Do you have an SSD drive and are worried to run out of space because the “Downloads” folder is just getting bigger and bigger?

As we all know every Windows comes with default folders, we call them “Personal folders” as they are located inside the User’s folder (e.g C:\Users\pc). Each user have his own folders, and “Downloads” folder is one of them!

Well, if you have a secondary storage drive then moving your Downloads folder to that drive will help you save some space and keep your operating system’ drive (e.g C:\) for apps only.

Actually you can move any personal folder (e.g Images, Documents, Videos, …) – not only Downloads – to any directory you want using this method – if you like.

The “Screenshots” folder in Windows 10 is a good example of such a folder. You can take screenshots in Windows 10 via the Win+PrntScrn key and they save to the Screenshots folder. Another auto-folder in Windows is the Downloads folder. This is where apps download files to by default. You can select a different location for saving files but it doesn’t change the default Downloads folder path in Windows. Here’s how to do it.

Change the Directory of Downloads Folder on Windows

1. How to Change the Default Downloads Folder Path

Open the “File Explorer” (Windows+E) and right-click on the “Downloads” folder in the navigation column. Choose “Properties” from the context menu.

Go to “Location” tab in the “Downloads Properties” window. Click on the “Move” button and select a different folder to use as the default downloads folder. Click “Apply“.

In my case, I wanted to move the “Downloads” folder to another drive (E:), so I created a new folder named “Downloads” a selected it then clicked “Select Folder“.

Now you will be asked if you want to move the existing files to the new path, click “Yes“.

Wait for the copying to complete and never

If you want to go back to the default path, it’s easy! Open File Explorer again (Win+E) and right-click Downloads in the navigation bar. Select Properties from the context menu and go to “Location” tab. Under the location field you will find the button “Restore Default“. Click it and Windows will return the downloads folder to the default location.

And there you have it!

If you have any questions feel free to post it in the comments section below, thanks in advance.