How to Free Up Space on Mac

Running out of storage space on your Mac? We all encounter this problem eventually as data builds up on our machines over time. Whether it consists of important files and folders you really need to hold onto, or old junk that’s simply taking up space, there are lots of ways to effectively free up space on your Mac.

In this guide, we’ll look at nine key methods for clearing old data from your computer and making sure you have plenty of storage available.

Before we start:

 

One of the fastest and most effective ways to free up space on Mac is with MacKeeper’s Safe Cleanup tool. In just a few clicks, it clears all kinds of system junk, including old log and cache files, unused language packs, forgotten trash, and more. Here’s how to use it:

1. Download MacKeeper and select Safe Cleanup in the sidebar.
2. Click the Start Scan button.
3. Select the junk you want to remove, then click Clean Junk Files.

How to free up disk space on Mac

We have a team of Mac experts that know the best and most impactful ways to maintain a healthy Apple computer. When it comes to freeing up space, these are the nine tips they recommend:

1. Optimize storage with built-in tools
2. Remove unused apps and all their leftovers
3. Clean up system folders
4. Delete other files
5. Delete old and unwanted media files
6. Manage large files
7. Save files to the cloud
8. Move photos to external storage
9. Compress and archive data

1. Optimize storage with built-in tools

If you find there’s not enough disk space on your Mac, the good news is that Apple has developed storage management tools and tricks to help optimize your storage. Here’s how to access them:

1. Open System Settings and click Apple Account > iCloud.
2. Select Drive.
3. Click the toggle next to Optimize Mac Storage to enable it if it’s not already active, then click Done.

2. Remove unused apps and all their leftovers

Unused apps can waste a lot of space on your Mac. Thankfully, macOS offers several ways of deleting unused applications.

With Finder

The simplest method of getting rid of unwanted apps is with Finder—do the following:

1. Go to Finder and select Applications.
2. Right-click an app you no longer need, then click Move to Trash.
3. Empty the Trash to uninstall the app.

With Launchpad

The second way to remove unwanted apps is with the Launchpad. Follow these steps to delete unused apps via Launchpad:

1. Open Launchpad.
2. Click and hold an app icon until it starts shaking, then click the X symbol next to the app.

There are also app leftovers that can use up to 10 percent of your storage space, depending on your Mac usage. To safely and thoroughly delete apps and system junk using a cleaning utility in MacKeeper:

1. Open MacKeeper and select Smart Uninstaller.
2. Select the apps you want to delete and click Remove Selected > Remove.

3. Clean up system folders

Over time, macOS system folders become filled with unnecessary data, so it’s important to clean them occasionally. It’s difficult to do this manually since it requires a lot of digging around, but MacKeeper’s Safe Cleanup tool takes care of the hard work for you. Try this:

1. Open MacKeeper and select Safe Cleanup in the sidebar.
2. Click Start Scan.
3. Select the system files you want to clean, including Logs, Caches, Trash, and Languages, then click Clean Junk Files.

Clear browser cache and cookies

When you clear cache files from your browser, it helps you free up space, refreshes your browser content, and helps apps run more smoothly. Likewise, resetting your browser to its default settings offers several benefits, including improving performance and security improvements.

One way to do this is to clear cookies in your browser. With most browsers, clearing your cache deletes cookies simultaneously, however, take note that clearing browser cache removes your personal data on apps and websites, which means you’ll have to sign in to those platforms the next time you use them.

Google Chrome

Chrome’s cache and cookies can be cleared in two easy steps though Chrome’s Settings. To clear Chrome’s cache and cookies:

1. Open Chrome and click the three-dot icon at the top right, then select Delete browsing data.
2. Choose a time range and select Browsing history, Cookies and other site data, and Cached images and files, then click Clear data.

Safari

The process of clearing cookies and cache files in Safari is a little different from Google Chrome. To clear Safari’s cache and cookies:

1. Open Safari and go to Safari > Settings.
2. Select the Privacy tab, then click Manage Website Data.
3. Click Remove All > Remove Now, then click Done.
4. Select the Advanced tab, then enable Show features for web developers.
5. In the menu bar, select Develop > Empty Caches.

Firefox

Firefox’s cache and cookie-clearing process is as straightforward as Google Chrome’s. To clear Firefox’s cache and cookies:

1. Click the menu and choose Settings.
2. Select Privacy & Security > Cookies and Site Data > Clear Data.

Delete unused language files

Your Mac stores over 180 languages in localization files that take up approximately 1.5 GB of hard drive space. Follow these steps to remove unused language files:

1. Go to the Applications folder.
2. Right-click an app and select Show Package Contents > Contents > Resources.
3. Delete all subfolders that end with .lproj, except those you need.
4. Empty the Trash.

