Changing Airdrop Folder

I have changed the location of many other applications to save files to a custom folder instead of ~/Downloads.

Is there a way to change the default Airdrop location from the Downloads folder to something else?

Solution 1:

I work for a school district and just had to do this. The teacher receives student iMovie files for review, and I need to move this automatically from the Downloads folder to something else. Create the folder you want files moved to. I went into Automator (Applications folder) and created a new "Folder Action." At the top where it says "Folder Action receives files and folders added to" choose your Downloads folder. In Library (far left) choose Files and Folders, then Filter Finder Items. Drag this to the workflow area to the right. In my case, I added two criteria. Kind is movie, and File extension contains m4v. Below "Filter Finder Items" drag Move Finder Items from the left side, and choose the new folder location. That's it. When someone airdrops a file that meets the criteria you set up, it should automatically move to the specified folder. Hope this helps someone!

Solution 2:

Not easily, but you could enable Folder Actions on the Downloads folder before entering AirDrop and achieve the same effect on a more manual and case by case basis.

In practice it might be easier to change the other programs like Mail and Safari to not use the same default Downloads folder that AirDrop does have hard coded as the save point.