How to Change Where Downloads Go on a Mac

There is no single place on a Mac that decides where downloads go. Each browser keeps its own setting, so if you changed it in Safari and Chrome still saves to the Desktop, that is why. Here is where the setting lives in each browser, and what to pick.

How to change the download location in Safari

1. Open Safari and press Command and comma to open Settings.
2. Click General.
3. Open the File download location pop-up menu.
4. Choose Downloads, Ask for each download, or Other to pick a folder.

Just below it is Remove download list items, which is often misunderstood. It controls how long entries stay in Safari's downloads list: after one day, upon successful download, when Safari quits, or manually. It never deletes the files themselves.

How to change the download location in Chrome

1. Open Chrome and press Command and comma.
2. Click Downloads in the sidebar.
3. Next to Location, click Change and choose a folder.
4. Turn on Ask where to save each file before downloading if you want to choose every time.

Chrome profiles each have their own setting. If you use separate work and personal profiles, change it in both.

How to change the download location in Firefox

1. Open Firefox and press Command and comma.
2. Stay on General and scroll to Files and Applications.
3. Next to Save files to, click Browse and choose a folder.
4. Or select Always ask you where to save files.

How to change the download location in Edge

1. Open Edge and press Command and comma.
2. Click Downloads.
3. Next to Location, click Change.
4. Turn on Ask me what to do with each download if you prefer to choose.

Other Chromium browsers, such as Brave, Arc and Vivaldi, follow almost the same path: Settings, then Downloads, then Location.

Which location should you choose?

Keep the Downloads folder for almost everyone. It is where macOS, Finder's sidebar and the Dock stack all expect files to be, and it is the folder every cleanup tool knows about.

Choose Ask each time if most of what you download belongs in a specific project folder. It adds a click per download but saves a trip through Finder afterwards.

Avoid the Desktop. It feels convenient for a week, and then the desktop is covered in installers and PDFs you cannot find. If you want downloads visible, put the Downloads stack on the Dock instead.

Why is my Downloads stack in the Dock empty?

If you restored the Downloads folder on the Dock and it stays empty after a download, the browser is almost certainly saving somewhere else. Check the setting above in the browser you used. A second, quieter cause is that the stack is sorted by Name, so the new file is there but buried. Right-click the stack and choose Sort by Date Added.

If the Downloads folder itself is missing from the Dock, our guide to getting the Downloads folder back on the Dock has the fix, and if it has also gone from Finder's sidebar, see the Downloads folder missing from the Finder sidebar.

Other apps that save files

• Mail: Settings, General, Downloads folder. Defaults to Downloads.
• AirDrop: always saves to Downloads. There is no setting to change it.
• Screenshots: press Shift, Command and 5, click Options, and choose a location under Save to.

Keeping it tidy

Pointing everything at one Downloads folder is only half of the job; the other half is stopping it filling up for ever. Our guide to cleaning the Downloads folder automatically covers four ways to do that, from a Smart Folder to a Shortcuts automation. And if you find yourself opening the same handful of apps to deal with downloaded files, ShortcutDock keeps them one hotkey away from the menu bar.