Show Me My Downloads Folder

Putting your downloads into one folder on your desktop is a great way to keep your computer organized. Put your downloads into one folder on your desktop with help from an expert in information.

Folder Downloaded Files
Show Me My Downloads Folder Download
Show All My Downloads

Safari (Mac OS): Choose Window Downloads or press Option+Command+L. Control-click the downloaded file and choose Show in Finder. Google Chrome: Choose Settings Downloads or press Ctrl+J. Click the Show in folder link under the downloaded file.
This wikiHow teaches you how to view a list of all of the files you've downloaded from Google Chrome. Since file downloads aren't stored locally on mobile devices, you can only view your downloads on the Chrome desktop browser.
To find files that you have downloaded to your computer, begin by looking through the Downloads folder. If you do not find them there, look through your other folders, and check the desktop if they are nowhere else. Head to the Downloads folder. Click the Start button in the lower left-hand corner of your screen (if you are using Windows 7 or 8).
To pin Downloads to Start menu. Step 1: Open File Explorer, right-click on the Downloads folder in the navigation pane, and then click Pin to Start. Tip: In Windows 10, you can easily add the Downloads folder to left-pane of the Start menu.

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The Downloads folder is one of the most frequently accessed folders on a PC running any recent versions of Windows operating system, including the latest Windows 10. With default settings, all files downloaded using web browsers are saved in the Downloads folder, which is located in the drive where Windows operating system is installed.

There are a couple of ways to access the Downloads folder from desktop as well as File Explorer. Either type its name in the Start menu or taskbar search box and press enter key, or open File Explorer (Windows Explorer) and then click Downloads folder located in the navigation pane, or type Downloads in the address bar followed by Enter key. If the File Explore icon is the taskbar, you can also right-click on it to reveal the jump list and then click Downloads.

And if you prefer to quickly open the Downloads folder with a keyboard shortcut, launch Run command with the help of Windows + R hotkey, type Downloads and then press Enter key. Using the search feature is probably the easiest way out there to quickly open Downloads folder.

While one can always use one of the above mentioned methods to quickly open Downloads folder, users who often need to access it might want to create a desktop shortcut for Downloads folder or pin Downloads folder to the taskbar for easy access.

In this guide, we will see how to add Downloads folder shortcut to desktop as well as to the taskbar in Windows 10. Luckily, pinning Downloads folder is not as complicated as pinning normal folders.

Pin Downloads folder to Windows 10 taskbar

NOTE: This method can only pin Downloads, Documents, Music, Videos and Pictures folders to the taskbar. To pin other folders, please refer to our how to quickly pin folders to taskbar in Windows 10 guide for step-by-step instructions.

Step 1: Open File Explorer, right-click on the Downloads folder in the navigation-pane (if you can’t see either expand Quick Access or This PC), click Send to, and then click Desktop (crate shortcut) to have the shortcut of it on the desktop.

Step 2: Next, drag and drop the Downloads shortcut from the desktop to the taskbar to pin in to the taskbar.

Create a desktop shortcut for Downloads folder

Step 1: Open File Explorer.

Step 2: Right-click on the Downloads folder in the navigation pane of File Explorer, click Send to, and then click Desktop (create shortcut) option to create the desktop shortcut of it. As simple as that!

To pin Downloads to Start menu

Step 1: Open File Explorer, right-click on the Downloads folder in the navigation pane, and then click Pin to Start.

Tip: In Windows 10, you can easily add the Downloads folder to left-pane of the Start menu, just above the power button. Refer to our how to add downloads & documents folders to Windows 10 Start menu guide for step-by-step instructions.

When I download files like ebooks off the internet, I can never find them. Where do they go on my computer?

It depends on how you download. Typically they go into your “Downloads” or “My Documents” folder, so we’ll look at how best to check that.

But it’s also possible that they went into the same folder as the last download. We’ll look at why, and how to fix it as well.

There’s another place that downloads often end up that’s kind of dangerous, as it gets “cleaned up” every so often – meaning you could eventually lose your download. We’ll learn how to avoid that.

And we’ll look at how to find your file, regardless of where it landed.

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An example file to download

First, here’s an example file for you to download.

This is a link to the PDF [Portable Document Format]

PDF is an acronym for Portable Document Format.
PDF is a file format originally created by Adobe intended to capture the look and feel of a printed document in a way that could be displayed on a wide variety of different computers.
There are many approaches to creating PDF files; these range from using the original, full-featured Adobe Acrobat program, to sending documents to print drivers that simply capture output being printed into a PDF file.
PDF files can be read on almost all current devices, ranging from Windows, Mac, and Linux PC to iPhones, iPads, Android-based phones and tablets, and more.
See also: Just what is PDF format, how do I view it, and why do people use it? at Ask Leo!.
(Click on the term for full definition.)

'>PDF sample I make available for The Ask Leo! Guide to Routine Maintenance. It contains roughly the first 10% of that book, including its table of contents:

This example link shows the entire URL [Uniform Resource Locator]

URL is an acronym for Uniform Resource Locator, a way to specify a resource, such as a webpage, file or a service, on the internet.
(Click on the term for full definition.)

Folder Downloaded Files

'>URL, but you’ll also see download links that look more readable:

Either will get you the same download.

Plain old click

When you click on a link, your browser may do several different things, depending on what the link points to. If it’s another web page, of course your browser will display it. If it’s something other than a web page (like a document or software, for instance) then the browser will, in all likelihood, offer to download it for you.

