Summary :
As time goes on, there will be more and more files on your Mac computer and the available disk space will be less and less. Then, you will need to take some measures to free up disk space on Mac. MiniTool Software writes this post to show how to clear disk space on Mac automatically and manually.
Free up storage space on your Mac Once you delete the purgeable items which can be downloaded again if you wish, you will have plenty of space to complete the BootCamp installation. Thanks again and have a great rest of your day. You can free up a lot of space on your Mac by deleting the Other Folder on your hard drive.There are two applications that can help you free up space on your. To view this folder—it might be hidden on your Mac—choose the Go menu in the Finder, press the Option key, then choose Library. This Library folder contains a lot of files you generally don’t need to see, but some of them take up a lot of space and can be deleted. View this folder in List View, and then click the Size header to view the.
Quick Navigation :
How to Check Storage on Mac?
After you use your Mac computer for a long time, there should be more and more files on the drive. Is it necessary to clear disk space on Mac? First, you can go to check how much storage is available on your Mac and then make a further decision.
How to check storage on Mac? Here are the things you should do:
- Click the Apple menu (the Apple logo) that is on the top-left side of the Mac Desktop and then select About This Mac.
- Switch to the Storage section and you can see the storage information of the Mac drive, including how much disk space is available on Mac.
You can also see that there is a long bar with different colors of segments. Each segment of the bar stands for a storage space that is used by a category of files. You can move the pointer over each segment to get more information.
It is OK if the available disk space is still enough. However, if the system says your disk is almost full or there is not enough space to save new files, you will need to clear storage on Mac if you don’t want to upgrade the drive on your Mac to a larger one.
Do you know how to free up disk space on Mac? If you have no idea, this post will be helpful for you: we will show you how to let Mac automatically clear disk space and how to manually free up disk space on Mac.
How to Clear Disk Space on Mac Automatically?
There is a Manage button in the Storage section. You can click it to access the Storage Management interface and then manage storage on your Mac.
The Storage Management feature will show you some recommendations for optimizing storage on your Mac computer. These recommendations include Store in iCloud, Optimize Storage, Empty Trash Automatically, and Reduce Clutter. If some of these recommendations have been turned on, you will see fewer options.
How to clear storage on Mac? You can make full use of these four recommendations to manage and free up disk space on your Mac.
How To Delete Files To Free Up Space On Macbook
How to clear storage on Mac
- Store in iCloud
- Optimize Storage
- Empty Trash Automatically
- Reduce Clutter
Store in iCloud
You can use this feature to save all files, photos, and messages in iCloud to save much disk space for your Mac.
Click the Store in iCloud button in the Storage Management interface and choose what you want to store in iCloud:
Desktop and Documents
This option allows you to save all files on these two locations to iCloud Drive. When storage space is needed, only the recently opened files are kept on your Mac and you can even work offline. Your files stored in iCloud will be shown with a downloaded icon. You can click the Download button to download the original file when necessary.
Photos
If you select this option, all your photos and videos with their original and full-resolution will be saved in iCloud Photos. Photos with space-saving (optimized) versions will be kept on your Mac when storage space is needed. If you want to use the original photos or videos, you can just click them to open and download.
Messages
You can select this option to store all messages and attachments in iCloud to save disk space on Mac. Like the Desktop and Documents option, only the recently opened messages and attachments are saved on your Mac computer when storage space is needed.
After checking the option you want to use, you need to click the Store in iCloud button to save the settings.
Optimize Storage
You can use this feature to automatically delete the Apple TV movies and TV shows that you have already watched and keep the recent email attachments on your Mac to clear disk space.
After clicking the Optimize button, you will see two options: Automatically remove watched movies and TV shows and Download only recent attachments.
Automatically remove watched movies and TV shows
When this feature is enabled, your movies and TV shows that you have purchased from the iTunes Store and already watched will be removed from your Mac when storage space is needed. If you want to watch a movie or TV show, you can click the Download button to download it again.
Download only recent attachments
If you select this feature, Mail will automatically only download the attachments that you have recently received. If you want to use other attachments, you can manually download them.
If you don’t select this feature, Mail will download the attachment only when you open the email or attachment, or you want to save the attachment to your Mac computer.
