How to Free Up Space on Mac High Sierra

Running low on storage on your High Sierra Mac? Fear not, there are several ways you can get back some much-needed space:

1. Empty trash.
2. Remove unnecessary programs.
3. Use iCloud and other cloud drivers.
4. Delete temporary files.
5. Clear the downloads folder.
6. Determine if you have a large amount of system disk usage.
7. Purge local backups via Terminal.
8. Configure automatic storage optimization.

When your Mac runs out of space, it can slow your system down and make it difficult to download files and install apps. Follow our guide, and your High Sierra machine will have more than enough space for your needs.

Not on High Sierra? Check out our general guide on how to free up space on Mac.

Before we start

 

Looking for a quick way to free up disk space? Try MacKeeper’s Safe Cleanup feature:

1. Download the MacKeeper app.
2. Open Safe Cleanup in MacKeeper.
3. Click Start Scan.
4. When the scan is done, select what to remove and click Remove Selected.
5. Click Remove to confirm.

That’s just one of many ways MacKeeper can give you back some storage. Learn more tips below.

How to check free space on Mac High Sierra

Checking your Mac’s storage in macOS 10.13 (High Sierra) is easy. Follow these steps:

1. In Finder, click the Apple icon in the menu bar, followed by About This Mac.
2. Click on the Storage tab, and macOS will show you a quick summary of what’s using your Mac’s disk space.

Why you need to optimize Mac storage on macOS High Sierra

When your Mac’s disk space is getting full, there are several reasons to start taking action:

• macOS uses disk space for virtual memory, which means your Mac may slow down.
• Your Mac needs purgeable storage for caches, iCloud storage, and Time Machine backups.
• You may not have enough space for downloads, large projects, and new apps.

Ways to free up disk space on macOS High Sierra

If you identify a low storage issue, you have a few options to clear space on your High Sierra Mac:

1. Empty trash
2. Remove unnecessary programs
3. Use iCloud and other cloud drivers
4. Delete temporary files
5. Clearing downloads folder
6. Determine if you have a large amount of “System” disk usage
7. Purge local backups via Terminal
8. Configure automatic storage optimization

1. Empty trash

Your Mac’s Trash can quickly begin to fill up, and it only takes a moment to delete everything in it:

1. Click the trash in your dock, then click Empty in the Finder window.
2. Alternatively, right-click on trash, and select Empty.
3. You can also press Cmd + Shift + Backspace. In all cases, click Empty Trash to confirm your choice.

2. Remove unnecessary programs

It’s easy to remove unwanted apps to get clear space on your Mac running High Sierra:

1. Go to Applications, and drag any unwanted apps to your trash.
2. You can also right-click an app, and select Move to Trash.
3. Or you can select an app, and press Cmd + Backspace.

Tip from our experts: 

 

Note that uninstalled Mac apps may leave behind files in other parts of your OS. With MacKeeper’s Smart Uninstaller, you can erase apps and clean out the leftover files simultaneously:

1. In MacKeeper, select Smart Uninstaller, and click Start Scan.
2. When the scan is done, select Applications. Choose what to remove, and click Remove Selected.
3. Click Remove to confirm.

3. Use iCloud and other cloud drivers

You can use your iCloud storage to free up disk space on macOS running High Sierra:

1. Select Apple > About This Mac in your menu bar. Then select Storage > Manage.
2. Click Store in iCloud.
3. Choose what you want to erase, and click Store in iCloud.
4. You can also store files using other cloud services like Google Drive, Box, and Dropbox.

4. Delete temporary files

Your Mac stores all kinds of temporary data, such as cookies, in your user cache. Here’s how to find and delete them:

1. Press Cmd + Shift + G, enter ~/Library/Caches/, and press Return.
2. You’ll see a lot of folders. These are caches for different apps on your Mac. Delete folders to clear out these caches.

Manually deleting temporary files takes a long time, and you need to know what you erase. Find and remove cached data in seconds with MacKeeper’s Safe Cleanup tool:

1. In MacKeeper, open Safe Cleanup, and click Start Scan.
2. When the scan is done, make sure Caches is selected, and click Clean Junk Files.
3. Click Empty Trash.

5. Clear downloads folder

Whatever the specs of your Mac, you need to clean up your download folder now and then:

1. In Finder, go to your Downloads folder.
2. Hold down Cmd, and select what you want to remove.
3. Send everything to trash, and then empty it.

6. Determine if you have a large amount of system disk usage

Here’s how to check if your storage is being eaten up by system data:

1. Go to Apple > About This Mac in your menu bar, and click Storage.
2. Click System to view the space being used.

High System usage may be caused by local Time Machine snapshots, but these should be deleted automatically by High Sierra.

7. Purge local backups via Terminal

If you’re running low on space, you can manually delete Time Machine backups:

1. Open Terminal from Applications > Utilities. Type tmutil listlocalsnapshotdates, and press Return.
2. Look at the list of backups, and note the date of the one you want to delete.
3. Type tmutil deletelocalsnapshots, followed by that date. Press Return.
4. Do the same with any other backups you want to delete.

8. Configure automatic storage optimization

A quick way to clear up storage space is to use High Sierra’s automatic optimization:

1. Select Apple > About This Mac from your menu bar. Then go to Storage, and click Manage. Click Optimize next to Optimize Storage.
2. Click Optimize. This will optimize email attachments, as well as iTunes films and TV shows.

Keeping your Mac’s storage free of junk

If your Mac is low on disk space, it could also be caused by malware or a serious tech malfunction, and in extreme cases, you may need to factory reset your Mac to get your storage back to normal. Read our guide on how to create a High Sierra bootable USB for more information. If you can't install macOS High Sierra, we can also help.

In general, though, low storage isn’t serious and can be managed in a few ways:

• Deleting old installers and downloads
• Uninstalling unused apps
• Offloading file storage to cloud services
• Moving files to external storage
• Deleting TV shows and movies you’ve watched
• Compressing archived data

You can also save a lot of space using MacKeeper’s Safe Cleanup. With just a few clicks, you can clear up gigabytes of space, deleting all kinds of unnecessary junk.