4. Delete other files

There are lots of other places on your Mac where old and unnecessary files tend to be hiding. It’s important to delete these other files on a frequent basis to ensure they don’t get out of hand and hog too much storage space. We’ll show you how.

Find and remove duplicate files

You can find and remove duplicate files from Mac manually in macOS, or with third-party apps. First, follow these steps to delete duplicate files using the Smart Folder feature in Finder:

1. Open Finder and select File > New Smart Folder in the menu bar.
2. Hit the plus icon + on the right side of the New Smart Folder window, then use the dropdown menus to filter your search by file kind and file type. It’s probably easier to sort the results by name, so you can readily spot duplicates. If your current view isn’t ideal, consider switching to the list view by clicking View > as List in the menu bar.
3. Right-click any duplicates you don’t need, then select Move to Trash.

A hint from our team: 

 

The manual method of removing duplicate files on a Mac can result in some duplicates being forgotten and continuing to take up space on your Mac’s disk. That’s why we advise using a third-party tool like MacKeeper’s Duplicates Finder to get the job done thoroughly. It finds identical files and makes space on your Mac in a matter of minutes.

 

Here’s how to use it:

1. Launch MacKeeper, select Duplicates Finder, then click the Start Scan button.
2. Check the Auto-selection box and click Remove Duplicates.

Clean up desktop

We often end up with miscellaneous files strewn all over the desktop, some of which may be pretty large. Cleaning them will help your Mac work faster. To clean up desktop manually:

1. Open Finder and click Desktop.
2. Under View, choose as List.
3. Sort the items by size and delete the largest files.

If you’re running macOS Mojave or later, right-click anywhere on your Desktop and select Use Stacks to neatly organize all your files and folders, which will make navigating the ones you keep a lot easier.

Delete Mail attachments and junk mail

Email attachments can use up gigabytes of useful storage space over time. Unless, of course, you delete mail attachments automatically when you close Mail or delete an email, which is as easy as following these steps:

1. In the Mail app, go to Mail > Settings and then select the General tab.
2. Next to Remove unedited downloads, select After Message is Deleted to automatically delete attachments when you delete an email, or When Mail Quits to automatically delete attachments whenever you close the Mail app.

We all know how frustrating junk mail can be, especially if you receive a lot of it. It doesn’t just clutter up your inbox, but it also takes up storage space on your Mac if you don’t delete junk mail often. Here’s how to clear yours:

1. In the Mail app, select Mailbox > Erase Junk Mail in the menu bar, then click Erase to confirm.
2. To set Mail to delete junk email automatically in the future, select Mail > Settings.
3. In the Accounts tab, select Mailbox Behaviors, then find the Erase junk messages option. Select one of the options to delete junk mail after one day, one week, or one month.

Delete old iOS backups

iOS backups are supposed to be temporary files rather than permanent residents on your Mac. Fortunately, it’s fairly easy to optimize storage by deleting old iOS backups. To delete temporary files and old iOS backups:

1. Plug your iPhone or iPad into your MacBook Pro, Air, iMac, or Mac mini and select it from the sidebar.
2. Click Manage Backups.
3. Select the backups you want to delete, then click Delete Backup > Delete.

Clean up the Downloads folder

Dumping old downloads is a tried-and-true way to reduce clutter on your Mac and clear up disk space on Mac for other useful files. Here’s how to delete downloads:

1. Open Finder and select Downloads.
2. Right-click the files, select Move to Trash, then empty the Trash.

Empty the Trash

Automating the process of emptying the Trash ensures that files are deleted permanently, and you don’t have to try to remember to empty the Trash on a regular basis.

1. From any Finder window, select Finder > Settings > Advanced.
2. Ensure Remove items from the Trash after 30 days is selected.

There’s a simpler way to empty trash on your Mac. Instead of permanently removing its contents after 30 days, it enables you to delete files immediately after sending items to the Trash. It’s a great way of maintaining your disk on the go. Follow these steps to manually clear your Trash folder on a Mac:

1. Right-click on the Trash icon in the Dock.
2. Click Empty Trash to delete all files.

5. Delete old and unwanted media files

Consider deleting media files you no longer want. These typically take up a lot of room—especially movies, TV shows, and video podcasts—and it’s an easy way to create disk space on a Mac.

Music

When you forget to delete the downloaded songs or playlists you no longer listen to, they hog up much-needed space on your Mac. Delete music from your Mac like this:

1. Open Apple Music (not iTunes), then select Songs or Albums from the sidebar.
2. From the menu bar, select View > Only Downloaded Music.
3. Click the three dots next to an album or song.
4. Select Remove Download.

