How To Free Up Space On Mac Air

How To Free Up Space On Macbook Air 2012
How To Free Up Space On Macbook Air El Capitan
How To Free Up Space On Macbook Air 2014
How To Free Up Space On Macbook Air Os X El Capitan

Save space on your Mac by storing your content in iCloud, using built-in tools to find and remove large files, or manually deleting apps, files, and more.
If you wish to free up space on Mac, then check for any duplicate content and get rid of unwanted files. Mostly, users observe the presence of duplicate photos on Mac. To analyze this, go to Finder Pictures from the sidebar.
Downloads Folder. The Downloads folder is the default location on Mac that stores all the content.

/Mac Cleaner /How to Free up Space on Mac -- Complete Guide in 2021

In this article, we are going to show you how to free up space on Mac in both the easy way and the manual way. The fact that MacBook Air only comes with 128 gigabytes of storage doesn't make it any easier for you to conserve more space. It fills up even faster. If you have a MacBook Air, here are the same ways on how to free up space on Macbook. Just go to the Apple menu on your computer and choose 'About This Mac Storage'. Then you will see an overview of the free space as well as the occupied space. The storage is divided into different categories: Apps, Movies, Photos, Audio, Backups, the undescriptive category-Purgeable and so on. See what's taking up Mac.

Our Mac is one of the most useful devices that we tend to use in our everyday life, especially for people who run a business, working person, or a student. However, as time goes by, your Mac will be filled with the files and other things that you no longer need. These files can actually make your Mac run slow and can eat up your space.

In this article, we are going to show you how to free up space on Mac in both the easy way and the manual way. The fact that MacBook Air only comes with 128 gigabytes of storage doesn't make it any easier for you to conserve more space. It fills up even faster. If you have a MacBook Air, here are the same ways on how to free up space on Macbook Air.

Article GuidePart 1. How to Check Storage on Mac?Part 2. How Do I Free Up Disk Space on My Mac?Part 3. How to Free up Space on Mac Using Terminal?

Part 1. How to Check Storage on Mac?

So, how to know what files are taking up storage space on your Mac? Follow these steps:

Click the Apple menu then choose “About This Mac'.
Click the Storage then you will view different file types are displayed in different colors.

This shows you the size of each folder on your Mac so you can see how much space everything takes. At this point, you will know what files are eating up your storage and manage them.

Cleaning your Mac will definitely take a lot of your time especially if there are a lot of files or junks that are stored in it that you do not actually use and need. However, there is definitely a way for you to clean it up the easiest and in the fastest way possible. This is by using a Mac Cleaner that has powerful functions. And with that, we have the best cleaner that you can use. This is the iMyMac PowerMyMac.

It has the ability to get rid of all the junk files that you have stored on your Mac. It can also remove all the email attachments, iTunes backup, and the multi-languages on your Mac. It also has the ability to find and then completely remove your Large and Old Files and all of your duplicate files.

By doing all this, the PowerMyMac will be able to speed up your Mac and as well as to free up space. This way, you will still have enough space to install other applications that you need and files that are more important.

Part 2. How Do I Free Up Disk Space on My Mac?

Here, we are going to show you some ways on how to free up space on Mac so that you will be able to save more apps and files that you need. You can do that manually or let PowerMyMac do the favor for you.

1. Check Out Your Disk To See What is Taking Up Space and Locate Files

If you would want to know how to free up space on Mac, then it is a good way for you to see which is actually taking up your disk space. This way, you will be able to know what to delete from your Mac and what not.

You can use a certain tool that will help you in finding all the things that are taking up space on your Mac the most. Then that is the time that you can delete all of the things that you no longer need that is taking up a huge space on your Mac.

2. Locate and Remove Duplicate Files

One of the most common things that we tend to have on our Mac is having duplicate files that we are not aware of. This usually happens if you are using your Mac for a very long time. Here are the steps to remove duplicate files:

Launch Finder then click the File option.
Choose the 'New Smart Folder' then click the '+' button.
Search for different files types like photos, songs, or documents.
Check if the file is duplicate then move to the Trash.

You can also use PowerMyMac's Duplicate Finder to remove these duplicate files on your Mac easily.

Launch PowerMyMac then choose the Duplicate Finder.
Let PowerMyMac Scan all the files on your Mac and it will show the duplicates in different file types.
Select the duplicate files you want to remove then press the Clean button.

3. Uninstall App That You No Longer Use

There are instances that you have installed Applications on your Mac that you do not really need and it is actually taking up a lot of space on your Mac. With this, you should go ahead and uninstall it if you do not need it. For you to remove these applications that you no longer need, here is what you need to do on how to free up space on Mac:

Go ahead and launch Finder on your Mac.
And then choose Applications located at your sidebar.
After that, go ahead and drag the application that you no longer need and drop them in your trash bin icon on your Mac’s dock.

