How To Free Space On My Macbook Air

The use of solid-state drives for storage in most Macs, and its stubborn refusal to fall in price means that most Macs produced in the last decade or so have less storage space than their predecessors. If you have, say a MacBook Air with 128GB of disk space, it will soon fill up. It's important, then, to acquaint yourself with a few tricks to free up disk space, and that's what we'll show you here. Let's get started and give your Mac's disk a cleanup.

• How To Free Space On My Macbook Air
• How To Free Space On My Macbook Air
• How To Free Space On My Macbook Air Louder
• Free Up Space On Macbook Air
• How To Free Space On My Macbook Air Screen

How to free up disk space using Apple's built-in tools

How To Free Space On My Macbook Air

Mac OS Storage Management. The first port of call when making space on your Mac is to see what. Let me help by telling you more about this to free space on your Mac. How to Check Storage on Mac; What is Other on Mac Storage? How to Delete Other on Mac Storage; How to Check Storage on Mac. Click on the Apple logo from the top-left and choose About This Mac. Click on Storage. Wait for a few seconds. Take the mouse pointer to colored sections.

1. Click the Apple menu and choose About this Mac.
2. Select the Storage tab and press Manage.
3. Click on Recommendations and review each of the options.
   

Tip
The first option allows you to store files, photos, and messages in iCloud and keep only recent files and optimized photos on your Mac. However, if you'd rather store messages and files on your machine, you can choose only to use iCloud for photos. We'll show you how to do that later in this article.

1. Go through each of the headings on the left one-by-one. Click each and read the description in the main window then decide if you want to take the recommended action.
2. When you're done, go to the System Information menu and press Quit System Information.

1. Use iCloud Photo Library

iCloud Photo Library allows you to store the full resolution versions of your photos and videos in iCloud and keep a lower resolution, optimized versions on your Mac. You'll need to download the full version when you want to edit a photo or video, but other than that there is no downside and you'll save several gigabytes of space if you have lots of photos and videos. Here's how to optimize your media files:

1. Launch Photos.
2. Click on the Photos menu and choose Preferences.
3. Choose iCloud and tick the box labeled iCloud Photos.
4. Now, check the box labeled Optimize Mac Storage.
5. Close Preferences and quit Photos.

Free casino games slotomania. Now, the high-quality versions of your photos and videos will be stored in iCloud.

2. Clear out junk and other files you don't need

Your Mac stores a ton of files that you probably don't even realize are there and that you don't need. From language files for languages, you don't use to temp files that should have been deleted long ago and libraries of applications you have removed.

It's all still there causing your system to take up disk space on your Mac. Framer 113.

The easiest way to remove it quickly is to use an app that is designed for the purpose, like CleanMyMac X. It can free up several gigabytes of space with just a couple of clicks. Here's how to free up space using its System Junk module as an example.

1. Download CleanMyMac X, install, and launch the app.
2. Choose the System Junk module in the sidebar.
3. Press Scan.
4. When it's done, it will tell you how many GB of junk files it has found.
5. Press Clean or Review Details if you want to check files that you delete first.

Additionally, CleanMyMac X features the Malware Removal module, which not many Mac cleaners have. It scans your Mac for all malware, including adware, keyloggers, viruses, and worms, and lets you remove those from your MacBook immediately.

3. Find out what is taking up space

It's likely that as well as thousands of small files taking up space on your drive, there are a few very big files that you don't need or can archive elsewhere. You can do that manually by following these steps.

1. Open a new Finder window.
2. Navigate to your Home folder.
3. Press Command-F to start a new search.
4. Click on the dropdown menu labeled Kind and choose Other.
5. Scroll down to File Size and choose it.

• In the menu next to that one, choose 'is greater than' and choose a file size then type it in. Remember to select This Mac to get a full list of results.
• You'll see the window fill up with files that meet the criteria.
• Click Save to save the search.
• Review the files and drag those you want to get rid of to the Trash or move them to an external drive.

If you're looking for an easier way to find and delete large files, you can try doing it with CleanMyMac X. Choose Space Lens in the sidebar and press Scan. You'll see the categories listed in order of the space they occupy. Click any of them to see more details. Mouse over a bubble to see what it is and how much space it is taking up.

