Opening what you downloaded

Open a download without hesitating, recognize the one kind that deserves a pause, and clear the folder out without fear.

Fetching something onto your machine and opening it are separate acts, and only the second one does anything at all.

Key points

• Downloading only copies. Opening is the step that does something
• Recognize the one download that asks permission, and know why it had to
• Move the keepers out; bin the installers and the things you have read

What to remember

• A document opens and shows you something. A program asks permission first — and that question is the moment to think.
• Could you fetch it again in thirty seconds, and did you go and get it or did it come to you? Those two questions sort nearly every download you will ever meet.
• Honestly — when did you last look inside your own Downloads folder?

Try this

Open your Downloads folder and move one thing you want to keep into a proper folder, then put one thing you have finished with into the Recycle Bin. Two files is enough — this is a habit, not a project.

Practice: Opening what you downloaded. Your first lesson is free, with no account or card; the rest are part of a Lantern plan. Interactive lessons require JavaScript.

Related guides

• Practice Undo and learn when to pause
• Add the few apps worth having, and clear the rest
• What "storage full" really means, and keeping it fed
• Archive, or delete
• Downloads: the folder everything lands in