How To Delete Downloads on Mac

[kaneohe]

Help! How do I delete selected downloads stored on a Mac?
On a PC, I would right click on Start, select Explore, then find the Download folder and then highlight/Delete the desired files. Apple seems to be anti-PC guys so I have no clue how to do it on the Mac. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

[ERD50]

I assume you are talking about files downloaded from your browser? If so, go to the browser 'Preferences' and go to the 'General' Tab. It will show you where the downloaded files are stored (I've changed mine, but I think the default is the 'desktop').

Open a Finder window and maneuver to that folder, your downloads will be there.

Another way is to open the 'Downloads' window from the browser. In Safari, there is a little looking glass, click that to 'show' the file in the Finder.

It is all very simple, and really no different from Windows. You just need to know where the folder is and navigate to it.

-ERD50

 

[ladelfina]

I put the "Safari downloads" folder in that zone of the Finder to the left, for quick access and periodic cleaning-out.

 

[kaneohe]

Thanks all for the replies. I can find the files but how to delete??
The delete button doesn't do it and I can't think of anything else to push.

 

[BunsGettingFirm]

Drag those files to the wastebasket. In the wastebasket, click on the little gear button at the top of the window and then click on secure empty trash.

 

[cute fuzzy bunny]

Ah, its so much easier on a Mac...

In the end...

"Its all very simple, and really no different from Windows."

Yeah, I know...

 

[ERD50]

Thanks all for the replies. I can find the files but how to delete??
The delete button doesn't do it and I can't think of anything else to push.

Just like getting used to the controls in a different model car, some things are just different. They may even be easier, but until you get accustom to them, they are just different.

Try this link - it's designed to get people accustomed to the differences...

Apple - Support - Switch 101 - Welcome to Mac

-ERD50

 

[CuppaJoe]

Wassup?

 

[M Paquette]

Wassup?

Not much. Nibbling on cheese, running on the wheel. The usual.

(Retired Apple Inc employee...)

 

[CybrMike]

select file then Apple Key + DELETE

 

[ladelfina]

You can 1.) drag the files to the trash.. OR:


2.) (with the file/files selected) you can go under the "File" menu at the top of the screen and choose "Move to Trash".

3.) I have a two-button mouse, and when I right-click on a file or group of selected files, a contextual menu appears with the option to "Move to Trash". With a one-button mouse I think "Control"+click yields the contextual menu.

4.) Easiest of all: you can also (again, with the files selected) hit the "Command (Apple)" plus the "Delete" key. That will move the files to the Trash as it invokes #2 above. To remind you of the various key commands available just browse the menus. It really speeds things up if you can acquaint yourself with at least the ones you are likely to use most frequently. (oops, in the meantime I see CyberMike has gotten straight to the point )

So there's 4 different ways right there...

I guess it would have been more helpful if I reported this earlier.. maybe it would have saved some dopey comments (or maybe not ). I tend to learn by exploring on my own.

You can also modify keyboard commands in the System Preferences if you don't like the ones on offer.

 

[CuppaJoe]

Not much. Nibbling on cheese, running on the wheel. The usual.

(Retired Apple Inc employee...)

I've heard about the mouses but this has nothing to do with spinning beachballs?

Maybe they're working on a new slogan, "not Intel Inside."

 

[BunsGettingFirm]

I've heard about the mouses but this has nothing to do with spinning beachballs?

Maybe they're working on a new slogan, "not Intel Inside."

No, they are all busy ironing their black turtlenecks.

 

[M Paquette]

I've heard about the mouses but this has nothing to do with spinning beachballs?

Bwahahaha!

As it turns out, I'm the Evil SOB who put the Spinning Pizza of Death (officially, the Wait Cursor) in Mac OS X.

In the olde days, after I got out of the Navy, there weren't many job openings for neutron pushers, so I eventually got into the software racket. I worked for quite a while at a company that was bought by Apple in 1997, working on their graphics software and window server in particular. (A 'window server' is a thing that puts the drawings from various programs onto the display, and sends your keystrokes and mouse clicks to the proper program based on arcane rules arbitrarily modified by a window manager.) Anyhoo, that made me an Apple employee.

The Wait Cursor was invented to tell the user when a program stops paying attention to your keystrokes and mouse clicks. Now, programs should never stop paying attention, but occasionally through bad luck or bad programming , the 'main loop' of a program that normally pays attention to what the user wants gets distracted or stuck on something else (often a network service) and stops picking up keystrokes and mouse stuff.

When the system sees that a program hasn't picked up the user's keystrokes or mouse activity for 3 seconds, it 'marks' the program as being unresponsive, and turns the mouse cursor into the Wait Cursor when it is over a window of the unresponsive program. The user can still switch to another program and get work done, unless that program is unresponsive as well.

So, dat's what is happening when you see da spinning beachball.

 

[CuppaJoe]

Bwahahaha!

As it turns out, I'm the Evil SOB who put the Spinning Pizza of Death (officially, the Wait Cursor) in Mac OS X.

....

Thanks, it's incredible who's on board here. I keep instructions for force quitting on the inside cover of a "Missing Manual." Oh, boy, now I can pretend to be more computer savvy and call it a pizza. The beachball is actually pretty and I don't mind it. The last time it appeared was during import of photos but it really did function as a wait cursor, went through its routine and stopped spinning allowing photos to do their thing.