Explore the folders to find files that take a lot of space. If you find a file or folder you want to delete, check the box next to it in the middle window and press Remove. Make sure that you don't need it or that you have another copy somewhere else.

Space Lens lets you quickly find the largest folders and see what's stored inside of them. By starting with the files that are taking up most space, you will free up more room quickly.

4. Remove Mail attachments

https://baseball-soft.mystrikingly.com/blog/ubar-4-1-5-commentary. Whichever email client you use, downloading attachments can soon take up lots of space on your boot disk. The good news is that if you use an IMAP client, like Apple's Mail or Gmail, you can delete attachments safely, knowing that they will remain on the server if you need them at another time. That's another job you can do manually. Just open the Downloads folder and clear out all old attachments.

5. Move your Music library

It used to be the case that one of the most effective ways to save space was to move your iTunes library folder to an external drive. As of macOS Catalina, iTunes no longer exists. However, its replacement, Music, still references a folder called iTunes, where it stores music you downloaded from the iTunes Store. If you still download music or play from local files, rather than stream it, you can move your collection to an external drive to save space.

• Go to ~/Music/iTunes (is your Home folder).
• Copy the iTunes Media folder to an external drive.
• Launch Music, click on the Music menu, and choose Preferences.
• Press Files, then Change.
• Navigate to the folder where you copied your iTunes Media.
• Press Ok.
• You can now quit Music and delete the iTunes Media folder from your Mac.

6. Uninstall applications

Most of us have lots of applications on our Macs that we never use. Getting rid of them can free up lots of space. However, just dragging the app icon to the Trash and emptying it won't uninstall it completely. There will still be lots of files left behind.

There are two ways to uninstall an application properly: track down every file associated with the application and manually drag it to the Trash, or use a dedicated uninstaller. CleanMyMac X is one such tool.

1. In the CleanMyMac X's sidebar, choose Uninstaller.
2. Locate the application you want to uninstall (Tip: you can use the filters in the middle window to narrow down your search).
3. When you find the application you want to delete, check the box next to it.
4. Press Uninstall.
5. Repeat steps 2-4 for each application you want to uninstall.

CleanMyMac X also removes all application data, which is usually left on your Mac unexposed. So, deleting any app with CleanMyMac X you automatically remove all files associated with the application and save up some space.

7. Compress folders

If there are folders of files you don't want to trash or move, compressing them will save some space. Control-click the folder and choose Compress from the menu.

As you can see, there are lots of ways to save space on your Mac, without resorting to buying extra storage. Follow the steps above, and you could save several gigabytes.

What is taking up space on my Mac?

There comes a time in every computer's life when it is full of files and programs, slowing it down so much that its owner searches for an article such as this in order to cure it of these ailments (before it gets thrown out the window!).

Worry not, you're in the right place. This article will take you through 8 steps which will free up space on your Mac - removing unneeded files and clearing space for the stuff you actually need.

No matter if you're tech savvy or not, anyone can use these tips to breathe new life into their Mac.

To find out how much space is available on your Mac:

1. Open the Apple menu (the Apple icon in the top-left corner of your screen).
2. Click 'About this Mac'.
3. Click 'Storage'.

This overview will show what categories are taking up the most space, as well as how much space is available on your Mac.

The 8 sections below address the biggest culprits of space-hogging on your Mac and how to clean them up.

Jump straight to:

1. Mac OS Storage Management

The first port of call when making space on your Mac is to see what tools your Mac offers you for such a task.

If your Mac is running macOS Sierra or later, it has great built-in tools for managing files and optimizing storage. To access these tools, click the apple icon in the top-left corner of your screen > About this Mac > Storage > Manage…

As you can see this is also how to check storage on Mac. The tool shows a breakdown of the storage space taken up on your Mac by media such as Apps, Books, Photos and others.

Let's have a look at each tool to see how it can help:

• Store in iCloud: Quickly store files (Documents, Photos and Messages) from your Mac in iCloud. When considering how to clear space on Mac, getting rid of files quickly springs to mind- However, if you need to keep the files, you can just move them to an external hard drive, or into iCloud!

