Sep 02, 2010 Mac users, you may be familiar with this problem. Apple was smart enough to include a folder containing recent downloads on your computer's dock, making them easy to find and easy to access, no. Right-click on the Downloads Folder in the dock to bring up the options menu. Once the options menu appears, hover your mouse over Options and then click on Remove From Dock Option in the contextual menu that appears (See image below). The Downloads Folder will be immediately removed from the Dock and placed in the Home Directory of your user account on Mac.
An alias for the item is placed in the Dock. When you drag a folder to the Dock, you can view it as a folder stack. By default, the Dock comes with a Downloads stack. See Organize files in stacks. Remove an item from the Dock: Drag the item out of the Dock until you see Remove. Only the alias is removed; the actual item remains on your Mac. Dec 07, 2019 Before you get started with your new MacBook Pro, there are a number of key settings that you should change. From switching off auto brightness and enabling gestures to adjusting the Dock and much.
Firefox Download Folder
About this article
This article includes instructions and suggestions for storing, organizing, and backing up files on your MacBook hard drive. It is intended for any student or employee with a MacBook.
Fig 2. Select hard drive icon and Users to access Home folder
Where are your files?
You have full administrative rights to your laptop. That means you have the ability to save your files just about anywhere on your laptop's hard drive. You may have saved things, intentionally or unintentionally, to locations other than the ones we configured as described below. It's up to you to find and manage those folders and files. Every WSU MacBook hard drive is set up the same way:
- On a MacBook, all of the space on the single hard drive is assigned to one partition called MacBook Pro/Air # where the number represents the year it was distributed (e.g., MacBook Pro 13). Open your hard drive by double-clicking the MacBook Pro/Air # drive icon on your desktop (Figure 1).
- You will see several folders on what is called the root of the hard drive. Do not delete or rename any of these folders.
- Inside the Users folder, you will find your Home folder (Figure 2).
About the Home folder
Your Home folder is a special folder on your hard drive set up just for you. This is where you should save any personal or school-related files on your laptop. To help you keep your files organized, WSU created some sub-folders in your Home folder (e.g., Documents, Music, Pictures). You can use these folders if you wish or you can create your own. You can also create sub-folders within these folders (e.g., a Courses folder inside your Documents folder). Build a folder structure that works for you.
What's a default save location?
Some applications have default save locations for files you create using that application. For example, Microsoft Word opens a specific folder in your Home directory the first time you Save a document and every time you select Save As. WSU has already set the default save location of many of the applications that came installed on your MacBook. For example, the default save location for Word is your Documents folder in your Home directory. When you install applications, a default save location is selected automatically or you are asked to select one during the installation process. You want the default save location to be a folder in your Home directory. For example, when you install Apple iTunes, it will use your Music folder in your Home directory. Sometimes, an application will pick a very strange and out of the way default save location. Keep your eyes on this as you install applications and change the default save location if needed. Also, be careful about deleting or renaming existing folders in your Home directory if they are default save locations for an application.
How do I access the Home folder?
From the hard drive icon
- Double-click the MacBook Pro/Air # drive icon on your desktop
- Open the Users folder
- Open the Home folder. It's the one with the icon that looks like a house and that is named with your username (Figure 2).
From the Go menu
- Select the Go menu
- Select Home. This opens up the home folder and displays its contents.
About the sub-folders in your Home folder
Documents, Music, Pictures, and Movies
These are folders that we created for you thinking that this might be a nice way for you to organize your files. If this works for you, great. If you want to create new folders with new names, that's fine too. However, keep in mind that these folders are default save locations for various applications. Even if you don't want to use them, please don't delete them for awhile until you are sure you have your own folder structure and default save locations worked out.
Applications
You may or may not have such a folder depending on what applications are installed on you MacBook. Don't confuse this Applications folder in your Home directory with the one that contains all of your installed applications. They are two different folders. This one simply stores personal data and files associated with certain applications. For example, the default storage location for the screen shots you capture using TechSmith SnagIt, a screen capture program, is a sub-folder in your Applications folder in your Home directory. The actual SnagIt application itself is stored in another location. For most applications, you can change their default save locations if you wish, but always check this Applications folder to see if there is anything in there you want to back up and retain.
