Ask HN: Do you clean out your downloads folder after each download?

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=31866183

by ekglimmer • 4 years ago

6 20 4 years ago

news.ycombinator.com

What other file manager cleaning procedures or organizational schemes do you maintain?

codevark• 4 years ago

I never use the downloads folder. I always download to where I want the thing to go.

zzo38computer• 4 years ago

I do not use the downloads folder. I download it where I want them to be.

kleer001• 4 years ago

All of my downloads folders are huge unwieldy messes. I clean them out on the occasion that I want to feel conscientious. Otherwise I can't be bothered.

Now, in decades past, when I had but one or two hundred megabytes to mess with, I would assiduously comb through nearly every folder by hand to keep the drive clean and neat. Now, with thousands of gigabytes I'm supremely lazy.

nikolqy2• 4 years ago

My downloads folder on my mac is 59GB. You can thank movies and virtual machines for that.

laserbeam• 4 years ago

I used to have my desktop as a downloads and temporary files area. I had a cron job set up which moved all files unmodified in a couple days to a separate temp archive folder. I had another cron job which deleted all files older than 6 months from that archive folder. (By older, I mean comparing the last modified date).

The act of moving a file away from the desktop or that archive folder meant I wanted to keep it.

Bonus points: my desktop tended to be clean despite me creating lots of random temporary files on it.

At some point, while switching between OSes, I stopped porting that 2 scripts. I should probably write them again...

lloydatkinson• 4 years ago

Windows has this built in and even when enabled I've never once seen it actually clean anything up. Source: got some files from 2020.

codegeek• 4 years ago

Funny but one time I was in a long flight without any TV/Internet and decided to spend my time cleaning out the downloads folder. Took me about 3 hours. That almost 2 years ago and here I am with my downloads folder again with a few hundred files. Dang it.

brtkdotse• 4 years ago

I work under the assumption that anything in the downloads folder is up for deletion at any point in time. I periodically just delete everything in there without so much as a glance

FastEatSlow• 4 years ago

My downloads folder is /tmp. If it's needed, I'll move the file to an appropriate location in Documents.

simonblack• 4 years ago

Most systems clear /tmp on bootup or shutdown.

While most of us keep our machines running 24/7, we don't know when a shutdown might be required at a moment's notice. If you weren't on your toes, that means that lots of stuff you might have wanted to keep disappears into the bit-bucket.

I keep my 'temporary-save' or downloaded items in the Downloads folder (also linked to a shorter name: 'dl'). From there they either get moved into selected folders for long-term keeping, or get deleted. Most items are there for less than a day. Some items I might save to look at within a few days, sometimes even a week.

nikolqy2• 4 years ago

Absolutely not. Not entirely sure why though. I just checked it yesterday, and there’s stuff since my last reset about a year ago. Really, if you’re a disorganized weirdo like me lmao it helps you remember where some files are. The other day I was looking for some video transformation software I used months ago but couldn’t find it. I tried everything. Last resort? I checked my downloads from 5 months ago and found it. Video Proc. But don’t even get me started on my desktop or folders named desktop files because that’s another story.

rymawby• 4 years ago

I use Hazel to move the file to an archive folder after a month. The idea is if I haven’t deleted it by then I want to keep it but don’t have anywhere specific to store it. I clean out the archive less than I should.

cafard• 4 years ago

Heavens, no.

My cleaning procedure is to ignore it, get frustrated, then wipe out a lot of stuff. I don't advocate the procedure.

justsomehnguy• 4 years ago

If I know what I would do with the file (eg I downloaded Shortcut yesterday, intenting to use it) I usually move it (cut and paste, and I prefer portable apps) so they don't clutter the D. folder.

But the other files... well, once in a while I just open the D. folder (every year or two?) and if I can't find a place or a reason to store this file - Del, or for things like FirefoxPortable92.1.6.9.0.exe - Shift+Del

mikewarot• 4 years ago

Why would I ever do that? It's all the stuff I need to reinstall if something goes wrong. It's well backed up.

ggping• 4 years ago

I just have a cron job delete things that are older than three days. Putting it on tmpfs would be a bit too shortlived for me.

Pyrodogg• 4 years ago

At work I have a PS script to move everything older than a few days in Downloads to an Archive folder where they sit for a few extra days "in case" and then to the recycle bin. It runs every time I log on to the machine.

At home, I really want to do the same, but already have too many things to catch-up on organizing. I do have a dummy file name "!! Downloads is not permanent" So it usually sorts to the top.

manx• 4 years ago

I'm syncing my downloads folder to different devices. Often I delete lots of stuff manually.

night-rider• 4 years ago

Most of the time it’s software in my /downloads folder. Since software is always getting updated I delete the copy and I can reliably get the latest release when I need it. Software that I suspect will not be updated and not have an online download link in the near future is kept. I have a small library of abandonware you can’t even download anymore.

wruza• 4 years ago

I clean it up when it clogs and feels uncomfortable to browse (or just too big). I also have Downloads/Persistent, where safe to lose but useful distros and downloads reside.

I wish programs and systems could just access small files through the browser as if it was a local folder, that would reduce the need for all that.

Ask HN: Do you clean out your downloads folder after each download?

Related Stories