Tidy and find

How to delete downloads on a Mac

Updated 25 October 2026 · 4 min read

Deleting downloads on a Mac means the files in Finder, not your browser's list. How to clear both, empty the Trash, and review old downloads with Orrel.

"Downloads" means two different things on a Mac: the files in the Downloads folder, which take up space, and the list your browser keeps, which does not. Deleting one does not touch the other, which is the source of most confusion.

Delete the files in Finder

1. Open Finder and press ⌥⌘L to go to Downloads, or click Downloads in the sidebar.
2. Switch to list view with ⌘2 so you can see dates and sizes.
3. Select the files you no longer need. ⌘-click to pick several, or ⌘A to select everything.
4. Press ⌘Delete to move them to the Trash.

Nothing is gone yet. The files sit in the Trash, and you can put any back by opening the Trash, Control-clicking the file and choosing Put Back.

Decide what to delete first

• Sort by size. Click the Size column header. A few disk images or videos are often most of the folder. If there is no Size column, press ⌘J and tick it.
• Sort by Date Added. Tick Date Added in the same panel. Files that arrived months ago and were never moved are usually safe to clear.
• Installers can go. Once an app is installed, its .dmg or .pkg is no longer needed. You can always download the current version again.
• Keep the only copies. Invoices, contracts, licence files and tax documents often live only in Downloads. Move them to Documents before you clear the rest.

Empty the Trash

To actually free the space, Control-click the Trash in the Dock and choose Empty Trash, or in Finder press ⇧⌘Delete. This is the step you cannot undo. To have old items removed automatically, open Finder › Settings › Advanced and tick Remove items from the Trash after 30 days.

Finder also has File › Delete Immediately (⌥⌘Delete), which skips the Trash entirely. It is best kept for files you are certain about.

Clear the browser's download list

• Safari. Click the Downloads button in the toolbar and click Clear. To stop the list growing, choose Safari › Settings › General and set Remove download list items to After one day or Upon successful download.
• Chrome. Open the Downloads page (⌥⌘L in Chrome) and choose Clear all. Clearing download history from Chrome's Delete browsing data does the same.

Both remove the entries only. The files are still in Finder.

From Storage settings

Open System Settings › General › Storage and click the info button (ⓘ) next to Documents. The Downloads tab lists the folder's files with their sizes, and you can select some and click Delete. Items deleted here are removed straight away rather than going to the Trash, so check the list before you confirm.

How Orrel does it

Orrel never deletes anything outright. Its Clean Up screen suggests files you may no longer need and lets you review each one before it goes to the Trash:

• Old installers. Disk images and packages more than 30 days old.
• Forgotten downloads. Files that arrived in Downloads more than 90 days ago.
• Big old videos. Videos over 100 MB that have not changed in 90 days.
• Identical copies. Files whose contents match exactly, checked with SHA-256, such as the same PDF downloaded three times. The oldest copy starts as the one you keep.

Tick what you want gone and Orrel moves it to the Trash, where Finder's Put Back still works. If you would rather keep downloads than delete them, the Downloads template in Tidy sorts loose files into folders for installers, archives, documents, images, video and audio, with a preview and undo.

Where Orrel stops

Orrel does not empty the Trash, so the space comes back only when you do. It does not clear your browser's download list. Its suggestions are based on age, size and type, and age alone does not prove a file is unused, which is why nothing moves until you tick it. Clean Up looks at your home folder as Orrel's library sees it, without ~/Library, hidden folders or external drives, and the duplicate scan skips files stored only in iCloud.