Use Third-Party Software to Free Storage on Mac; Delete Cache Files on Mac. In typical situations, you do not need to worry much about cache. MacOS handles them smartly. But if you are too low on storage or believe in having the cache of unused/uninstalled apps, here is how to delete them. Note: Caches are there to make your Mac experience. How To Delete Apps On Mac From Mac App Store? If you do not want a particular application on the page of the Mac App store even, you have control for the same. Don’t worry, you can update or download it back from iTunes, in case future call its need. Where the Finder method of deleting apps has not worked out for you, try the following: Where the item is a folder, delete each file manually to isolate the single erroneous file. If all files get deleted such that the folder is empty, try Trashing it. Change permissions to empty the Trash. Most people do not know, actually, that their Mac is converting a free startup disk space into virtual memory, which you use for daily operations. Normally, it is recommended to have at least 10% of the disk space always free in order to make the Mac operating system work appropriately.
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A slow Mac is no fun for anyone. It happens to the best of us — which is why everyone should know how to declutter and free up disk space on their Mac. Not only will this speed up your computer, it’s also a great opportunity to organize your files.
Clearing disk space on a Mac can make your computer feel like new. Over time, most Macs, especially those that experience regular use, get full of documents, files, apps, images, videos, and other junk and clutter.
In this article, we’ll show you how to free up space on Mac computers, and highlight some apps that make maintenance of your computer’s file system much simpler.
What's taking up space
Have you ever seen this pop up on your Mac?
It’s frustrating! This occurs because the memory your Mac has is full. It may be saved movies, large documents, mail attachments, or just plain cached items from apps like iMessage that are taking up space on your Mac.
Not only is the popup message annoying, diminished disk space on your Mac can prevent you from being productive. Mail attachments or other files may not save to your Mac, all because you’ve got a bunch of old stuff cluttering your memory system. It can even cause apps to quit, or fail to load.
Low disk space isn’t always an 'old Mac' problem, either. While it’s true older Macs typically have less memory available to them, even modern Macs can get cluttered. That’s why it’s important to know how to clear space on Mac hard drives.
How to check storage on Mac
Here’s how to check the storage on your Mac using Apple’s method:
- From the menu bar on your Mac, click the Apple logo on the top left
- Select 'About this Mac'
- Select the 'Storage' option in the new window
This is a basic way to check how much storage is being occupied on your Mac. Another good tip is to check your disk usage with iStat Menus. It’s an app that allows you to monitor – in real time – how your Mac is performing. iStat Menus lives in your Mac’s menu bar, running in the background until you need it. Each of its monitoring services has a menu bar icon, including one for memory.
When you click on the iStat Menus icon, it shows you exactly what’s happening with your disk space. When your Mac is running slowly, it’s possible an app is taking up more resources than you would like. iStat Menus shows you which app is to blame.
How to optimize storage using macOS
If you’re using macOS Sierra or later, you can benefit from Apple’s Optimize Storage functionality. It allows you to store files in iCloud, renewing your access to these files whenever you need. Here’s how to use the Apple way of managing storage on Mac:
- Repeat the steps above to check the available and used storage on your Mac
- Click on 'Manage' to access the storage management window
- Enable the 'Empty Trash Automatically' and 'Reduce Clutter' options to remove files you deleted, and large files you might no longer need.
- Select 'Store in iCloud' to move your desktop file and docs, photos, and messages to iCloud. You can choose what file types to transfer.
Note: iCloud provides only 5GB of free storage. If you want more, you can upgrade your iCloud storage plan — it will cost you $0.99 per month for 50GB, $2.99 per month for 200GB, and $9.99 monthly for 2TB.
Go to the Optimize Storage menu and choose from three options that help you use storage more cleverly. You can select to remove watched files from your Apple TV app (or iTunes if you use macOS Mojave and earlier), download only recent attachments, or not to delete attachments at all.
Move Files to the Cloud
iCloud is Apple’s preferred method for storing files and folders in the cloud. It makes your data available across devices, and is now the default service for system backups.
Apple gives you 5GB free iCloud storage, but it’s just enough for an iPhone backup and a few gigabytes of pictures. It’s almost never enough for the average user.
Activating it on your Mac will help save room in your system memory, though. It moves the actual storage of files to the cloud, and ann image of those files on your Mac. It also compresses images for optimized storage on the Mac, but keeps them available in the Photos app.
