This just happened the other day. I can't find where the downloads go - I can't click the arrow in my browser to get there. I can't find anything that says 'Preferences' and I can't just turn it on under the safari View menu. It's not an option. If I look for files my downloads aren't there. It's very frustrating and none of the help topics on Apple help or otherwise work.
MacBook Air 13″, macOS 10.15
Downloads are normally saved to the Downloads folder directly.
The Downloads icon in Safari only appears if you have recently downloaded something.
Also, depending on the type of download, it may not download, and just open directly in Safari.
Preferences is now labeled Settings in newer macOS versions like Ventura or Sonoma.
The real question is what are you downloading exactly, and what happens exactly when you try to download it?
Why can't you open the Downloads folder in Finder?
I'm downloading all sorts of things as I have always done. A design from Canva, for instance. Used to be when I click download, the little arrow showed, which I would click to open the download and then save it to wherever I needed to work with it. I've been doing this for years and last week the little arrow indicating the download disappeared. I have about 10 downloads folders - why I don't know, but my downloads don't appear in any of them so I've started deleting them. I download emailed documents - Word for instance that I need to find to actually edit for my job. As I mentioned there is no option anywhere called Preferences. I went to settings. I can't with the view option to include the downloads because that option is not highlighted. What happened and why, is what I want to know. I want the little download arrow to appear again and open my download folder. Hours of wasted time on this.
Download button disappeared from Safari and the fixes don't help