Desktop
Download Folder Mac
The Desktop folder in your Home directory contains all the folders, files, and shortcuts found out on your desktop. Some people like to store things, lots of things, right on their desktop. They save files, folders, and shortcuts to applications right out on the desktop. If this method works for you and you want to replicate it on another MacBook, you will need to back up the Desktop folder and then copy and paste it to your Home directory on the other machine. Note that your shortcuts will not work on the new laptop if the applications they link to are not it the same place. The fastest way to restore them is to delete them and recreate them on the new laptop.
Downloads
This folder contains any application update, printer driver, or other software or hardware-related file you ever downloaded from the web. The vast majority of these files do not need to be retained because you will probably never use them again. However, this folder may also contain manuals, journal articles, image files, and other useful, downloaded documents or media that you do want to retain. Take a look through your Downloads folder regularly. Delete anything you don't need and move anything important to another folder to better organize it. Ideally, your Downloads folder should be empty.
Public
Because Mac OS X is a multi-user operating system, the Public folder is there to allow you to store files that would be accessible to other people who log on to your MacBook. Because no one but you typically logs on to your laptop, this folder isn't very useful. Don't delete it just in case you might need it someday.
Backing up your files
There are several ways that you can back up the files in your Home direcory:
- Drag-and-drop or copy-paste your entire Home folder to network, cloud, or external storage
- Pick and choose individual folders and files within your Home directory to drag-and-drop or Copy-Paste to network, cloud, or external storage
Restoring your files
To restore your files to a new MacBook, reverse the process you used to back them up:
- Drag-and-drop or copy-paste your entire Home folder from network, cloud, or external storage to the same locations on your new MacBook
- Drag-and-drop or copy-paste individual folders and files from network, cloud, or external storage to the same locations on your new MacBook
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Open Download Folder
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The Finder is the first thing that you see when your Mac finishes starting up. It opens automatically and stays open as you use other apps. It includes the Finder menu bar at the top of the screen and the desktop below that. It uses windows and icons to show you the contents of your Mac, iCloud Drive, and other storage devices. It's called the Finder because it helps you to find and organize your files.
Change how your files are displayed
To change how files are displayed in Finder windows, use the View menu in the menu bar, or the row of buttons at the top of the Finder window. You can view files as icons , in a list , in columns , or in a gallery . And for each view, the View menu provides options to change how items are sorted and arranged, such as by kind, date, or size. Learn more about customizing views.
Gallery View, showing the sidebar on the left and the Preview pane on the right.
When you view files in a gallery, you can browse your files visually using large previews, so it's easy to identify images, videos, and all kinds of documents. Gallery View even lets you play videos and scroll through multipage documents. Earlier versions of macOS have a similar but less powerful gallery view called Cover Flow .
The sidebar in Finder windows contains shortcuts to AirDrop, commonly used folders, iCloud Drive, devices such your hard drives, and more. Like items in the Dock, items in the sidebar open with just one click.
Find Settings On Macbook Pro
To change the items in your sidebar, choose Finder > Preferences from the Finder menu bar, then click Sidebar at the top of the preferences window. You can also drag files into or out of the sidebar. Learn more about customizing the sidebar.
Search for files
To search with Spotlight, click the magnifying glass in the menu bar, or press Command–Space bar. Spotlight is similar to Quick Search on iPhone or iPad. Learn more about Spotlight.
To search from a Finder window, use the search field in the corner of the window:
When you select a search result, its location appears at the bottom of the window. To get to this view from Spotlight, choose “Search in Finder” or “Show all in Finder” from the bottom of the Spotlight search results.
In both Spotlight and Finder, you can use advanced searches to narrow your search results. You can also use tags to organize and find files.
Delete files
To move a file to the Trash, drag the file to the Trash in the Dock. Or select one or more files and choose File > Move To Trash (Command-Delete).
To remove a file from the Trash, click the Trash to open it, then drag the file out of the Trash. Or select the file and choose File > Put Back.
To delete the files in the Trash, choose File > Empty Trash. The storage space used by those files then becomes available for other files. In macOS Sierra, you can set up your Mac to empty the trash automatically.