If you have a different cloud storage system you prefer, CloudMounter makes it easy to back your Mac’s files up to Google Drive, Dropbox, OneDrive, Mega, Amazon S3, and other services. It lives in your Mac’s Finder app and menu bar, and makes moving files from your Mac to the cloud as easy as dragging and dropping them into CloudMounter, and directly into your connected cloud account.
Manage large files and archive data
You can find and delete large files on your Mac directly. Here’s how:
- From the menu bar on your Mac, click the Apple logo on the top left
- Select 'About this Mac'
- Select the 'Storage' option in the new window
- Select 'Manage'
- Select 'Documents'
- On the right side of the window, click the 'Size' column header to show the largest files first
We prefer using CleanMyMac X’s file system manager. Here’s how to use it:
- Open CleanMyMac X on your Mac
- Select the 'Large & Old Files' module on the right side of the window
- Select 'Scan'
This is a smarter way of discerning which files are taking up space on your Mac – especially if you don’t need access to those files often. It shows you which types of files they are, how old they are, and lets you delete batches of files by size.
Find and delete duplicate files
When you download an app, it usually has associated files it stores on your Mac. That’s normal; duplicates of those files aren’t. Downloading an app more than once, or even updating an app, can cause it to duplicate existing files on your Mac.
You may also download files more than once. Your Mac is smart, but doesn’t bother checking to see if you already have a file before downloading it again. There’s no clean way to check for duplicates on your Mac. Apple would ask that you look for duplicated filenames in your storage, and delete one of them.
A better way is to use Gemini, an innovative cleanup app built to help you find and eliminate duplicate files on your hard drive. Even better, it can identify near-identical files as well, giving you an easy way to delete the slightly shaky versions of your vacation snaps in one convenient window.
Here’s how to detect and delete duplicate files with Gemini:
- Open Gemini on your Mac
- Click the ‘plus’ icon, or drag a folder to the app
- Select 'Review Results' to delete files manually, or 'Smart Cleanup' to allow Gemini to delete all duplicates
Remove temporary files
Your macOS, your apps, and your browser all use a shortcut called 'caching' to run faster. But over time, those caches fill up with useless information that bogs down your computer.
Why is it important to clear the cache? The short answer is that caches litter and bloat Macs. They aren't just a byproduct of browser history — most systems and apps, such as Pages, Numbers, Keynote, Mail and Photos, create huge amounts of temporary files that linger in the background. These caches of data are essentially just junk files, and they can be safely deleted to free up storage space.
When it comes to cleaning a Mac, you have two options: delete files manually or get a cleaner app to help you. Clearing your cache files with CleanMyMac is the quickest, safest way we know.
Get rid of hidden trash
Another source of system-slowing junk is email and text attachments. Even if you don’t download an attachment, your desktop mail client holds onto a version so that it can show you previews and access the file more easily. 'But I deleted that email!' you say. Often that’s not enough—these downloads can hang around long after the original email is gone.
It’s possible to clean them out manually. You can use the macOS Optimize Storage feature we’ve described above. Choose what exactly you want to be removed — mail attachments, watched video, or both. Still, CleanMyMac X is a much faster option to clean up the trash on Mac. Here’s how to use CleanMyMac X to empty all trash folders on your Mac:
- Open CleanMyMac X on your Mac
- Select 'Trash Bins' from the left hand side
- Select 'Scan' at the bottom of the window
- Select 'Review Details' to see what CleanMyMac X found, or 'Empty' to delete all trash files on your Mac
Here’s a little trick for you: If you want to be sure you keep the needed files and attachments at your fingertips, use Trickster app to remember them for you. Configure your file tracking inside the app and make sure you’re never confused about what’s stored on your Mac. The important stuff is always in Trickster.
If you want a clutter-free email client, Canary Mail is your perfect choice. The app not only automatically clear away the trash, but also allows to automatically unsubscribe from tons of mailing lists — so that you stop receiving the clutter.
Empty downloads and trash bin
Your Mac’s ‘download’ folder is where most apps, like Safari or Chrome, dump files. It’s also the default folder for email downloads. And it can get really full.
Many of us simply download a file, access it, then forget about it once we’re done with it. The downloads folder can get chock full of files we no longer need, or want. It’s smart to comb through it ever so often and delete files you don’t want, or move them to cloud storage containers using CloudMounter.
