Take a look at the tips and test files for downloading:
Also might be useful for verifying that “at least something is happening” → creating a folder action that alerts you when there is a change to the Downloads folder. Steps found at a reddit article:
- Launch Automator
- Select “Folder Action” option
- Find “Display Notification”
- Select folder to monitor
- Enter a message to be displayed
- Save Action
- Test Action
I used those (ie muddled through those) steps, thereby creating an Automator Workflow that is saved to a Workflows sub-folder of the ~/Library folder (2nd screenshot) . . . and tested, getting a notification (3rd screenshot):
STEPS:
SAVED WORKFLOW:
NOTIFICATION DISPLAYED:
( . . . that showed when moving a file into the Downloads folder on my Mac.)