Join the AMA (Ask Me Anything) with the Firefox leadership team to celebrate Firefox 20th anniversary and discuss Firefox’s future on Mozilla Connect. Mark your calendar on Thursday, November 14, 18:00 - 20:00 UTC!

This site will have limited functionality while we undergo maintenance to improve your experience. If an article doesn't solve your issue and you want to ask a question, we have our support community waiting to help you at @FirefoxSupport on Twitter and/r/firefox on Reddit.

Avatar for Username

Search Support

Avoid support scams. We will never ask you to call or text a phone number or share personal information. Please report suspicious activity using the “Report Abuse” option.

Learn More

This thread was archived. Please ask a new question if you need help.

Turn off remembering of download locations

  • 3 replies
  • 2 have this problem
  • 1 view
  • Last reply by RSSwizard

RSSwizard
RSSwizard
more options

Firefox remembers the last place I saved files from various sites. I need to turn this off. The option "browser.download.lastDir.savePerSite" is set to False but that doesnt change this behavior. Deleting the associated .sqlite file doesnt work either since that only removes existing preferences it doesnt stop new ones from being made.

Is there another option to change or an extension which will force firefox to stop remembering where files were saved? (as in it no longer occurs, the preferences are not even written).

Setting downloads to a specific universal folder wont work either. I need the default download path to remain the same as the last file downloaded no matter what site I download from next.

Since this is a feature that must have been constructively and intentionally added to Firefox (and there was a time where it was not present) then it should be easy to just shut off. So elemental and simple this should be.

Firefox remembers the last place I saved files from various sites. I need to turn this off. The option "browser.download.lastDir.savePerSite" is set to False but that doesnt change this behavior. Deleting the associated .sqlite file doesnt work either since that only removes existing preferences it doesnt stop new ones from being made. Is there another option to change or an extension which will force firefox to stop remembering where files were saved? (as in it no longer occurs, the preferences are not even written). Setting downloads to a specific universal folder wont work either. I need the default download path to remain the same as the last file downloaded no matter what site I download from next. Since this is a feature that must have been constructively and intentionally added to Firefox (and there was a time where it was not present) then it should be easy to just shut off. So elemental and simple this should be.

Modified by RSSwizard

Chosen solution

Could you double-check that the browser.download.lastDir.savePerSite is a boolean type preference and not a string type preference? If it is a string type preference, right-click Reset it, close about:config, open it up again and create browser.download.lastDir.savePerSite again as a boolean preference.

Read this answer in context 👍 1

All Replies (3)

cor-el
cor-el
  • Moderator
  • Top 10 Contributor
more options

The last used directory for the website (host) serving the file for download will be preselected in the file picker. If no download directory for the current website (host) has been stored, browser.download.lastDir will be used. You can disable this feature to remember a host based download directory by creating a new Boolean pref on the about:config page with the name browser.download.lastDir.savePerSite pref and set its value to false.

You can delete the content-prefs.sqlite file in the Profile Folder to only remove settings stored in this file. That way you keep exceptions stored in permissions.sqlite that would get lost if you clear the "Site Preferences" via Clear Recent History.

You can open the about:config page via the location/address bar. You can accept the warning and click "I'll be careful" to continue.

jscher2000 - Support Volunteer
jscher2000 - Support Volunteer
  • Top 25 Contributor
more options

Chosen Solution

Could you double-check that the browser.download.lastDir.savePerSite is a boolean type preference and not a string type preference? If it is a string type preference, right-click Reset it, close about:config, open it up again and create browser.download.lastDir.savePerSite again as a boolean preference.

RSSwizard
RSSwizard Question owner
more options

Thanks for clarifying that, it was set to a "string" and now it works. This is a real time saver!!!