Some downloads are hidden, taking up even more space. And the further back you go the more useless these documents are. Do you really need to keep a text file labelled 'Christmas shopping list 2015' or 'Dream holiday Summer 2016?' Probably not. Free up some much-needed space on your Mac and delete as many of these old download files as possible, and remember to come back and tidy it up every few months.
CleanMyMac can help for sure. But also, consider switching your email client to Unibox, which automatically reduces excessive downloads.
AppleInsider described Unibox as 'the best client we tried,' and Macworld said it is 'A welcome, fresh new approach to email on the Mac.' Unibox groups emails by sender and includes an attachment list, so you can quickly find what you need, then delete those documents out of the Downloads folder.
Uninstall unused apps
Have you ever downloaded an app, then stopped using it? We all have! Those apps occupy memory on your Mac – sometimes a lot of space, too.
CleanMyMac X has a handy 'Uninstaller' module which makes it easy to identify and remove all unwanted apps from your Mac. It even deletes associated files, so all traces of an unused app are taken away.
Get rid of old backups
Something else that comes as a surprise to most Mac users is just how many backups your system carries at any given time. Copying and pasting, and the duplicate feature make it too easy to replicate your work in different folders.
At the same time, you’ve probably got dozens of cached backups of files and documents that are invisible but taking up more space than you’d want. Like Time Machine backups. Every time you use Apple’s built-in backup utility, it creates local snapshots that are stored locally on your Mac. This may result in up to 100 GB Time Machine clutter on your hard drive.
CleanMyMac will find old backups for you and remove them in a click. In its 'Maintenance' module, you can select 'Time Machine Snapshot Thinning' to automatically remove older Time Machine backups you no longer need.
But also, switch your backup client to Get Backup Pro to backup only those units you want (for Mac). If you need to quickly transfer files or folders to another server, use a backup sync app ChronoSync Express.
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If you want to quickly backup your iOS device on Mac — for instance, before hard resetting or factory resetting iPhone — you can use AnyTrans. https://mexicoclever785.weebly.com/scorekeeper-app-for-mac.html. You can even schedule instant backups to never worry about losing data when syncing your iOS device with Mac.
Get rid of desktop clutter
Organizing your Mac desktop doesn’t directly help your memory woes, but it can help you find files faster and avoid multiple downloads of the same file.
Apple’s chosen method is called Stacks. A simple right-click on your desktop brings up a menu; selecting 'Use Stacks' puts your files into folders by type. Images, screenshots, and other files will be held in expandable folders, decluttering your desktop for good. Future downloads will all fall into those categories, too.
You may prefer Spotless, an app that affords you far more control over how your desktop is organized. You can set rules for organization, and tuck files into other folders on your Mac by dragging and dropping into one location. Spotless takes care of the hard work for you!
You deserve a faster Mac
By eliminating both hard disk and desktop clutter, you’ll improve your Mac’s performance as well as your own workflow. Plus, Setapp’s decluttering, disk cleanup, and analysis apps help you complete what would be a tedious chore in just a few clicks. There’s no telling how much time and effort you’ll save by giving yourself (and your Mac) a break.
There are plenty of great ways to manage your Mac’s memory without rushing out to buy a new computer. We’ve shown you the best ways here!
All the apps we mentioned in this article are available for free during a seven day trial of Setapp, the world’s best suite of productivity apps for the Mac. In addition to ClanMyMac X, Spotless, Gemini, CloudMounter, Get Backup Pro, and ChronoSync Express, you’ll have unlimited access to Setapp’s full catalog of nearly 200 Mac apps. When your free trial is over, Setapp is only $9.99 per month. Give it a try today!
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May 12,2020 • Filed to: Mac Recovery • Proven solutions
Can't Delete App On Mac
“How to delete Other storage on Mac? My Mac is running out of free space, but the Other segment is still holding a huge chunk of it. What is the Other in Mac storage consists of?”
As a friend of mine asked me, I realized that a lot of Mac users might suffer from the same situation. I searched for it on the web and could see thousands of similar queries about the other storage on Mac. Truth to be told – it can get a bit complicated to manage storage on Mac. If you are also running low on your Mac’s storage, then you should diagnose the “Other” segment in it. In minutes, you can get rid of unwanted junk and free up space on your system. To help you do the same, I have come up with this extensive guide on how to delete other on Mac in different fast and smart ways.
Part 1: What is Other in Mac Storage?