After selecting the options you want to use, you need to click Optimize to execute the operations.
Empty Trash Automatically
You can use this feature to make Mac automatically and permanently remove the files that have stayed in the Trash for more than 30 days.
After clicking the Turn on button that is next to Empty Trash Automatically, you need to click the Turn On button to enable this feature.
Reduce Clutter
You can use this feature to identify files and delete the files you don’t use anymore.
Click the Review Files button that is next to Reduce Clutter and then find the large files or files you may don’t want to use and show them in categories including Applications, Documents, Music Creation, Photos, or Trash.
You can access each category to see the files in it. For example, in Documents, the files are sorted in Large Files, Downloads, Unsupported Apps, and File Browser. You can click into each sort to find the files you don’t need, select them, and click Delete to remove them from your Mac.
Tips: For macOS Sierra or Later Versions
If you are running macOS Sierra or later, the system can automatically take these actions to clear disk space on Mac:
- It can automatically find the duplicate downloads in Safari and only save the most recent downloaded version.
- It will remind you to delete the used app installers.
- It can remove the old fonts, languages, and dictionaries that you don’t need for a long time.
- It can clear caches, logs, and unnecessary files when storage space is needed.
How to Free up Disk Space on Mac Manually?
Of course, your Mac can’t do all jobs to free up disk space on Mac. When necessary, you can manually do some things to release free space for new data.
- If you have downloaded some music files, movies, as well as some other media to your Mac, you can go to check which ones are needless and then delete them.
- You can access the Downloads folder to find and delete the files you no longer use.
- You can also move some files to an external data storage drive to free up much disk space.
- You can compress files to free up disk space as much as possible.
- You can go to the Mail app to delete both unneeded and junk mail, and erase the deleted mail from Trash in Mail.
Are you bothered by the disk you inserted was not readable by this computer when using an external hard drive on a Mac computer. Now, get some solutions here.
What If You Delete Important Files by Mistake
You should be careful when you clear disk space on Mac because you may remove some important files by mistake. However, if this sad thing happens finally, what should you do to rescue the lost files?
You can first go to Trash to check whether you can find your needed files. If yes, you can directly restore them from Trash. If you can’t find them, you will need to use a professional Mac data recovery software to get them back.
You can try Stellar Data Recovery for Mac, free Mac data recovery software, to recover deleted Mac data. This software is specially designed to recover data from a Mac computer. It has a trial edition and you can use it to scan the drive on your Mac and see whether it can find your needed files. You can go to the download center to get the trial edition.
Here is a guide on how to use Stellar Data Recovery for Mac to rescue your deleted files.
1. Open Stellar Data Recovery for Mac.
2. In the Select What To Recover interface, you can see some buttons. If you want to recover all types of files, you can turn on the button for Recover Everything. If you only want to recover some certain types of files, you can just turn on the buttons for these types.
3. Click Next to continue.
4. Select the drive you want to recover data from. If you want to perform a deep scan, you can turn on the button for Deep Scan that is on the bottom-left side of the interface.
5. Click Scan to start the scanning process.
6. When the scanning ends, you can see the scan results interface. The scanned files are sorted by three types: Classic List, File List, and Deleted List. Since you only want to retrieve deleted files, you can switch to Deleted List and then find the files you want to recover.
7. This software allows you to preview the scanned files. You can double-click on the file to preview it.
You can’t use the trial edition of this software to recover your Mac data. You need to activate it and then check your needed files to recover.
Bottom Line
After reading this post, you should know how to clear disk space on Mac. Besides, you also obtain a dedicated Mac data recovery software to help you rescue your lost and deleted Mac data. Should you have any related issues, you can let us know in the comment or contact us via [email protected].
How to Clear Disk Space on Mac FAQ
Sep 08, 2021 • Filed to: Solve Mac Problems • Proven solutions
Content is stored on the cloud and is always there within the reach of the user whenever it is needed through the improved efficiency of storing, processing, andretrieving files on the macOS Sierra. The new system will automatically store up those files that you do not use often in the cloud to free up storage space with macOS Sierra. Optimized versions of your pictures and other frequently used files will stay on your Mac while all other files are saved and can be retrieved by downloading them from the cloud. See how you can do this below.
