Here’s how to use the Steam Storage Manager and conveniently manage your games.
What Is the Steam Storage Manager?
The new Steam Storage Manager started out as a beta, released to a few users in the middle of 2021. It was finally released to everyone in September of the same year. It’s the one tool that Steam has needed for the longest time.
You’re finally able to easily visualize how much space each game takes and sort them. It’s also really easy to move or uninstall games in bulk by being able to select multiple games at once. You don’t need to deal with \SteamLibrary folders where games sometimes have different folder names from the game itself.
No more needing to use Steam Mover and hope your file transfer goes well or searching through a myriad of tutorials on YouTube just to move a game without breaking the files and needing to re-download it.
This is a huge improvement, and after Steam’s decades of existence, everyone knows this is overdue. Being able to visualize, move, and add folders and files in an easier and more intuitive way is a bare minimum, but we do appreciate finally having it.
How to Open the Steam Storage Manager
While the new Steam Storage Manager is great, it’s still hard to get to. Most people don’t even know it exists yet. Once you know where to find it, it’ll be hard to forget, though. Here are two ways to open the Steam Storage Manager.
1. Opening the Steam Storage Manager Through the Steam Settings
The Steam settings menu itself is pretty hard to find as well (a very strange way of doing things, Valve). However, you might’ve opened it before if you tried setting download speed limits. Simply look to the upper-left corner and click on Steam > Settings > Downloads > Steam Library Folders.
2. Opening the Steam Storage Manager Through the Downloads Page
If you’re already on the Steam Downloads page, there’s also a cog on the upper right, just below the close window button. Click that, and it will take you right to the Downloads section in the settings page. Click on Steam Library Folders.
While you’re at the Downloads page, you might want to check out how to increase your Steam download speeds so you don’t have to wait so long to get playing.
How to Add a New Steam Library Folder or Drive
Adding a new Steam Library Folder within the same drive or a new drive is really easy with the Storage Manager. All you need to click on is the + icon beside the rightmost drive listed on top. If you click on a drive and add it, it will automatically create a new \SteamLibrary folder in that drive if it doesn’t have one already.
However, if you want to have it in a specific location, you can click Let me choose another location > Add. Valve hasn’t changed the UI for this part yet so it will look different, but don’t worry, you’re heading in the right direction. Select the drive in the drop-down menu above, and choose which folder you want your new \SteamLibrary folder to go into.
You can also add a new folder by clicking New Folder… on the bottom left, just make sure you click on the folder or drive and have it highlighted before you click on the new folder button so you don’t lose where the new folder was created.
If you only have one drive and you need space for more games but don’t want to delete any downloaded ones, check out how to free up disk space on Windows 10. We’re pretty sure you can free up some space from places you didn’t know you could free up.
How to Set a Default Steam Library Folder or Drive
Setting a default folder is great for convenience as you won’t have to choose where your game goes every time you download one. Chances are, you’ve already set a default folder for your Steam games, but if you need to set it to another one because it’s full here’s how you can do so:
Once you have your new drive added as a Steam Library destination, select that drive. On the right side of the long progress bar, click on the button with three dots and click Make Default. A star should appear beside the drive name and that will indicate that it is your default drive.
How to Move Steam Games to Another Folder
Now that you’ve added a new drive or Steam Library folder, you might want to transfer some games over if you’re planning to do a migration. This is really easy to do with the new storage manager and it only takes a few clicks.
Firstly, select the games you want to transfer by clicking on the empty box on the right side of each game. Once you’ve selected at least one game, the Move and Uninstall button will have brightened up. Click on Move and select the drive or folder you want to transfer it to.
Note: Scrolling down will sometimes bug out and not make you able to select any games. You can try restarting your PC to fix this, but if it persists, do this: Close the storage manager and quickly open and close the game you want to move and sort it by “last played.” to avoid needing to scroll down and bugging it out. This doesn’t happen all the time, but it is annoying. Valve, please fix.
Manage Your Steam Games the Right Way
There’s a reason why so many YouTube videos about managing your Steam games exist. Valve hasn’t been doing a great job in terms of user experience if it doesn’t involve buying games. However, Valve is trying, and we finally have a storage manager.
While it still has some bugs to iron out, we’re glad it finally exists and we’re looking forward to more features and quality-of-life updates to the platform.
