Over time, your Mac will likely accumulate a lot of cruft. Old applications you don’t use anymore, data you don’t use, a desktop full of icons (only four of which you actually use)…you know what I mean. With more people working from home these days, the problem has gotten worse.
Now is as good a time as any to clean up your Mac, freeing up storage space and possibly CPU cycles and RAM in the process. Here are some tips for making quick work of your Mac’s “spring cleaning.”
Storage Optimization
In versions of macOS prior to Ventura, the Storage Management app was the best place to deal with all the cruft of your SSD. Open it by using Spotlight (Command-space) or by clicking on the Apple logo at the top left of the menu bar, select About This Macclick on RECORDING tab, later management.
The built-in Storage Management app is the best place to start when cleaning up your Mac.
In the Recommendations tab you will find many useful options, such as iCloud Store and Automatic Trash Removal. The Optimize Storage solution will delete things like old TV shows you’ve watched and old email attachments when you’re running out of storage space.
In macOS Ventura, this Storage Management app is gone, but you can find the Optimize Storage option in System Settings. TOMORROW System SettingsCHOOSE generalTHEN RECORDING. The Optimize Storage option here only affects movies and TV shows from the TV app, but you can click the information button (i) next to the different categories (Applications, Developer, Documents, etc. ) to manage it.
Foundry
View your Applications and Documents
While you’re in the Storage Management app, click the Applications tab in the left column. You can see all your installed applications here and sort them by size, it’s easy to delete apps you haven’t used in ages.
Then, click Documents on the left tab. There are several sections here, such as Large Files and Unsupported Applications, that are worth a look. Large library files (for apps like Lightroom or Final Cut Pro) tend to appear here, and you don’t want to mess with them. But you may have old large files and documents, or apps that no longer work with your version of macOS, that you can safely delete.
In macOS Ventura or later, go to System Settings > general > RECORDING and click the info button (i) next to Applications, Documents, and other categories. You can sort by size and type and manage these items here.
Take control of your desktop
If your desktop is full of icons, you need to clean things up. Right-click (two-finger tap on a trackpad) any open space and select cleansing to put things in order, or Cleaning By to arrange them as well. Consider the Use Stacks feature to automatically stack-up files of the same type into an icon. Just click on that icon to open the stack. It really cleans up your desktop!
These two commands can make quick work of a messy Mac desktop.
Use cleaner tools
Power users who really want to clean up their Mac’s storage may want to check out a third-party app like DaisyDisk ($9.99) or Onyx (free). These apps provide a simple and clear way to see everything on your Mac, or any other attached storage device or drive. They can help you get rid of what you don’t need.
DaisyDisk views and lists storage by folder, and lets you drag and drop folders.
It may not be worth paying money for an app that just helps you delete stuff from your Mac’s storage, but there’s a lot of value in disk analyzers. It can be really eye-opening to see what’s really filling up your Mac’s SSD. Check out our roundup of the best Mac cleaner apps.