How to Free Up Space on Mac – 10 Quick Tips

the space of storage of the computers Mac is somewhat limited. Many users encounter the message that Error “Your startup disk is almost full” as a result of this.

The ominous message is meant to warn you that your storage is full, meaning it's time to free up some space. In this article, you can find 10 quick tips on how to free up space on Mac.

How to free up space on Mac?

Having a Mac computer with no space at all is the most tedious thing you can imagine when it comes to operating. Due to the lack of storage, you will start to notice performance issues. You will also not be able to install new applications or even save files.

That’s why you should get rid of the “Your startup disk is almost full” message by creating some free space.

This may seem like a difficult task. We usually store files that we want to keep and install tools for daily use. Getting rid of these is out of the question, so what else can you do?

There is more to your computer than meets the eye. macOS system, like others OS , the Windows, contain hidden folders that are full of content. That is, Temporary files, uninstalled tools, among others. But it is important that you know which of these folders are safe to delete.

Get an overview of your Mac's storage

Before you start deleting your files, it is a good practice to check what is taking up space on your device. To do this, use the About this Mac ... in the Apple menu. Get a detailed view of the contents of your device and see what's taking up the most space.

By doing this, you may start to see ways you can take action right away. For example, if a large portion of your storage is backup, focus on deleting them first.

It's common that the files you want to keep are the ones that take up valuable gigabytes on your startup disk. Don't worry, you don't have to get rid of your precious memories of crucial work assets.

If you see that Photos y videos They take up a lot of space on your disk, look in cloud storage and external drives.

The category Others This can be confusing for most Mac users. It doesn't give you an answer as to what's taking up gigabytes of storage, which is odd at first glance.

This category often has to do with so-called temporary files and cache, which, as you know, are somewhat complicated to delete without prior knowledge.

How to free up space on Mac?

To free up space on your Mac, you can apply some of these possible solutions:

1.- Clean the Downloads folder

If your Mac is the primary device you use for browsing, you may have a ton of stuff in your Mac folder. DownloadsBy default, this is the location where your Mac stores files you get from the Internet.

Typically, archives are found with various unnecessary files inside download folders. It is recommended that you review these files before deleting them. Files that you use frequently or want to keep should remain intact, but old .zip files and application installers are safe to get rid of.

• Open the Finder from your Dock, then click the folder Downloads on the left side panel.
• Click on the icon Change grouping of elements (shown in the screenshot below) and choose Size. This will sort the files in your Downloads folder to show which files are taking up the most space.

• To delete files, right click on them and choose Move to Trash. Don't forget to empty the trash to permanently delete unwanted files!

2.- Clear your Mac's cache

 

 

If your apps are good at managing your cache, you probably don't have a huge cache folder to worry about. However, many people still find large files in the cache. If you let this get out of hand, sooner or later you'll encounter the "Startup disk is almost full" message.

So what can you do to clear your cache on a Mac? The methods are simple, just follow these little tips.

• Open the Finder and press the keys ⌘Command + Shift + G on your keyboard to open the utility Go to folder….
• Write ~ / Library / Caches / and press Enter.

From here, you have a few options:

1. 1. To delete all cache, press the command ⌘ + button A to select everything and move it to the Trash. This is not recommended as it may delete important cache files.
   2. To delete only the cache of apps you don't use regularly, find the app name and move all the files that arrive to the Trash.

3.- Delete the log files

Log files are temporary files stored on your Mac that can often be deleted without any harm. After you make sure that you don't need a log file, you can use this guide to delete it:

1. Open the Finder and press the keys ⌘Command + Shift + G on your keyboard to open the utility Go to folder ... .
2. Scribe ~ / Library / Logs / and hit enter.
3. Move any file .log unnecessary to the Trash / Recycle Bin.

Don't forget to empty the trash so that the files are permanently deleted!

4.- Eliminate unwanted linguistic resources.

Most apps come with multiple languages ​​available to make things accessible to users.

Many apps integrate multiple languages ​​to make them more accessible to users. An example of this is a very popular app like Spotify which has more than 40 languages.

