After hearing feedback from users that Downloads folder shouldn’t be included in Disk Cleanup in Windows 10, Microsoft has removed it in the May 2020 Update.
As of today, if you open Windows built-in Disk Cleanup by running the Cleanmgr command in the Run dialog, the tool doesn’t show the Downloads folder in Windows 10 2004.
Microsoft included the Downloads folder in the Disk Cleanup with Windows 10 October 2018 Update version 1809, where many sites, including ours, alerted users should notice the new change when they run Disk Cleanup utility.
To avoid users from accidentally selecting the folder, the Software giant added a warning initially in Windows 10 version 1903 with a message that
“These are files in your Personal Downloads folder. Select this if you’d like to delete everything. This does not respect your Storage Sense configuration”.
Seems the warning has been removed later and is no longer appearing for downloads folder in current version 1903.
With Windows 10 version 2004 Redmond Software giant removed the Downloads from Disk Cleanup Utility.
Microsoft noted in the insider build 19018 blog post that ” [Added] Based on feedback, we’ve decided to remove the download folders from Disk Cleanup”.
Note: The article was originally written on Nov 07, 2019, but updated after the release of Windows 10 May 2020 Update.
Related articles:
Watch out: Disk Cleanup in Windows 10 1809 includes Downloads folder
Windows 10 1903: Disk Cleanup now shows warning for Downloads Folder
Fix Disk Cleanup stuck on Windows Update Cleanup in Windows 10