How to change where Google Chrome saves your downloaded files

By default, when you download a file using the Chrome web browser, the file is saved in a special download folder. Many users don't know where this folder is without hunting for it. But you can change the location where downloaded files are stored, and you can even force Chrome to prompt you for a location each time you download a file, which is handy if you save different types of files to different locatio
ns. To change Chrome's default download location, follow the steps below.

In Chrome, click on the Menu button in the upper right corner of the browser window (the one with the three horizontal lines). Select Settings when the drop-down menu appears. On the Settings screen, type "download" into the search bar. When the search results appear, find the heading labeled Downloads toward the bottom of the page.

The folder shown in the Downloads section is the location where downloaded files are saved. To change this location, click the Change button to the right of the folder path. In the window that pops up, browse to the location where you want your downloaded files to be sent, then click OK.

If you want all of your files saved to the folder that you specified in the step above, then you're already done. However, if you want Chrome to ask you where to save files each time you download something, then click the box to the left of the line that says "Ask where to save each file before downloading" (right below the download location).

Now just click on the X in the upper right corner of the window to close the Settings window.

(first published in a similar version on Helium.com, May 2011)