When you download a file from the web, using one of the web browsers, the file is downloaded to the Downloads folder by default. Although you can change the default download location, Downloads folder is the default download location in Windows 10/8/7.
If you often download the software and other files from the web, chances are that your Downloads folder has GBs of files and programs. Since the Downloads folder is located under C:\Users\UserName folder, you can free up some disk space on your system drive by deleting unwanted files and programs from the Downloads folder.
Depending on the number of files and size of files, cleaning up your Downloads folder might free up to a few GBs of space. Would not it be nice if there was an easy to way to automatically delete unchanged files from the Downloads folder?
With Windows 10 Fall Creators Update (version 1709), Microsoft introduced a new option in Storage sense to automatically delete files from the Downloads folder. The option, when turned on (turned off by default), automatically deletes unchanged files from the Downloads folder after 30 days. This means that the feature deletes only files that have not seen any changes over the last 30 days.
The option comes in handy especially if you often download software from the web using a web browser. As you know, after installing a program, the setup file in the Downloads folder is of no use.
Here is how to configure Windows 10 to automatically delete files from Downloads folder after 30 days.
Automatically delete unchanged files from Downloads folder in Windows 10
IMPORTANT: While this is a handy option, please remember that Windows 10 automatically deletes all files (not just programs or any file type) that have not seen any changes over the past 30 days. So, you might lose important files. If you often save important files in Downloads folder (which is not a good practice), this feature is not for you.
Step 1: Open Settings app. Navigate to System > Storage.
Step 2: In the Storage sense section, turn on the Storage sense feature by moving the slider to on position.
Step 3: Now, click Change how we free up space link. Once again, make sure that you have turned on Storage sense feature as mentioned in the first step.
Step 4: Turn on Delete files in my Downloads folder that haven’t changed for over 30 days option.
You may turn off Delete temporary files that my apps aren’t using and Delete that have been in the Recycle bin for over 30 days options.
Don’t forget to check out how to safely delete temporary files in Windows 10 guide.