If you have been using macOS for a while, then you might be familiar with its storage manager. By default, Mac segregates the stored data on it in different categories like photos, movies, audios, backup, etc. One of the categories in storage management is “Other”. Ideally, any kind of data stored on Mac that can’t be listed under these pre-defined categories falls in the Other segment. Surprisingly, most of these files are not that important and can be removed to get more free space on Mac.
Part 2: What Contains in the Other Storage on Mac?
In order to learn how to get rid of Other on Mac, it is important to know what can fall under this category. As stated above, anything that can’t be listed as photos, movies, audios, apps, and the pre-listed categories, can be the “Other” storage in Mac. Some of the common files that constitute the Other storage in Mac are as follows:
- Temp files, log files, and system junk that can easily be removed
- System and iTunes backup can also be a part of the Other storage at times
- It can consist of documents like DOC, PDF, PPT, CSV, and so on
- Plugins, extensions, browser data, history, and cache
- Setup files and disk images like ZIP, RAR, EXE, etc.
- Deleted app-data, system trash, or anything unwanted
Part 3: How to Delete Other Storage on Mac?
Since the Other storage on Mac can be ambiguous and disintegrated, it is important to note different methods to delete it. If you want to get positive results, then consider following these suggestions to delete Other on Mac from different aspects.
1. Check the Other Storage Status
Before you take any drastic measure, it is important to diagnose the Macbook storage other segment. In this way, you can learn how much storage the Other data is occupying and what necessary measures you should take. To check the status of Other files on Mac, follow these steps.
Step 1 Firstly, go to the desktop on your Mac and click on the Apple menu on Finder. From the list of the options, click on “About This Mac”.
Step 2 This will launch a dedicated window with an overview of Mac. Go to the “Storage” tab of the window.
Step 3 Here, you can view the overall storage management of Mac’s internal drive (mostly named as Fusion or Macintosh HD).
Step 4 The occupied space would be segregated into different categories like photos, movies, apps, etc. One of these categories would represent the Other storage on Mac.
2. Delete Cache Files
While processing, Mac stores certain temporary and cache content in the background. Although its aim is to speed-up the processing, it can accumulate a lot of unwanted cache content in Mac’s storage. It has been noticed that cache data forms a major part of the Other segment and should be erased regularly. Not only will it free-up space on your Mac, but would also protect your privacy.
Step 1 To get rid of Mac’s cache, go to the desktop and click on Finder > Go > Go to Folder.
Step 2 You will be asked to enter a target address to open. Just enter the address of the Caches folder in Library, which is ~/Library/Caches.
Step 3 In no time, Mac will open the Caches folder where you can browse the cache content of all the apps in it.
Step 4 Simply select the cache files you wish to get rid of, right-click, and move them to Trash. Once it is done, restart your Mac to reset its cache.
Important Note:
Apart from app cache, you might wish to delete the browser cache as well. If you wish to delete Safari cache, then just launch the browser on your Mac and go to its “Develop” menu option. From here, you can choose to clear the browser cache.
3. Delete Downloaded Files
If you are an avid user of the web, then the Downloads folder on your Mac must be accumulated with too much content. As a result, it can reflect on the Other storage on your Mac as well. If you wish to delete Other on Mac, then start by reviewing your Downloads folder and get rid of all the unwanted files.
Step 1 In order to access the Downloads folder, simply visit Finder and click on Go > Downloads.
Step 2 This will load the Downloads folder on your Mac. From here, you can just select the files that are no longer important and move them to trash.
Even after deleting these files from the Downloads folder, visit the Trash, and make sure they are deleted from it as well.
4. Remove Temporary Files
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Similar to Windows, Mac also saves temporary files in the background while running an application. For instance, if you are working with MS Word on Mac, then it will automatically save temp files related to it in the background. Though, after being in use for a while, these temp files can accumulate and take a lot of space. In order to learn how to remove Other from Mac, you should consider removing its temporary files as well.
Step 1 To access the temporary files, go to Finder from Mac’s desktop and click on Go > Go to Folder. Enter the address “~/Users/User/Library/Application Support/” to access its Library > Application Support folder.
Step 2 This will let you browse the stored application data on your Mac. To look for temporary files, search files with temp or tmp extensions.
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Step 3 After finding the relevant temp files, you can move them to the Trash.