  Enabling this option will allow your Mac to automatically save space when it's needed.

  This is great as you'll be able to access your files on any device using your Apple ID. However, if you have a large number of files, you'll need to purchase more storage space than your allotted free amount (5GB)- obviously, depending on the amount of space you need, this can quickly become an expensive option.
  

• Optimize Storage: For those who download and watch lots of movies and TV, this option can save you a lot of space and a lot of time. Enabling this option will allow your Mac to automatically remove such files (which can be HUGE depending on their length and quality) once you have watched them.
  

• Empty Trash Automatically: Similar to the above, enabling this option allows the automatic removal of files, saving you time and space without having to keep on top of it manually. This will remove items in your Trash after 30 days of them being there. Be aware that once files have been removed from your Trash, you will not be able to retrieve them.

  Side note: Many points in this article will advise the removal of unwanted files from your Mac. However, these files are not completely removed from your computer until you empty the Trash (the space is not regained until they are removed from Trash). You can manually empty it by clicking the Trash Can icon in your dock, then clicking 'Empty'.

• Reduce Clutter: Find large and unused files on your Mac and delete them from your system. You'll need to delete them manually, but it's well worth it if you can remove files that you do not use.

  Navigate to files that you don't need using the 'Large Files' or 'Downloads' sorters, then hit 'Delete.'. Note that this action will bypass sending the item to Trash, so it's permanent.
  If you're finding unwanted files using the 'File Browser' tab, you'll need to right-click > 'Move To Trash'.

2. Find Duplicate Files Mac

The quickest way to free up space on your Mac is to automatically remove files that you don't need. Without realizing it, you can accumulate gigabytes worth of duplicate files and folders on your computer.

The problem is that it can take so much time to find and delete these duplicates that people do not bother to do it even if they want to.

Luckily, you can use an app like Duplicate Sweeper to do this for you.

Duplicate Sweeper: Easily scan your Mac for duplicate files and photos. You can then select and remove duplicates based on your preferences. In this way you can keep your newest version of files and remove all duplicates with a click of a button.

In the example below, I was able to remove over 6000 files with one-click. This freed up 2.3 GB of space on my MacBook. Imagine manually going through and comparing 6000 files without Duplicate Sweeper. it would have taken forever!

How To Free Space On My Macbook Air

For more information about Duplicate Sweeper, or to download the free trial:

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3. Unused Apps- Uninstall Programs on Mac

One of the biggest areas you should consider when looking at how to free up space on Mac is your Apps. Maybe unsurprisingly, apps on your Mac can be some of the largest files on your computer. Removing apps that you don't use can free up a huge amount of space. Let's list your apps by their files size:

Open Finder, then open the Applications section. Display the items as a list (using the button with 4 horizontal lines), then click the ‘Size' header to reorder your applications by size. You can then work down the list and decide which applications you don't use. Simply drag an application from the list into the Trash Can on your Dock to remove them.

Remember that you'll need to empty your Trash Can to completely remove the applications from your Mac.

4. Clean up media and downloads

The quality of media like photo and video is constantly improving. Unfortunately, this usually means that the corresponding files are bigger than they used to be.

How To Free Space On My Macbook Air Louder

For this reason, your saved media could be a great place to free up some of that precious storage on your Mac.

Open Finder and look through your Pictures, Movies and Music folders. If there is media there that you don't want, select it and move it to Trash to get rid of later. If you prefer to delete this media from the associated apps like Photos and iMovie, see how to empty their trash.

It is also recommended to check your Downloads file for unwanted files too.

This folder can receive copious amounts of files downloaded from multiple sources. Many of these files you may have only needed to read or use once.

You can get to your Downloads folder by opening a Finder window and clicking the 'Downloads' header.

Again, select whatever files you don't need, then right-click > Move to Trash/Bin.

Extra: Zipped / Archived files

If you receive a zipped file (with the .zip extension), opening it will unzip the file or folder and create the files in a non-zipped form.

This will create files that you can use, but it will not remove the (now unneeded) zip file. If you've already unzipped, you can delete the .zip file.

On the flip side, you can use file archiving to compress files or folders that you don't use regularly.