Is that a new avatar? Much cuter than the white rat i fell in love with during a psychology experiment.

 

[Nords]

Bwahahaha!
As it turns out, I'm the Evil SOB who put the Spinning Pizza of Death (officially, the Wait Cursor) in Mac OS X.
In the olde days, after I got out of the Navy, there weren't many job openings for neutron pushers, so I eventually got into the software racket.

I should've recognized the result of letting a fellow @#$%ing nuke follow his creative urges...

 

[M Paquette]

Is that a new avatar? Much cuter than the white rat i fell in love with during a psychology experiment.

Yah. Just for fun. It's a Blue Dumbo rat (not mine), which is supposed to be a variation on the Norway rat with a broader head and round ears. That's supposed to be good for extra cuteness points.

 

[kaneohe]

Thanks to BGF, LDF, and CM for those tips. I've been enjoying deleting all those things that have been accumulating since we have a so-so free WiFi connection and I didn't realize everytime I clicked multiple times on a link out of frustration, I was also accumulating multiple downloads. I'm blaming "out-of-sight, out-of-mind" ....yes I've seen that wastebasket pop up every so often but I don't usually think about it since it's usually not visible.

ERD50.....thanks for that link w/ the PC/Apple translation. Just what I've needed for a long time. I'm going to save it on my PC so if the Mac gets into trouble, I might have a clue. It's esp. useful now that the free Apple help is gone. I'm so glad I got the
black screen/no power problem while we did have the free help so at least I knew about removing the battery/charger and holding the start button down for 10 sec.
When the problem happened again after the free help was gone, I was ready. Is that a laptop problem or an Apple problem?

 

[kaneohe]

Thanks to BGF, LDF, and CM for those tips. I've been enjoying deleting all those things that have been accumulating since we have a so-so free WiFi connection and I didn't realize everytime I clicked multiple times on a link out of frustration, I was also accumulating multiple downloads. I'm blaming "out-of-sight, out-of-mind" ....yes I've seen that wastebasket pop up every so often but I don't usually think about it since it's usually not visible.

ERD50.....thanks for that link w/ the PC/Apple translation. Just what I've needed for a long time. I'm going to save it on my PC so if the Mac gets into trouble, I might have a clue. It's esp. useful now that the free Apple help is gone. I'm so glad I got the
black screen/no power problem while we did have the free help so at least I knew about removing the battery/charger and holding the start button down for 10 sec.
When the problem happened again after the free help was gone, I was ready. Is that a laptop problem or an Apple problem?

 

[ladelfina]

kanehoe.. don't forget to empty the trash if you want to free up disk space.
-click and hold on trash icon for contextual menu, or
-in Finder, hit Command(Apple)-Shift-Delete keys together
-in Finder, under Finder menu, choose Empty Trash, or "Secure Empty Trash" (which has no default kb equivalent). The latter will write over your deleted files so that they are basically unrecoverable.

If you don't always see the Trash, your Dock is hidden:
-under Apple(symbol) menu: choose Dock > Turn Hiding off or
-hit Command(Apple)-Alt-D keys to toggle Dock visibility

IF you like to keep the Dock hidden generally.. you can go to Apple(symbol) menu> Dock > Dock preferences.. and choose "Automatically hide and show the Dock". If you pick that option, the Dock will appear whenever you put your cursor at the bottom or side of the screen (whichever position you have chosen for your Dock), and disappear later.

I always keep the Dock in view at the bottom of the screen with my most frequently-used apps there (find original app icon and drag into the Dock to lodge it there; drag off Dock to remove.. the app won't be deleted; it's just no longer in the Dock).

--
re. free Help.. unless you have a hardware issue, there's oodles of help you can access either through the Help menu at the top of the screen in an Apple app. (Mac Help; "Apple"+"?" keys), or by clicking the Question Mark that you'll see in basically every Apple dialog box, in the lower right, which will bring you right to instructions on that particular dialog.

(Sorry can't help with laptop info since I don't have a laptop.)

Happy computing!

 

[CuppaJoe]

No, they are all busy ironing their black turtlenecks.

This would be so unlike the Apple image: maybe they are looking for the nearest dry cleaner. Don't know if Apple headquarters is like Google with on-site amenities but I would guess there are two types of employees: those who wear their clothes right out of the dryer and those who send them off to the cleaners.


[Off-topic: I would like to see more threads like this, where four or more topics get going while posters keep returning to the original topic, sort of the idea of computer branching instead of linear conversations. I think the idea of hijacking is a fallacy because there is nothing stopping us from quoting any previous post and reviving a sub-topic. Considering that most forums are skewed toward computer literate posters, I'm surprised this doesn't happen more often.]

 

[kaneohe]

LDF---thanks for the additional tips. Now I have added toggling dock visibility to my notches on my belt....quite an accomplishment for not even knowing what the dock was a few days ago. I always thought of it as a pop-up tool bar and just assumed it was designed to be as it was. It is always amusing to me when people explain stuff to people who know nothing....then, every single word may be a mystery. Well, in a thousand more years, I may be able to act like I know something.....thanks again.