Your Mac is full — here are 12 ways to get those gigabytes back
A "disk almost full" warning always arrives at the worst time. The good news: most Macs are carrying 30–80 GB of files you don't need and won't miss. Below are twelve things you can actually do today — from the obvious to the overlooked — sorted by how much space each one typically recovers.
1. Empty the Trash (yes, really)
It sounds trivial, but Trash is the single most common space hog people forget about. Right-click the Trash icon in the Dock and choose Empty Trash. If it won't empty, here's how to fix a stuck Trash.
2. Clear browser and app caches
Browsers and apps stash temporary data in ~/Library/Caches. Over time this grows to 5–20 GB. Deleting cache folders is safe — apps rebuild them on next launch. For a full walkthrough, see our guide on how to clear cache on Mac.
3. Delete Time Machine local snapshots
macOS quietly keeps backup snapshots on your internal drive. They can consume 10–50 GB without showing up in Finder. Open Terminal and run:
tmutil listlocalsnapshots /
To remove a specific snapshot:
tmutil deletelocalsnapshots 2026-08-15-120000
4. Clean the Downloads folder
Open ~/Downloads in Finder, sort by size, and delete anything you've already used — old installers (.dmg, .pkg), ZIP files, PDFs you read once. A typical Downloads folder holds 5–15 GB of forgotten files.
5. Find and remove large files
Open System Settings → General → Storage and click the i next to any large category. Or use Finder: press Cmd + F, set the search to "File Size is greater than 500 MB" and sort results by size. You'll often find video files, disk images, or old project exports you forgot about.
6. Remove old iOS and iPadOS backups
Each iPhone or iPad backup stored on your Mac can take 10–50 GB. Go to System Settings → General → Storage → iOS Files to see them. If you use iCloud backups for your devices, these local copies are usually safe to delete.
7. Clean up app leftovers
When you drag an app to Trash, macOS leaves behind its settings, caches, and support files in ~/Library/Application Support and ~/Library/Preferences. After years of installing and deleting apps, these orphan files add up to several gigabytes.
8. Purge mail attachments
The Mail app downloads every attachment in every email. These pile up at ~/Library/Mail and can reach 5–10 GB. Inside Mail, you can switch to not downloading attachments automatically in Settings → Accounts → your account, then remove the biggest downloaded attachments.
9. Manage the "System Data" category
In storage settings, "System Data" can show 40–100 GB with no explanation. It's mostly caches, snapshots, and logs — all things from this list. For a deeper look, see our breakdown of what System Data on Mac actually is.
10. Delete duplicate files
Photos imported twice, documents saved in multiple places, music copied across folders. Duplicates are surprisingly common and can waste 2–10 GB. You can spot them by sorting folders by name or size, but it's tedious work on a big drive.
11. Remove unused language files
Most Mac apps ship with localizations for 20–30 languages you don't use. Together, these translation files can take 2–5 GB. They live inside each app's .lproj folders. Removing them is safe, but the process is manual — you'd open each app bundle via "Show Package Contents" and delete the language folders you don't need.
12. Clean Xcode and developer tool caches
If you have Xcode installed, its derived data, archives, and simulators can quietly consume 20–60 GB. The safe target is ~/Library/Developer/Xcode/DerivedData — delete the entire folder and Xcode rebuilds it. Also run npm cache clean --force if you use Node.js.
When not to delete things
Never touch swap files, anything inside /System, or files you can't identify. If a guide asks you to run sudo rm -rf on system directories — close that tab. A broken boot is not worth 2 GB of freed space. When in doubt, leave it alone.
Prefer someone else to sort through this?
Gigatidy is an AI cleaner that scans your Mac locally, explains what every file is, and clears only what's safe — with your approval. Coming soon to the Mac App Store.
Meet Gigatidy →FAQ
What takes up the most space on a Mac?
For most people it's a combination of Time Machine local snapshots, browser and app caches, old iOS backups, and forgotten files in Downloads. Together they can easily account for 30–80 GB.
Is it safe to delete caches on Mac?
Yes. Caches in ~/Library/Caches are temporary files that apps rebuild automatically. The first launch after clearing may be a bit slower, but nothing breaks.
How do I check what's using my Mac's storage?
Go to System Settings → General → Storage. It shows a color-coded bar with categories. Click the i icon next to any category to see details. For hidden space like local snapshots, you'll need Terminal.