How To Find Large Files On Mac And Delete The Unwanted Ones

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If you don’t clean your Mac often, it builds up digital junk that eats up your computer’s storage. You could soon encounter the performance and speed issues on the machine. Your system may boot slower and the apps might take forever to respond. The OS will display a low storage warning often. Thankfully, Mac is equipped with pairs of utilities that can address this issue. In this workaround, we’ll guide you through the best ways to find and eliminate large files and other digital junk.

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Use Finder to Search Large Files

Use the custom search parameters to list files that are larger than 500 MB in size. Mac gives you an option to list all such files on your Mac or specific directories. Narrowing down the results will help you focus on specific directories.

  1. Open up the Finder.
  2. Press Command + F shortcut keys to initiate the Search feature.
  3. Set the Search parameter to This Mac to get files all over your SSD. Select a custom directory to only search within that directory.
  4. Set the Kind filter to Others.
  5. Select the File Size option in the Attribute drop-down box.
  6. Set the compare parameter drop-down to Is greater than.
  7. Specify a numeric file size (for example, 500) in the value box.
  8. In the fourth file size parameter drop-down, select MB.
  9. You don’t have to follow this procedure often. Simply save your search preferences now and use them every month or so. Click the ‘Save’ button on the toolbar to save your preferences.

Track Down Large Downloads

The Downloads folder is notorious for accumulating too many junk files. If you’re habitually downloading new files, your Downloads folder can accumulate hundreds of GBs if left overlooked for years. Look for .dmg, .zip and other types of files that have been long forgotten. Delete them if you don’t need them. If you’re using a third-party download manager, your actual downloads location may vary.

Search & Delete Duplicate Files

You could have accumulated too many duplicates over the years. Downloading the same file multiple times could eat up your storage. If you’re regularly transferring data from USB sticks/ DVDs, you could have copied the same files again. Search your SSD for duplicates and free-up your precious storage space.

  1. Download Clone Files Checker for Mac and install it on your Mac.
  2. Click on the Add button and select a directory to scan for duplicates. You can also add multiple directories of your choice.
  3. The default selected Search Option is All Files. CFC will scan all file types on your Mac irrespective of their types. The program also gives you an option to limit the scan to only a few file types. Using the Custom option, you can select individual file types of your preference.
  4. Use the optional Ignore filters to assign lower and upper file size limits for your files.
  5. Start the scan.
  6. After the scan is performed, your duplicate files will appear into a list box. CFC gives a glimpse about each file- file name, path, size, hash, modification date, etc.
  7. You can manually select or unselect files of your choice, or even better, select all duplicates in one-go using the Select Duplicates button.
  8. After selecting your duplicates, click on the Select Action button and choose whether to move your duplicates to another folder or delete them.

Delete Web Cache

As you browse the Internet, Safari builds a cache of frequently visited web pages. The cache consists of different elements- text, images, multimedia videos, JavaScripts, etc. Regularly deleting the cache contents, temporary Internet files will free-up your disk space.

  1. Open up the Safari app.
  2. Click on the History menu, and select Clear history.
  3. Choose a time interval and start the clean-up.

Uninstall Unneeded Apps

Another way to free-up your storage is to uninstall apps that you don’t need anymore. Mac provides a significantly straightforward way to uninstall your apps. Here’s it:

  1. Launch the Finder.
  2. Go to the Applications folder.
  3. Just drag and drop an app into the Trash to uninstall it. Another alternative way is to right-click an app and select Move to Trash.
  4. Now, right-click the Trash icon on your Dock and select Empty Trash.

That’s it, it’s that simple to uninstall apps in Mac compared to Windows. No complex uninstall wizards or pop-ups appear on your screen.

Delete Leftover Files

When you install a Mac app, it creates separate directories to store your app preferences, program cache and temporarily required files. Simply uninstalling your app may not remove these files. This data can still exist on your SSD. Removing these left-over files will make room for newer files.

  1. Open the Finder.
  2. Click the Go menu, and select Go to folder.
  3. Type in the following folder path: ~/Library
  4. Click Go.
  5. Look for left-over folders created by apps that you have already removed. A key to identify such folders is they contain the program or developer name.
  6. Drag and drop all the left-over folders to Trash.

Delete iPhone & iPad Sync Backup Files

Are you fond of listening to music on your iPad? Perhaps you could have used iTunes to regularly back up your iPad or iPhone music library onto your MacBook.

Backing up your entire music library can occupy a large chunk of your storage. These files can be so large in size depending on your usage and activities. Delete these space-eating files, if you don’t need them. These files are generally stored in to the following directory: ~/Library/Application Support/MobileSync/Backup

Delete Trash Contents

The Trash in Mac is equivalent to the Recycle Bin in Windows. When you delete a file, your Mac sends it to the Trash. In contrast to Windows, Mac has multiple Trash cans. Besides your main account’s Trash, there are separate Trash cans for the Mail, iPhoto and iMovie apps. 

To clear the main account’s Trash, right-click the Trash icon on your Dock and select Empty Trash option.

Similarly, you can empty the Trash in your iPhoto app as under:

  1. Open up your iPhoto application.
  2. You should see different locations on the sidebar on the left.
  3. Look for the Trash icon on the sidebar. Right-click it, and select the Empty Trash option.
Vikas
Sorcim Technologies (pvt) Ltd. | + posts

Vikas is a technology enthusiast who loves writing articles on computers and technology. He writes on various topics related to software, software reviews, troubleshooting and tips & tricks to make people's digital lives better.