Moving Downloads folder

[macmesser]

I'm running High Sierra on a classic Mac Pro, off a 256GB SSD and it's getting a little tight. A couple of HDDs in the Mac and external drives are used for working files and storage but even so, Downloads (I like to keep them in case I need to reinstall something) and Google Drive were taking up quite a bit of limited space so I've been getting warning messages that only 10% is free. Google Drive was easy (in fact I had it on one of my internals until I forgot after a recent upgrade that default is boot). What's the best way to move downloads? There seems to be no way to set location for it. I thought of using an alias but not sure if that would be good practice. I could always just archive them somewhere else or even use an AppleScript but something I could just set and forget would be easier.

 

[Fishrrman]

The "first level of subfolders" in your home folder are MORE THAN just folders -- they're actually "symbolic links" (or at least they used to be) and can't be easily "moved".

If the Downloads folder is getting full, my suggestions:
- Get an external drive, create new folders on it (with appropriate names), and "offload" stuff from the home/downloads folder to the external drive
- Take a really good look in the downloads folder -- do you really need all of that stuff?

 

[posguy99]

What's the best way to move downloads? There seems to be no way to set location for it.

Gee, except for the preference in Safari. And Chrome probably has one too.

 

[dianeoforegon]

Go to Preferences in your browsers and set downloads to go to your external drive. Similar to setting iTunes and Photos to launch the library folders on external drive.

 

[Gregg2]

Well, yeah, in Safari's preferences, you can change the location that downloads are collected. That's not the same as moving the Downloads folder, but probably a better idea.

 

[posguy99]

Well, yeah, in Safari's preferences, you can change the location that downloads are collected. That's not the same as moving the Downloads folder, but probably a better idea.

There is *zero* special about the folder named "Downloads" under the user's home folder. Make a folder somewhere else, name it "Downloads", point Safari or whatever at it.

 

[blaichch]

You can also change the symbolic link of your download folder. Take a look at this:
http://osxdaily.com/2015/08/06/make-symbolic-links-command-line-mac-os-x/

 

[posguy99]

Or I could just save downloads wherever I think appropriate and not attach importance to a directory that doesn't have any. This whole thread is trying to solve the wrong problem.

 

[Gregg2]

There is *zero* special about the folder named "Downloads" under the user's home folder.

Read post #2

But you also had a good suggestion there.

 

[macmesser]

Gee, except for the preference in Safari. And Chrome probably has one too.

I was looking for a system-wide way rather than application specific.
[doublepost=1512930304][/doublepost]

There is *zero* special about the folder named "Downloads" under the user's home folder. Make a folder somewhere else, name it "Downloads", point Safari or whatever at it.

There is in that the system uses it as default location for downloads.

 

[macmesser]

You can also change the symbolic link of your download folder. Take a look at this:
http://osxdaily.com/2015/08/06/make-symbolic-links-command-line-mac-os-x/

Thanks for help. This is what I had in mind. It's little trouble to set it up and keeps the standard structure installed by the OS. I can see that symbolic links could be useful for other purposes down the road, as in use to keep a folder name constant in an AppleScript.

 

[blaichch]

Just keep in mind that symbolic links on an external drive might lead to troubles when ejecting the drive.

Little fun fact aside: You can also link your folders into your Google Drive (like Desktop and Documents and stuff)

 

[Bart Kela]

I did this years ago on my Mac mini server (mid-2010). It now has a 120GB SSD boot drive and an auxiliary 1TB hard drive (7200rpm).

I created a folder called Downloads on the hard drive then created an alias. I renamed the Downloads folder in my user directory to Downloads.old and dragged the newly created alias to my user directory. Now Downloads by default end up on my 1TB hard drive.

My downloads no longer take up precious space on my SSD and they don't really benefit from the fast disk I/O. They are perfectly fine on the spinner.

I did the same thing with my Music directory (i.e., iTunes Library), put everything on the spinner. Works great!

 

[macmesser]

I did this years ago on my Mac mini server (mid-2010). It now has a 120GB SSD boot drive and an auxiliary 1TB hard drive (7200rpm).

I created a folder called Downloads on the hard drive then created an alias. I renamed the Downloads folder in my user directory to Downloads.old and dragged the newly created alias to my user directory. Now Downloads by default end up on my 1TB hard drive.

My downloads no longer take up precious space on my SSD and they don't really benefit from the fast disk I/O. They are perfectly fine on the spinner.

I did the same thing with my Music directory (i.e., iTunes Library), put everything on the spinner. Works great!

Thanks for reply. I'll be doing the same.

 

[posguy99]

There is in that the system uses it as default location for downloads.

The "system" doesn't use it for anything at all. Just pointing that out.

 

[macmesser]

Just keep in mind that symbolic links on an external drive might lead to troubles when ejecting the drive.

Little fun fact aside: You can also link your folders into your Google Drive (like Desktop and Documents and stuff)

Thanks. That could be a good way to organize things.
[doublepost=1513026389][/doublepost]

The "system" doesn't use it for anything at all. Just pointing that out.

I understand your point. Thanks.

 

[sveinhal]

There is *zero* special about the folder named "Downloads" under the user's home folder. Make a folder somewhere else, name it "Downloads", point Safari or whatever at it.

Sorry for replying to an old thread, but I found this looking for an answer to the same question as O.P.

There is actually quite a lot that the system does with the default downloads folder. Here are some examples:

• If an application asks for fileManager.url(for: .downloadsDirectory, in: .userDomainMask), the default download location will be returned. Lots of first and third party apps use this system location for storing user-initiated downloaded content, such as Mail.app, Safari.app, but also third party app such as file transfer apps, Slack, Chrome, third party mail readers, etc.
• If the user pressed Command+Option+L, the downloads folder is opened.
• The Downloads folder is given a special icon

I'd very much like to be able to change this directory system-wide.