Recent downloads are gone and new downloads aren't saved
All the downloads from the past 3 months have disappeared and it looks like the file I just downloaded didn't save to the Downloads folder. Did something change with the latest update that caused that to happen? The files aren't even in the Recycle Bin. Using Win10 os.
All Replies (6)
Have you looked in the folders where the previously downloaded files were save?
Typically in the Windows - User - Downloads folder unless the user changes that location permanently or temporarily to something more to their way of working.
Yes, I've looked in that folder and everything has been deleted back to March 31 of this year. I didn't change any settings or folder destinations and even double checked to make sure in the settings that it was still set for the Downloads folder. The weirdest thing though is that they are still in the list from the dropdown menu in Firefox. However when I click on the file, it says the file has been moved or deleted. And even stranger is that I downloaded a file and when I went into the Download folder 5 minutes later, it wasn't there. I don't get it.
Modified by d7craig
Note that download are treated as history, so if you clear history then download that are part of this range are removed as well.
I don't think desktop versions of Firefox would delete downloads from disk, unlike Android versions.
d7craig said
The weirdest thing though is that they are still in the list from the dropdown menu in Firefox. However when I click on the file, it says the file has been moved or deleted. And even stranger is that I downloaded a file and when I went into the Download folder 5 minutes later, it wasn't there. I don't get it.
When you download a file, Firefox flags it as being from the internet, which is a feature that integrates with Windows security. Is there any kind of cleanup or security software running on your system that might see that flag and want to quarantine or delete the file?
Do you use any kind of download manager add-ons or companion apps? In order to remove files from disk, I think a companion app that installs separately from the add-on would be needed.
No d/l managers or companion apps. Just privacy apps and ad blockers. The one thing that I just tried is that when the option to "Open the file with... or Save to ..." comes up, I chose Save to this time. Then it did show up in my D/L folder. Previously though, I would just choose Open and it would save it automatically. Maybe that was a glitch from before and they just corrected it now.
"Open" uses the Windows TEMP folder, so unfortunately that is at risk of being cleaned up by Windows at any time.