PDF files are kind of special. They’re not really web pages, but in most cases, web browsers display them as if they are. As a result, if you simply click on that link to the example PDF above, Internet Explorer may1 download the file, open it, and display it:

All devices operating in MTP mode are supported. Device operating in MTP mode. Limit of 30 transferred files from a device in total (until the Windows is restarted). Samsung mtp usb driver download. Note: The MTPdrive is not a replacement for the device's factory (or Windows default) device driver. You must be able to connect your device to the computer and have it visible in the Windows Explorer, before it can be mapped as a drive letter using the MTPdrive.Trial version limitations.

OK, so it downloaded to your computer … but where do these downloads go?

Well, like any page you download from the internet, your web browser downloads it to its cache. Yes, you can find it – I just searched for the filename on my Hard Disk Drive [HDD]

An HDD, or Hard Disk Drive, is data storage made up of magnetic spinning disks.
(Click on the term for full definition.)

'>hard disk and found it here:

Not only is that not obvious and not friendly, it’s also not something you or I are ever expected to actually use. The thinking is that if you just click the link, all you want to do is read the contents without saving it. Eventually it’ll be removed from the browser cache, and if you want it again you’ll need to download it again.

Saving a PDF you view

Many PDF viewers embedded in browsers have an interesting feature: they allow you to save a copy without re-downloading.

For example, using Internet Explorer 11 with Adobe Reader 11 installed, if you move the mouse over the lower portion of the displayed document, a floating toolbar will appear:

There are several icons relating to PDF viewing, but the one I want to draw your attention to is at the far left: the disk icon. Click on that and you’ll get a “Save As…” dialog:

This will let you save a copy of the downloaded file to a location you specify.

The default location in this instance? Your Documents folder (or more correctly, your Documents Library), which is where we find the copy after clicking Save:

Now you have the PDF file where you can do what you will with it. Keep it there, and you won’t have to download it again.

Saving a file directly

Naturally, not all downloads are PDFs, so the option to save a copy while viewing it won’t always make sense.

Fortunately, there’s a way to avoid all that: just save the file directly from the start. The added benefit is that you control where the download goes from the start.

Right click on the link:

The pop-up menu

See context menu.
(Click on the term for full definition.)

'>pop-up menu will include an item “Save target as…”. In other browsers the exact words may differ; you may see “Save link as…” or “Download linked file as…” but the effect is the same: rather than simply trying to view whatever the link points to in the browser, you’re asking for it to be downloaded to your computer.

And here’s where things get weird.

The default save location

If you’ve never downloaded anything, or never downloaded anything since installing or perhaps even upgrading your browser, the location that resulting “Save As…” dialog box

A dialog box is a window that appears on top of a main application or other window (or occasionally no window at all) requesting user input.
(Click on the term for full definition.)

'>dialog box defaults to will probably make sense. In most cases, it’ll be the same “Documents” folder that we saw above.

Show Me My Downloads Folder Download

However:

Show All My Downloads

If you’ve downloaded something before…
and you selected a different download folder, directing the download to be placed in a specific folder of your own choosing…
then the next time you download a file, the browser will probably default to that most recent location.

That’s why, when preparing this example, my default download location was something else entirely:

The solution is simple: select the folder you want before clicking on Save. But you do have to be watching and paying attention to the download location to know whether or not you need to do that.

Or you can simply do it every time. For example, clicking on the Documents library in the left hand pane of the Save As… dialog will set the download location in one click.

Set your own standard

Sometimes your browser, or your operating system, will actually have a “Downloads” folder that it uses for just this purpose. As long as you haven’t downloaded elsewhere, then your downloads will always go to this appropriately-named location.

Even if your system doesn’t do that, you can do it yourself. I find it a great way to organize my files.

You can use the system-provided Downloads folder, if it exists, or you can use Windows Explorer (File Explorer in Windows 8 and beyond) to create a “Downloads” folder anywhere on your hard drive that you like, and then use that.

Once you download to that location, your browser will typically remember it for you next time.

The browser’s own download folder

Some web browsers either default to the system downloads folder more consistently, or they have their own. Fortunately, most have a quick way to open that default folder.

In Internet Explorer, that’s CTRL+J:

That will open a list of the files you’ve recently downloaded, and show you where they were placed:

When all else fails?

What if you still can’t find or figure out where your PDF ended up?

It’s time to search.

In Windows 8 at the tiled start screen … just start typing and the search interface will POP [Point Of Presence]

POP is an acronym for Point Of Presence (Not to be confused with POP3). Point of Presence typically refers to the physical location at which telephone lines, internet circuits, and cable television signals are placed immediately prior to the individual, specific connections to the homes and businesses using those services.
(Click on the term for full definition.)

'>pop up:

The download I’m looking for is “routinemaintenance_toc.pdf.” If I can’t recall the exact file name, I might start by typing “main” or “maint” – parts of the file name that I do remember. Windows will show me everything that matches.

The first thing to do is to narrow it down to files only. Click the little down arrow next to the word “Everywhere” and you’ll be given a menu of search options.

Click on Files to restrict the search to only files, and the results list will become a little more manageable. Keep typing letters of the filename until what you’re looking for shows up.

Once you see the file you’re looking for in the list, you can either click on it to open it directly, or right click on it and select Open file location to open the folder containing the file in File Explorer.

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