You can view a summary of your storage pattern on your Mac by clicking on About This Mac from the Apple menu. An overview of your used and free space will be displayed in the storage section.
How To Delete Files To Free Up Space On Mac Keyboard
Click on the Manage button in the top right corner to view options to free up storage space with macOS Sierra. If you already have some options enabled, you will see fewer options available in this window.
1. Store in iCloud
After selecting the Store in iCloud option, you will have the option to choose between 'Files from Desktop and Documents in iCloud Drive' and 'Photos and Videos in iCloud Photo Library'.
- The first option will store all files that are not used often on iCloud drive whenever space is needed on your system. All files that will be stored in the cloud will have the cloud icon next to it which can be clicked to download the files at any time.
- For the second option, all full versions of your pictures will be stored in the iCloud photo library with the optimized versions on your system. You can download the originals from the iCloud photo library at any time. The storage space available on your iCloud is according to the plan you are on. You can manage this option to increase or reduce the available space.
2. Optimize storage
Here you can choose from the options below after clicking on it;
- Download only recent attachments - only recently received attachments will be downloaded automatically. Other attachments can be downloaded manually by opening and saving them to the system.
- Don’t automatically download any email attachments - email attachments will only be downloaded when you open that email or the email attachment and save it on the system.
- Automatically remove watched iTunes movies and TV shows - all iTunes movies and TV shows that you have watched will be removed from your Mac to cloud storage whenever more space is needed. These items can be downloaded again at any time by clicking on the cloud logo next to them.
3. Empty trash automatically
Selecting this option will mean that you have set your Mac to automatically delete all files that are sent to trash and have stayed there for 30 days. Any files in the trash after 30 days will be automatically deleted to free up storage space with macOS Sierra.
Free Up Disk Space On Macbook Air
4. Reduce clutter
This option will help you point out all the large files that you might not be needing any longer. When you click on Review Files, you can select from the options in the sidebar to search your compartments like Documents and Applications. You can delete some files directly from these categories with your pointer hovering over them. Select the X key to delete them from your Mac for good. If you purchased them from iTunes, Apple Store, or iBooks Store, you can download them again later. For categories with compartments, you can see the total size of the file from the side. You can open up the file to see the different compartments and their sizes and choose what to delete from there. These will also be permanently deleted.
Other ways in which macOS Sierra saves space automatically
- You will get reminders to delete application installers that you have already used and will not be needed again on your Mac
- Your cache, logs and other data deemed as unnecessary will be cleared automatically to free up storage space with macOS Sierra
- Any duplicate downloads from safari will be detected by the system. Only the more recent version of the download form the duplicate options will be saved on your Mac.
- All fonts, languages ad dictionaries that are not being used by your Mac will be deleted
5. Where to find settings for each feature
How To Clear Space On Macbook
- Store in iCloud: choose Apple menu > System Preferences > iCloud > Options. Desktop & Documents Folders and Optimize Mac Storage settings will be selected automatically. Deselect iCloud Drive to turn off iCloud Drive entirely. In photos, you can choose Photos > Preference > iCloud. This selects the iCloud Photo Library and Optimize Mac Storage.
- Optimize Mac Storage: in iTunes choose iTunes > Preferences > Advanced. Optimize Storage will select 'Automatically delete watched movies and TV shows'. In mail choose Mail > Preferences > Accounts. Optimize Storage sets the Download Attachments to Recent or None.
- Empty Trash Automatically: from the finder, choose Finder > Preferences > Advanced. This will choose 'Remove items from the Trash after 30 days'.
6. Learn more
In the About Mac pop-up menu, purgeable content will show in the Storage section if Optimize Mac storage is turned on. Files considered purgeable are those Mac can remove to make space but they can all be downloaded again.
During the process of freeing up space on your Mac, you might delete or lose a file by accident and want it back in the future. You can do this withMac Hard Drive data recoverysoftware.Recoverit for Macis a good option for this. You can recover data from Mac hard drive that has been lost, deleted, or formatted.
What's Wrong with Mac
- Recover Your Mac
- Fix Your Mac
- Delete Your Mac
- Learn Mac Hacks