Movies

Movies take up significantly more space than most other files, so you must proactively delete movies you no longer watch to create room for useful files on your Mac. Follow these steps to delete movies from your Mac:

1. Open Apple TV, and then select the Library tab.
2. Select Downloaded from the sidebar.
3. Click the three dots next to a movie or show and select Remove Download.

Podcasts

If you go through multiple podcast downloads weekly, chances are you’re not deleting them all after listening to them. Removing podcasts from your Mac can be done like this:

1. Open the Podcasts app and select Downloaded from the sidebar.
2. Choose the podcast you want to delete downloads from.
3. To delete a single episode, click its download icon and select Remove Download.
4. To delete all downloaded episodes for the current podcast, go back to the Downloaded page, hover over the podcast, and click the three-dot menu > Remove Downloads > Remove Downloads.

Photos

Syncing your photos and videos to your Mac is a great way to enjoy and edit them on a bigger screen, but you’ll find your Photos library quickly becomes too big. Here’s how to remove unwanted items:

1. Open Photos and select Library in the sidebar.
2. To delete an individual image, right-click it, then select Delete 1 Photo.
3. To delete multiple images or videos, hold down the Command key, select all the items you want to delete, then right-click and select Delete Items.

6. Manage large files

Removing big files is one of the quickest ways to save space on your Mac’s hard drive. Here’s how to find and delete large files in macOS:

1. In System Settings, select General > Storage.
2. Scroll down, and click the i icon next to Documents.
3. Select the Large Files tab.
4. Choose what you want to delete, then click Delete.
5. Click Delete to confirm.

7. Save files to the cloud

AppleiCloud is a handy way to save space on your Mac. Here’s how to use iCloud to save files to the cloud and free up space on your Mac’s hard drive:

1. In System Settings, select Apple Account > iCloud.
2. Select Drive.
3. Ensure Sync This Mac, Desktop & Documents Folders, and Optimize Storage are all enabled.
4. Click Done to confirm.

8. Move photos to external storage

If you don’t use iCloud, your Mac can’t send photos and videos to the cloud, so they quickly eat up any available storage space. Rather than keeping them on your Mac’s hard disk, it’s best to move your photos to external storage, which is easier than it sounds.

First, plug in a suitable external drive with enough free space to hold your Photos library. If you have an external hard drive not showing up on your Mac, try reconnecting it or using a different cable. Next, quit Photos if it’s running, then follow these steps:

1. Open Finder, then select Pictures in the sidebar. If you don’t see the Pictures folder, go to Finder > Settings in the menu bar, select Sidebar, then ensure Pictures is enabled.
2. In the Pictures folder, you should find your Photos Library file. Drag this to your external drive.
3. Once the file has finished copying over, double-click it to open it from external storage.
4. You will be asked if you want to switch your Photos library. Click Switch to confirm.
5. Right-click your original Photos Library file in the Pictures folder, then select Move to Trash.
6. Finally, empty the Trash to delete the original Photos library from your Mac’s hard disk.

You should now have a lot more free space on your Mac’s startup disk, and your Photos library will run from your external storage drive by default.

9. Compress and archive data

Rather than remove data from your Mac, you can make it smaller using the Mac’s compression tool. To compress data on your Mac, do the following:

1. Select files, then right-click and select Compress.
2. macOS will create a new zip file called Archive.zip.
3. Delete the files you’ve compressed.

If you double-click the zip file, your Mac will create an entirely new folder with the uncompressed files. You’ll have two copies of your files, making compression best for when you’re archiving files that you won’t access very often.

How to manage storage on Mac

The best way to manage storage on your Mac is to first figure out what’s eating up your hard disk space. This will help you decide whether you need to move some larger files, delete old and unnecessary content, or perhaps upgrade your iCloud storage to send more to the cloud. Here’s how to get started:

1. In System Settings, select General > Storage.
2. Scroll down to find a list of categories with a number next to each one that tells you how much storage space it’s using on your Mac.
3. Click the i next to one of the categories to see a list of files within it.
4. Select any files you no longer need, then click Delete.
5. Click Delete again to confirm.

We recommend tackling the largest categories first since this will have the quickest, most noticeable impact. Delete all of the large apps and files you don’t need anymore, transfer large files you do need to an external drive, then manage smaller files if you still need to free up more space.

Parting thoughts

As a computer owner, freeing up space comes with the territory. When it comes to removing unwanted software, save valuable time by using an app uninstaller for Mac.

For all storage management tasks, we recommend using MacKeeper’s Safe Cleanup software to get rid of useless files that are clogging up your Mac’s disk space. Your Mac will reward you with better performance, increased productivity, and more space.