Content table:
- How to see storage on mac
- Free up space on Mac (general)
- Free up space on Mac (advanced)
- The safe way to optimize your mac space
Keeping your Mac’s storage tidy is important to make sure it runs smoothly and quickly. This guide will show you simple ways to check, clean up, and make the best use of your storage. You can use these tips on different Apple computers.
How to see storage on Mac
On your Mac, choose Apple menu 
at the top right corner > System Settings, then click General 
in the sidebar > Click Storage. You can see your storage visualized in different colors.
By moving your mouse cursor over a section, you can get a quick view of how much space is being used.
Free up space on Mac (general)
Before optimizing your Mac’s storage, it’s crucial to understand the different parts of your storage. This way, you can confidently get rid of junk and keep only what you need.
To make thing easy for you, I’ll break them into 2 parts which are Surface and Under Storage, The Surface part represented for storage which you see everyday (Applications, Documents, iCloud Drive, Mail, Messages, Photos, Trash) and of course they are easily to remove.
For example, if the Applications folder is taking up a lot of your storage, you can click to view its info and sort by size, type, or last accessed date.
If you find any apps that you don’t need, you can select them and delete them. You can use this method with other folders in the Surface Storage section too.
Free up space on Mac (advanced)
Now that you’ve freed up some space on your Mac, let’s dive deeper into the Under Storage (Other Users & Shared, macOS and System Data) section to save even more storage.
For shared storage, you can do these following to optimize:
1. Access the Shared Folder: Go to the Finder and select “Go” from the top menu, then “Computer.” Navigate to the /Users/ folder to find the Shared folder.
2. Manage the Contents: Open the Shared folder and manually delete files or folders that are no longer needed.
The System Data or Other storage are normally accummulated from cached files, temporary system files, and user data backups. Here are the steps to optimize each section:
To access these files on a Mac, follow these steps:
1. Open Finder: Click on the Finder icon in your Dock to open a new Finder window.
2. Go to Folder: In the Finder menu at the top of the screen, click “Go” and then select “Go to Folder…” from the dropdown menu.
3. Enter the Path to Cache Files: Type ~/Library/Caches into the Go to Folder dialog box and press “Go” or hit Enter. This will take you directly to the Caches folder where application cache files are stored. You can browse through these folders and manually delete any cache files if needed.
4. Enter the Path to Temporary System Files: Type /private/var/folders and click “Go”. This folder contains various temporary files for different users and applications. You could review and delete uneccesary files.
But be careful with what you delete. Removing certain caches or temporary files can cause unexpected behavior in applications. Wondering how to remove these files safely without any issues? Let me show you how in the following section.
The safe way to optimize your Mac space
I’m not a developer, so it feels a bit risky to delete files I’m not familiar with, but I still need more space on my Mac. Luckily, I discovered CleanMyMac, which has now become my go-to app for cleaning and optimizing Mac storage.
Download CleanMyMac and enjoy 7-days trials
CleanMyMac has different sections (Smart Scan, Cleanup, Protection, Speed, Applications and Files), lets go through each one of them.
1. Smart Scan: CleanMyMac X’s Smart Scan feature performs three key tasks: Cleanup, Protection, and Speed Optimization. It scans for and removes uneccesary file to free up storage space. This is the fast way to reviews and clean your mac spaces.
2. Cleanup: This section where you can perfom scans your system for junk files, Mail attachments and trash bins. This helps to reclaim storage space by removing files that are not crucial to system operation. Everything just one button away.
3. Protection: This module scans your Mac for malware and vulnerabilities. It also ensures your privacy by cleaning up browsing history, online and offline activity traces, and can remove potentially unwanted applications (PUAs) that might affect your Mac’s performance or security.
4. Applications: This module helps manage installed applications and their associated files. It allows users to uninstall unwanted applications completely by removing leftover files and reset applications to their initial state. It also handles updates, allowing users to keep all their apps current from one place.
5. Files: The Files section provides tools to manage and organize your files more effectively. It includes a large & old files finder that helps you identify files taking up significant space that you might no longer need. Additionally, it offers a shredder feature to securely erase sensitive files without any chance of recovery.
To safely optimize your Mac, we’ll use the Space Lens feature, which visualizes your Mac’s storage. Just select Space Lens and hit “Scan” to create a map of your storage.
Focus on the Users, Applications, System, and Library folders to clear out unwanted files. And no need to worry about accidentally deleting important system files that could mess up your computer—CleanMyMac has got you covered and won’t let that happen.
By go to User > Library > Caches you can manually delete unwanted caches file without affecting your Mac.
You can keep discovering more space on your Mac by going into different folders to delete unnecessary files or old backup versions. It’s very easy and efficient.
There are more features from CleanMyMac that I cover in the video below. Check it out for more tips on clearing your Mac storage. If you’re interested in Mac apps and tips, don’t forget to subscribe to my email list to get the most out of your Mac.