5. Clear Plugins and Backups
Last, but most importantly, both plugins and backup content can constitute a large chunk of the Other files on Mac. If even after following the above-listed suggestions, you are not able to shrink the Other storage on Mac, then you can consider removing some browser plugins. Additionally, there is some existing iTunes backup content that you can remove from Mac as well.
i. Get rid of Browser Plugins
Plugins are mostly used to add a certain feature to a browser, but it can backfire in the long run. The method to remove plugins is mostly the same in every browser. For instance, if you are using Safari, then launch it, and go to its Preferences > Extensions. View the available third-party plugins and remove the ones you no longer want.
Asteroid mining app mac. In the same way, you can uninstall plugins from Chrome too. Launch it and go to its Options menu (the three dot icon on the top). Click on More tools > Extensions and delete the plugins of your choice from here.
ii. Remove iTunes Backups
If you own an iPhone, then you can take the assistance of iTunes to take its backup. While taking a backup is recommended, it can consume a lot of space on your Mac. Therefore, you should consider visiting the iTunes settings and getting rid of any unwanted backup file.
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Step 1 Launch iTunes on your Mac and from its main menu, click on the “Preferences” option.
Step 2 Once the Preferences tab would be opened, go to the “Device Preferences” section.
Step 3 Here, you can view all the available backup files saved on iTunes. Just select a backup file and click on the “Delete Backup” button to remove it from Mac’s storage.
Part 4: How to Recover Accidentally Deleted Files on Mac?
After following this guide, you can easily learn how to clear Other storage on Mac. Sadly, there are times when users end up deleting some files by mistake. In this case, you can use a dedicated data recovery tool like Recoverit (IS). The Mac application is available for free and can get back all kinds of lost, deleted, or inaccessible content from your system. It features a highly sophisticated data recovery algorithm and supports almost all kinds of content. Since it is so easy to use, you don’t need any prior technical experience to recover your lost data using Recoverit (IS)y.
Recoverit (IS) for Mac
A Life Saver to Solve Your Data Loss Problems!
- The application can get back lost data under all scenarios. For instance, it yields exceptional results for accidental data deletion, corrupt storage, Trash deletion, formatted disk, and so on.
- You can recover your photos, videos, documents, compressed files, and 1000+ different kinds of data.
- Since it will let you preview the extracted content, you can select the kind of data you wish to recover.
- The application can perform data recovery on the internal hard drive of Windows or Mac system. It also supports recovery on SD cards, USB drives, hard disks, digital cameras, and numerous other external units.
- You can download it for free from its website (the basic version). The tool runs on every major Mac system, including macOS 10.14.
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If you have also deleted some data by mistake while clearing the others on Mac, then follow these steps to perform data recovery.
Step 1 Select a recovery mode
Launch the Recoverit (IS) application on your Mac and select a recovery mode, to begin with. From the provided options like deleted data recovery, lost partition recovery etc. you can click on the appropriate scenario.
Step 2 Pick a source location
Additionally, you need to select a location to perform data recovery. This can be an external device or a partition of the Mac’s internal storage as well.
Step 3 Recover your data
Simply wait for a while as Recoverit (IS) will scan the selected location and extract the deleted content. It will provide a preview of the data, letting you select the files you wish to save afterward.
Although the quick scan would be able to meet the basic data recovery needs, you can also do a deep scan as well. To do this, click on the “All-around Recovery” option instead.
Part 5: Bonus Tips for Deleting Other Files on Mac
Following are some of the expert tips that will further help you delete Other storage on Mac easily.
- Apart from the above-listed suggestions, the Other storage on Mac can constitute of log files, unwanted apps, documents, etc. Therefore, you can consider deleting them from Mac too.
- Simply getting rid of certain files is not enough. Even after deleting them, you should visit the Trash folder to remove them from Mac’s storage permanently.
- After when you clear the temp and cache content from Mac, restart the system to get better results.
- If you have multiple user accounts on Mac, then visit each of them to remove certain system component and unwanted junk.
- While getting rid of the Other component, make sure that you don’t remove any important system file.
- Always keep a data recovery tool (like Recoverit (IS)) handy to get back the lost or accidentally deleted content.
Now when you know how to delete Other on Mac, you can certainly make some free space on the system storage. Since the Other component on Mac can be scattered, you need to take some extra measures to delete it. From getting rid of cache to the browser history and plugins to backup files – there are so many things you should do to delete Other on Mac. Go ahead and follow these suggestions and always keep the Recoverit (IS) tool handy. A highly reliable recovery application, it will help you overcome an unwanted loss of data on your Mac.