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Mac: How to always allow downloads in Safari

The default privacy and security settings on Apple devices are definitely dialed in relatively high and while that’s a great default, you may want to customize yours to best suit your workflows. Follow along for how to always allow downloads in Safari for specific websites or even across the board.

The default setting for downloads from websites on Mac is for Safari to ask. That’s a nice approach for security and privacy but for specific websites you may trust and download from frequently, it’s handy to set Safari to always allow downloads without asking first.

Mac: How to always allow downloads in Safari

  1. Open Safari on your Mac
  2. Click Safari in the menu bar (top left corner) then choose Preferences…
  3. At the top of the window, click Websites
  4. Now on the left-hand sidebar click Downloads
  5. Click the Ask/Deny/Allow drop-down on the right-hand side next to sites to dial in your preferences
  6. Use When visiting other websites to change download settings for all websites

Here’s how these steps look:

Once you’ve opened Safari Preferences here’s what you’ll see in the Websites > Downloads section:

The three sections to look out for are Currently Open Websites, Configured Websites, and When visiting other websites.

As shown above, click the Allow, Ask, or Deny drop-down button to change your settings.

If you’re looking to change your Safari download preferences for all websites, click the drop-down at the bottom of the window next to When visiting other websites.

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