How to Remove a Software Download From Mac Updated

How to Remove a Software Download From Mac

If you regularly download content from the spider web to your Mac, you may find that your precious storage space can quickly get eaten up by files — some of which you may not use or need anymore. Images, videos, audio files, and app installers in item can take up a big chunk of your Mac's storage drive over fourth dimension, and information technology's surprisingly easy to forget that many of them are all the same lurking in your Downloads folder.

Deleting downloads on Mac that you no longer need can free up that space, giving you lot the storage you need to fill-in more photos, install more than apps, and save more than documents. In this guide, we'll bear witness y'all how to quickly discover and organize your downloads, identify those you no longer need, and remove them all in merely a few clicks.

Before we start

If you want to free upwardly extra storage on your Mac, consider downloading MacKeeper . MacKeeper's Condom Cleanup feature tin can assist you lot find the unneeded junk files in your arrangement and so make clean them upward in a unmarried click. If you're brusk on disk space, this feature could complimentary up plenty of disk space without you having to go rid of any of your personal files.

How to discover downloads on Mac

By default, anything you download to your Mac from the web volition terminate upwards in your Downloads binder. You tin observe this on the right side of your Dock, next to the trash tin, or in the sidebar within Finder, beneath Applications and Desktop. If you've previously changed where your downloads are saved and now you lot cannot call up where they are, you can open the preferences menu in your spider web browser to find it.

Here's how to practise that in Safari:

Open Safari, then click Safari in your Mac'due south menu bar
Click Preferences —and then click the Full general tab
Refer to File download location to see where your downloads are being saved

Here's how to find your downloads binder in Google Chrome:

Open up Chrome, then click Chrome in your Mac's card bar
Click Preferences
Curl to the bottom of the folio and then click Advanced
Under Downloads, refer to Location to come across where downloads are being saved

How to organize your downloads on Mac

In one case you lot've located and opened your Downloads folder, information technology'south a good idea to sort it. This volition go far easier to identify the files you wish to keep, those you wish to download, and those that are taking upwards the most storage space. We recommend sorting your files past size first.

To exercise this, follow these steps:

Right-click inside your Downloads folder
Select Sort By, then choose Size

The biggest files will now appear first. It's easier to view them and organize them when they appear in a listing, rather than as icons.

To alter your folder view, follow these steps:

Correct-click inside your Downloads folder
Select View, then choose As List

Yous should now meet exactly how much space each file is taking up under the Size cavalcade in the Downloads folder. Information technology's best to target the largest files — those taking up the most storage — first because it's quicker to gratis up space that style. However, you lot may also want to sort your files by date. This will make it easier to notice sometime downloads that y'all might not need anymore.

To practise this, follow these steps:

Right-click inside your Downloads folder
Select Sort By, then cull Engagement Added

How to clear downloads on Mac

Once you have sorted your Downloads folder and identified the files yous no longer need anymore, it'southward time to kickoff removing downloads from your Mac. You can practise this by right-clicking each file individually and then selecting Move to Bin or Motion to Trash, but if you take multiple files you need to articulate, there are easier ways to exercise that.

To select and delete multiple files at once, follow these steps:

Concord down the Command central on your Mac'southward keyboard
Left-click every file in your Downloads folder that you want to delete
Release the Command key, correct-click, and then select Move to Bin or Move to Trash

If you accept moved any files y'all desire to keep out of your Downloads folder and you lot want to delete everything that remains, you lot can select and delete all downloads speedily by following these steps:

Hold downwards the Command cardinal on your Mac'southward keyboard, then press the A key to select all files
Right-click, and so select Move to Bin or Move to Trash

Only employ this option in one case yous are certain that y'all want to delete all downloads on your Mac.

You have now removed the downloads you don't desire from their save location, merely y'all haven't actually wiped them from your Mac just yet, so they're still taking upwardly storage space. To eliminate them for expert, you'll need to empty the bin or trash tin by following these steps:

Right-click the bin or trash tin in your Mac'south Dock
Select Empty Bin or Empty Trash Tin

Y'all're all done — the files are gone and the storage space they were taking upwards is now free. Notation that you can exercise a lot of this more chop-chop using a Mac cleaning app similar MacKeeper.

An alternative

There is another style to remove downloads and other files taking up infinite on your Mac. Some users may discover this method simpler, then we've included it in this guide just in case:

Click the Apple logo in your Mac'due south menu bar
Select About This Mac, then click the Storage tab
Click Manage
Select Documents in the sidebar to see what's taking up space on your Mac
Click the Downloads tab if you want to focus on downloaded files specifically
Click any files you want to remove, then click Delete
To remove multiple files in i become, hold down the Control primal on your Mac's keyboard while you select them with your mouse, then click Delete
Confirm this action by clicking the Delete button when prompted

This method doesn't send files to the bin or trash can before they are removed — they are immediately wiped from your Mac's storage bulldoze. Carry this in mind when selecting files for deletion considering at that place'south no easy way to recover them once they're gone.

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With over five years of supporting Mac users, Ruslana lives and breathes everything Mac. Tech skillful, Apple lover, and well, a cutie. Say hi on LinkedIn!

With over 5 years of supporting Mac users, Ruslana lives and breathes everything Mac. Tech expert, Apple lover, and well, a cutie. Say hi on LinkedIn!