Is your Mac’s storage space completely full? You can easily do something about it with the tips in this article. For example, you could look for large files and apps that you no longer use. Or take a look at optimized storage, a relatively new feature that works together with iCloud.
Free up Mac storage space
What to do when your iMac or Mac Storage Full? You might immediately think of buying an external hard drive. That is indeed an option that we will discuss below, but there is much more you can do.
- Optimized storage
- Automatically empty trash bin
- Delete large files
- Using web apps
- Combine apps
- Clean up mail
- Use cleanup apps
- Restart Mac
- Online storage services
- Use external storage
More and more Macs have SSD storage. This is relatively expensive, which often means you only have 128GB or 256GB of storage at your disposal.
With Macs with hard drives, you were used to having 1TB or more at your disposal, but that is unaffordable with SSD. So you will have to learn to deal with less storage space.
This means that you will have to put files in the cloud more often, clean up more often and be a bit more critical about what you save. If your
Mac is almost full, you will have to free up storage space and with these tips, we will help you on your way.
Apple itself has also created a tip on how to clear your Mac Storage Fulle space:
1. Use optimized storage
The optimized storage feature looks at which files you have put on iCloud and removes them from your local drive if they become too full.
An icon will appear next to it to indicate that the file is no longer locally present. If you want to open the file at a later time, click on it as you normally would.
It will then be downloaded immediately from iCloud. So it feels like the file is locally present, but in reality, it is retrieved from iCloud very quickly. The downside is that you need an internet connection when you want to view or edit the file.
2. Empty Trash Automatically
If you always forget to empty the trash, macOS can help you out. All files on your computer take up space, and that also applies to files in the trash.
With the Empty Trash Automatically feature, you don’t have to worry about it anymore. All files that have been in the trash for more than thirty days are automatically deleted.
You enable this function as follows:
- Go to > About This Mac > Storage > Manage > Recommendations.
- In the Empty Trash Automatically section, click the Enable button.
- You will get a message asking if you are sure. Now click on Enable.
3. Delete large files
Large files and folders will slowly fill up your drive, and you don’t want to keep them all. There are several ways to find large files and folders. Of course, you can browse through all the folders in the Finder, but that’s a hopeless task.
There are smarter ways to do this. In the tip below, we explain how to quickly find them using the Finder, the filter functions on the Mac and the Clean Up Documents function.
This works as follows:
- Go to > About This Mac > Storage > Manage > Recommendations and select Clean Up Documents.
- You will now get a list of your documents.
- Click on Large Files.
4. Use web apps
Of course, you don’t have to download an app for every application. Many applications can be used in the browser.
For example, there are photo editing apps that work in the browser, but also word processors, to-do lists and even chat apps such as Slack.
Especially if you use them relatively little, it makes sense to look for an alternative on the web. If you don’t use Pages, Numbers, and Keynote that much, you can use them via iCloud.com, for example, without needing the apps.
5. Use combined apps
Some apps combine multiple services. These include communication and chat apps such as Telegram, WhatsApp, Skype and Facebook Messenger.
Instead of the separate Telegram app, you could also install Franz, which combines all your favorite messengers.
Another option is SetApp: this is a paid service that gives you access to dozens of Mac apps, which are only installed when you need them.
After use, you remove the app from your Mac. When you need the app again, the latest version is always ready for you.
6. Clean up mail
If you use the standard Mail app on your Mac, all attachments are also saved. This can really add up, so in addition to cleaning up your files, don’t forget to also take a good look at your mailbox. Open the Mail app and select View > Sort By > Size to sort by size.
7. Use cleanup apps
There are many apps that can free up space on your Mac. There are many differences in quality, so be careful when choosing an app from a reputable party.
We are fans of CleanMyMac, an app that, for example, cleans up unnecessary language files for you. Be careful!
This is not MacKeeper, an app with a terrible reputation. Cleaning up unnecessary language files can also be done with Monolingual. A reliable app is also CleanGenius.
These apps help you safely delete unnecessary files, sometimes up to several gigabytes! They can also often find files that you haven’t used in a long time. You’ll have to go through them manually to see which ones you want to delete.
8. Restart Mac
Open programs are silently using temporary files in the background. You can clean this up in one go by restarting your Mac every now and then.
At that time, the temporary files of Safari, Chrome, and the like are cleaned up. It is always a good idea to do this regularly. Not only with your Mac but also with other devices such as your iPhone or iPad.
9. Use online storage services
If you run out of space, you can of course also use iCloud, Dropbox, Google Drive, Stack, or one of the many other online storage services.
You often get several gigabytes for free and you can expand this by paying. You can access your files from any device, but you do need an internet connection.
With some services, you can edit files offline and they will be synchronized as soon as you are online again. You can also choose to use more iCloud features, such as iCloud Photo Library.
This ensures that you have to store fewer photos locally. The downside, however, is that iCloud storage is limited for many people because they only use free storage.
10. Use external storage
If you prefer not to store your files locally, you can also opt for an external hard drive or a portable SSD. You have various options, from a NAS with multiple drives to a simple external hard drive that you can easily take with you.
You don’t always have to take movies, music, and other large files with you locally on your Mac, but you can often stream them just fine when you need them.
The disadvantage is that it is a physical device, so you won’t always have it with you when you’re on the road. And you also run the risk that a hard drive can break down over time.
An alternative is memory cards that you insert into the SD card slot of your Mac. Such a card slot is not available on all Macs, so you may have to rely on an external card reader.
In addition to the storage capacity, also pay attention to the writing speed. You can access files on an external hard drive or memory card via the Finder, just like local files on your Mac.
