Safari on the Mac can resume stopped downloads and resume failed downloads rather easily. For example, if you were downloading Xcode from Apple but your internet connection was interrupted and the download stopped, you can resume the download where it left off rather than restart the entire download over again. This is a great way to restart and resume incomplete downloads, regardless of the reason the file download failed, was interrupted or otherwise halted, and it’s available in the Safari download manager on Mac OS.
How to Resume Incomplete Downloads in Safari on Mac
- From Safari on the Mac, click the Downloads button in the Safari toolbar, it looks like an arrow pointing downward
- Locate the stopped, stalled, or failed download, then click the orange circular arrow button to attempt to restart the download
The file should resume downloading where it was otherwise interrupted
Once the file, archive, picture, or whatever else has completed downloading, it will appear in the Downloads folder on the Mac.
Note that Safari defaults to downloading things into the user Downloads folder, but you change the Safari download location on Mac if desired. Thus if you had previously changed the download location, you’d need to get the item there instead.
If you do need to begin the download over from scratch, frequently an easy way to do that is to copy the downloaded files original direct download URL from Safari and simply paste that address back into the URL bar. Note that proceed doesn’t always work with randomly generated CDN address downloads however. Similarly, you can perceive out where a file was downloaded from on the Mac by using Get Info in the Finder on the file, even if the file is only partially downloaded and incomplete.
Some other web browsers also support file download resuming as well, including Chrome, though how you go about resuming downloads in Chrome is different than what is discussed here in Safari.