If you know that you will not be using different languages ​​in the future to operate an application, we recommend that you delete resources to free up space on your Mac. You can do this by following these simple steps:

• Open the Finder from your Dock, then click the folder Applications on the left side panel.
• Right-click the application you want to remove language resources from. (In our example, we will use Spotify).
• Select the option Show package content in the context menu.
• Opens Content → Resources, then search for all folders with the extension .lproj. These language files; you can usually tell what language it is by looking at the first two initials or letters.

Warning: Make sure you don't delete English language files! Most applications use English as a base, so you should leave files like en.lproj.

• Remove any unwanted language resources by moving them to your Trash. Don't forget to empty the Trash to permanently delete unwanted files!

5.- Clean your email download folder

Do you use the standard macOS Mail app? You may have a ton of email attachments stored on your device, taking up several gigabytes of space.

Typically, users store up to 5GB of attachments in their email inbox. We recommend periodically cleaning up your email downloads folder by following the steps below.

• Press the keys ⌘ Command + Space on your keyboard to open the Spotlight utility. All you need to do at this point is type mail downloads and you will be taken to the folder.

• Alternatively, you can use the tool Go to folder and navigate to the folder ~/Library/Containers/com.apple.mail/Data/Library/Mail from Finder.

From here, you have a few options:

1. 1. To delete all email attachments, press the button ⌘ Command + A to select everything and move it to the Trash. This allows you to free up space on your Mac.
   2. To remove only the attachments from apps you don't want to keep, manually review the files listed in this folder and move the unwanted attachments to the Trash. This can also free up space on your Mac.

6.- Completely uninstall unused applications

If you've been using your Mac for a long time, chances are you've had a ton of apps installed on your device.

The apps you delete often leave behind junk files and other traces that can add up to a lot of storage space taken up by practically nothing.

To completely remove applications and free up space on Mac we recommend using the free software App Cleaner & Uninstaller.

It's easy to use and effectively removes apps you no longer want on your Mac. If you purchase the Pro version, you can even delete all leftover traces of old software with ease. All in all, it's worth it – bytes count too when you're looking to save space.

7.- Find your large files

An effective way to free up space on Mac is to find the largest files. You can either delete them or move them to an external location.

• Click on the icon Apple  at the top left of your screen, then choose About Mac.
• Go to the tab Storage and click on the button Manage.

• Click the button Review files in the category Reduce clutter. This will open a new window where you can see a detailed breakdown of your largest files that are probably not crucial parts of your applications.

• To delete large files, simply select them on this screen and choose the Delete button. You can select multiple files by pressing the command ⌘If you want to move these files to the cloud, skip to the next section.

8.- Store files in the cloud

We highly recommend looking into cloud-based storage solutions for storing important or large files. This ensures that your files are safe, while also allowing you to free up space on your Mac.

9.- Discard old iTunes backups

If you tend to connect your iPhone to your Mac using the app iTunes, there is a chance that your computer stores system backups for future use. These backups can be quite large and take up a large portion of your storage.

While backups are generally useful, keeping dozens of them does more harm than good. To delete your old iTunes backups, follow the steps below.

• Open the Finder and press the keys ⌘Command + Shift + G on your keyboard to open the utility Go to folder.
• Write ~/Library/Application Support/MobileSync/ Backup / y press 
• Delete old backup folders by selecting them, right-clicking and choosing the option Move to Trash / Trash in the context menu.

Don't forget to empty the trash after moving your backups there to permanently delete them.

10.- Empty your trash

La Trash This is where your files go when you “delete” them. What you may not know is that they are not actually deleted right away. This is to make sure you have an easy way to restore files you accidentally move to the Trash.

The easiest way to free up space on your Mac is to empty the trash. If you're sure you don't have anything you want to keep, follow the steps below to empty the Trash.

• Look for the Trash icon in your Dock. It should look like a regular recycle bin. If your Trash has files in it, the icon will change to show a bunch of items inside the bin. This is when you need to empty it.
• Right click on the icon Trash  and select the option Empty Trash.
• Then click Empty trash to permanently delete the content.

We hope this article can help you learn how to free up space on Mac. If you need more help regarding technical questions, feel free to read the rest of the posts we have for you here. We are always ready to provide you with help!