How To Find Recently Downloaded Files On Mac

Computer users use web browsers such as Apple Safari, Google Chrome, Microsoft Edge, and others to browse the Internet.

While browsing the World Wide Web, you might come across files that you might want to download to your Mac. For instance, you might stumble upon a beautiful wallpaper and you might download it so that you can set it as your Mac’s desktop background. But how do you find the downloaded files on your Mac?

On computers running macOS and Windows operating system, files that you download with the help of web browsers like Safari and Chrome are automatically saved to a folder called Downloads. In other words, the Downloads folder is home to all downloaded files, from images to software to documents.

This guide shows you how to access the Downloads folder and find your recently downloaded files.

NOTE: We assume that you have not changed the default download location in your web browser. If you have set a different folder as the default download location, then all downloaded files can be found in that folder.

Method 1 of 4

Find recently downloaded files on Mac

Step 1: Open Finder by clicking on its icon in the dock or using search.

Step 2: In the left pane of Finder, click on Downloads to switch to the same. Click on the Date added column to arrange downloaded files their downloaded dates, which should help you find recently downloaded files.

Method 2 of 4

Keyboard shortcut to find recently downloaded files on Mac

Step 1: Simultaneously press the Option, Command, and L (Option + Command + L) keys to open the Downloads folder, which shows your recently downloaded files.

Method 3 of 4

Another way to find recently downloaded files on Mac

Step 1: Perform a right-click on the Finder icon in the dock and then click the Downloads option to open the Downloads folder. As you know, the Downloads folder contains all downloaded files using web browsers.

Method 4 of 4

Find recently downloaded files using spotlight search on Mac

Step 1: Simultaneously press the Command and Spacebar keys to open the spotlight search bar.

Step 2: In the search bar, type Downloads and then press the Return/Enter key to open the Downloads folder which shows all downloaded files.

To quickly find your most recently downloaded files, click on the Date added column to arrange files by downloaded date.