Say you have a folder of documents that you only need to save for safekeeping; right-click the folder in Finder and click 'Compress [file/folder name]'. This will compress the files and create a .zip file.

Don't forget to delete the original, uncompressed folder in order to save the space!

5. Delete iTunes backups

Depending on the number of files, photos, messages etc that you have stored on your iPhone, iPod or iPad, it's backup on your Mac can be huge.

Keeping backups of your devices is a good idea. If something was to happen to your device, your data can be restored to it (or another device) using your backup. However, these backup files can be massive, and you may never need them! For this reason, consider backing up your devices to iCloud instead – freeing up space on your Mac.

To set your device to backup to iCloud, go to Settings > (your name) > iCloud > iCloud Backup.
To initiate a backup, connect your device to a power source and also to a Wi-Fi network. Lastly, ensure that your device screen is locked and that you have enough free space in iCloud to store the backup.

How to delete backups on Mac - You can also delete the backups which you already have stored on your Mac. To do this, open iTunes and go to iTunes > Preferences > Devices. Free video converter for macbook pro. If you don't need the backups in the list, select and delete them!

Find out: where are iTunes backups stored?

Alternatively, if you don't want to use iCloud for backing up your data, or if you only need certain data from your backups, you could use iBackup Extractor. This handy tool allows you to access and browse your backups, and extract any important photos, messages etc. that you need. You can save this data to your computer, then delete the backup from iTunes as seen above!

6. How to Delete Temporary Files on Mac

Some of the most common questions asked are 'how to clear cache on mac' and 'how to delete cookies on mac'. Well, let's answer those for you!

Temporary and cache are files that are stored locally in order to speed up processes. For example, images from a website that you visited can be cached, so that when you visit the page again, you don't have to wait to download the images again, they are simply pulled in from the cache. That's great for processes that you use regularly, but without care, your temporary and cached files can build up and eat away at your Mac's performance.

Let's see how to clear cache on mac – Open Finder > Go > hold ‘option' and click ‘Library' > Caches. Select and delete any cache files and folders that you don't need to save space!

7. Taking out the Trash

Deleting files on your Mac usually only moves them to your Trash Can (or Bin).

This is great, because if you 'delete' something by accident, you can restore it to its original location - no harm done.

However, if you are culling files on your Mac to make space, you may wonder why you are not gaining storage after clicking delete.

To permanently delete files from the Mac, you'll need to empty your Trash Can. To do this, simply click the Trash Can (or Bin) icon in your Dock.

Here, you can review or restore files in your Trash/Bin.

To permanently delete all the files in your bin, click Empty. You'll be asked if you're sure, and to confirm the permanent deletion of the files.

Deleting files from Photos, iMovie and Mail apps.

Generally, you'll be able to use the steps above to permanently delete files. However, some apps have their own way to manage 'deleted' files.

As such, you'll need to empty trash cans in individual apps to ensure that files are fully deleted.

An example of this can be seen in the Photos app:

Click the 'Recently Deleted' header to access the trash in the Photos app.

After 'deleting' photos from the app, the files can remain in this section for up to 40 days before being automatically deleted.

If you are sure you'd like to permanently delete these photos, click 'Delete All' to remove them from your hard drive.

You can use similar steps to empty trash for other apps like iMovie and Mail.

8. Move files into external storage

The majority of the methods above cover how to delete unwanted files to gain space. But what you if want to keep your files?

Free Up Space On Macbook Air

If you need more space on your Mac, but deleting your files is not an option, you may want to consider investing in external storage.

You can purchase external storage drives pretty cheap nowadays.

The way this works is that you connect your external drive with your Mac via USB cable. The drive then pops up as a Location on your Mac: https://download-silk.mystrikingly.com/blog/my-four-walls-1-0-7-furnishing-planner-printable.

You can then drag files from your Mac onto your external drive, or cut/paste them into specific folders on your drive.

Takeaways

How To Free Space On My Macbook Air Screen

These are the most effective steps to make the most of the available space on your Mac in our experience.

There's a lot of information above, but this is not an exhaustive list of everything you can do to clear space on your Mac. We hope that you now have the tools that you need to breathe new life into your Mac or MacBook.

Happy spring cleaning!