Guide: Downloads folder
Keep Downloads tidy automatically.
Downloads collects everything: installers, invoices, images, and zip files. A few narrow rules can sort most of it automatically, without guessing and without moving anything you have not approved.
Why Downloads gets messy
Every browser, mail attachment, and chat app saves into Downloads by default. Files arrive with unhelpful names, installers stay long after the app is installed, and the folder becomes a place you search rather than browse. Cleaning it by hand works for a week, then the pile returns.
Quick manual fixes in Finder
Before automating, a few built-in Finder options help. In Downloads, choose View → Use Groups and group by Kind or Date Added to see what has accumulated. Sort by Date Added to find old installers and disk images you can delete. These options make the folder easier to scan, but they do not move anything, so the clutter keeps growing.
Automate it with Mochi in five steps
- Install Mochi. Download the app and verify the checksum.
- Add Downloads as a watched folder. macOS asks you to approve access. Mochi works only in folders you authorize.
- Add Quick Rules. Open Quick Rules and add Installers (DMG and PKG), PDFs, Images, and Archives (ZIP, RAR, 7Z, TAR, GZ). Each Quick Rule sorts into a subfolder such as Installers inside the destination you choose.
- Review the queue. Each proposed move shows the file, the destination, and the rule that matched. Approve the correct ones and reject the rest.
- Undo if needed. Open History to see every completed move and undo eligible ones.
Half-finished downloads are left alone
Browsers write partial files while a download is in progress. Mochi checks whether a new file looks complete before proposing a move, so it does not grab a download halfway through.
Rules worth adding next
- Invoices and receipts: Quick Rules match filenames containing “invoice”, “receipt”, or “order confirmation”.
- Spreadsheets: XLSX, CSV, and Numbers exports from banks and web apps.
- Videos and audio: MOV, MP4, MP3, M4A, and similar files.
- Your own rule: match a filename keyword, file type, size, date, or Finder tag and choose any authorized destination.
Add one rule at a time and keep it in review until it behaves the way you expect. Several narrow rules are easier to understand than one broad rule.
Files no rule can place
Some downloads have meaningless names like document (3).pdf. Mochi leaves those alone unless you turn on optional AI, which can suggest a destination from the folders you chose. Suggestions still go through review, and AI is off by default. Read the privacy policy to see exactly what an AI provider receives.
Next, try tidying your Desktop or giving screenshots a home.