not strictly automatic, but it is the safest option, because you see every file before it goes.

Option 2: Shortcuts automations (macOS 26 Tahoe and later)

macOS Tahoe brought Shortcuts automations to the Mac, including triggers that run when files are added to a folder or at a time of day. That makes a scheduled cleanup possible without Terminal:

1. Open Shortcuts and click Automations in the sidebar.
2. Create a new automation with a Time of Day trigger, such as every Monday at 9am.
3. Add a Find Files action limited to the Downloads folder, filtered to files whose date added is not in the last 30 days.
4. Add a Delete Files action, and leave Confirm Before Deleting switched on while you test it.

Run it by hand a few times before you trust it with no confirmation. Action names shift slightly between versions of Shortcuts, so if one of these is named differently on your Mac, search the action list for the nearest match.

Option 3: an Automator Folder Action

On older versions of macOS, Automator can attach a workflow to the Downloads folder that runs whenever a file lands in it. The most useful job for it is not deletion but sorting, for example moving every new disk image into a subfolder called Installers so they are easy to clear in bulk later.

1. Open Automator, choose New Document, then Folder Action.
2. At the top, set Folder Action receives files and folders added to to Downloads.
3. Add Filter Finder Items and set it to File extension is dmg.
4. Add Move Finder Items and choose your Installers folder.
5. Save it with a clear name.

Folder Actions only fire when something is added, so they cannot run a clean-up on a schedule. For sorting on arrival, though, they are reliable and free.

Option 4: a rules-based app

If you want rules such as move screenshots older than a week to an archive, and trash installers after a day, a dedicated file automation app such as Hazel does this properly, with a preview of which files each rule will match. It is paid software, and more than most people need, but it is the most complete answer if your Downloads folder is a daily problem.

A note on Terminal

Forum answers often suggest a find ~/Downloads -mtime +30 -delete command. Avoid it. It deletes permanently, with no Trash and no undo, and it judges age by modification date, which for a download may be the date the website created the file, not the date you downloaded it. If you want to preview old files from Terminal, drop the -delete and read the list first.

Stop the pile growing

• Download to where the file belongs. Set your browser to ask where to save each file if most downloads belong in project folders. Our guide to changing where downloads go covers every major browser.
• Delete installers straight away. Once the app is in Applications, eject the disk image and drag it to the Trash.
• Empty the Trash automatically. In Finder Settings, under Advanced, turn on Remove items from the Trash after 30 days. Combined with any option above, that gives you a 30-day safety net before anything is truly gone.

For the rest of your disk, not just Downloads, our guide to safely cleaning up system storage on a Mac explains what is safe to remove and what to leave alone. And if a tidy Downloads folder is part of a wider push to cut clutter, ShortcutDock does the same job for the Dock, keeping your apps in a grid behind a menu bar icon instead of a crowded row.