How to download file created in Colaboratory workspace?

Use files colab lib

from google.colab import files
files.download('example.txt') 

PS: use chrome browser

You need to add these two lines:

from google.colab import files
files.download('file.txt')

If you are using firefox, then this might not work. For making this work:

1. from google.colab import files
2. In next cell, print anything, like print('foo').
3. After it has printed, erase the print line and replace it with: files.download('file.txt')

Now, it will download. This is a hacky solution told by me colleague. I don't know why it works! If you know why, please comment it.

There is a more cleaner and easier way to do this which works in both firefox and chrome.

Click on > icon. Click on files. It will display all the files and folders in your notebook. Left click on the file you want to download, choose download and you are good to go. This procedure can also be applied to upload file/folder. For uploading folder, you would have to zip it first though.

You can use the file manager panel.

Use View > Table of contents to show the sidebar then click the Files tab. Right-click the file and select Download.

Note: the process is unusual in that the download progress is not shown in the usual way in the browser. Instead it is shown by an orange circle next to the file in Colab. Only when the download is complete does it appear in the browser downloads.

In Firefox, it's best to keep the tab in the foreground while the download is in progress as otherwise it can fail.