Now if you want to know which of the applications that you have installed on your Mac that you do not likely use, all you have to do is to do the following. This way, you will have an idea on which of your Apps you do not really need.

Go ahead and launch Finder on your Mac.
And then go ahead and click on Applications.
After that, go ahead and choose “Show Items on the List” on the toolbar.
Then, goa head and click on the Size heading for you to be able to sort out your Applications by size.

If you want to uninstall apps completely with all the related files, PowerMyMac should help you a lot:

Launch PowerMyMac then choose the Uninstaller module.
Let PowerMyMac Scan all the apps on your Mac and it will list them as well as the related files.
Select the apps you no longer need to delete then press the Clean button.

4. Get Rid of Large and Old Files

Large and old files are useless and taking lots of space on your Mac, just follow the steps below to get rid of them:

Launch Finder and locate the search field.
Choose “This Mac”
Make the 'File Size' settings to 'is greater than' ## MB.
Then you can remove files that are large as you want.

PowerMyMac's Large & Old File can also help you to remove those big files to get more space back.

5. Clean Up Your iTunes Backup of Your iPhone/iPad on your Mac

Backing up your data is one of the best ways to keep them safe. This way, you will have a way for you to get them back if ever you have lost your iPhone device or if you have damaged it.

However, as you make more backups of your data on your Mac, it is actually one cause of eating space on your Mac. This is because every time you back up your data, these backup files will actually pile up on your Mac over the time.

Now, the best way on how to free up space on Mac is to remove all those backup files that you no longer need:

Operate 'Finder > Go > Go to Folder'
Copy and paste “~/Library/Application Support/MobileSync/Backup/”
Move to Trash.

Delete a specific backup:

After connecting your device to Mac, go to Finder.
Select your device under the Locations.
Click Manage Backups then right-click the name of the backup and choose the “Show in Finder”.
Press the Delete button to remove that backup.

If you think these steps on how to free up space on Mac are complicated, PowerMyMac would be the best helper to remove the iOS backups for you.

6. Remove All of Your Temporary Files

The Mac that you are using also contains some temporary files that you actually do not need. These temporary files also cause Mac system taking up too much space. Removing the temporary files that you have on your Mac will not make it run faster but it will definitely free up your space.

There are several temporary files that you have on your Mac. And you will be able to see them once that you access your Finder and Go and then Go to the folder of the menu and use ~/Library/Caches. This command will be able to lead you to the cache folder of your Mac. And you will be surprised to see a lot of folders in that section.

7. Remove The Language Files on Your Mac

All the applications that you have on your Mac actually come up with language files that they actually support. This way, you will be able to switch the system language on your Mac and then you will be able to use that application on the language that you have selected.

However, you do not need most of these language files your applications have. Well, you may need some if you are able to speak and understand that language, but if not, they might as well remove them. However, this is may be a problem to locate these language files. Thus, you need PowerMyMac to find out these files for you to remove.

Besides language files, PowerMyMac can locate and remove other files like caches, logs, iOS backups, system junks, and even empty Trash. All these can be done via its “Master Scan” module:

Click on the “Scan” button, then the PowerMyMac will start scanning all the junk files on your Mac.
Wait until the program is done with the scanning process. PowerMyMac will then show you all the junk files that it has found on your Mac. These junk files will be listed by category.
From the list of categories shown on your screens such as Application Cache, Photo Cache, Email Cache, System Cache, and more, go ahead choose a category that you want to clean up.
Choose the items that you would want to remove. Once that you are satisfied with the items that you have selected, go ahead and click on the “Clean” button.

You see, isn't it the easiest way on how to free up space on Mac startup disk with PowerMyMac?

8. Delete Downloads Folder

There’s usually a default folder where all downloads such as zip files, TV shows, videos, and photos are stored. If you no longer need these downloads, then it's time to delete some files in your Downloads folder:

Access to the Downloads folder via Dock or Finder.
Select the files you want to delete. Then right-click on them to choose to Move to Trash.
Empty Trash then the files will permanently be deleted.

How To Free Up Space On Macbook Air 2012

9. Empty Your Trash Bin

Most people would think that once that you have put a certain file in the trash bin, then that means that the file was actually deleted. Well, that is wrong. The truth is, once that you have put a file on the trash bin, it just sits there and still eats up space on your Mac.

How to free up memory on Mac completely? To achieve this, you can go ahead and simply empty your trash bin. All you have to do is to press on the Ctrl button + right click on the trash bin icon located at the bottom of your screen. Then after that, go ahead and choose Empty Trash option. Then all the files that it contains will be completely deleted from your Mac and that you can no longer recover them.

Part 3. How to Free up Space on Mac Using Terminal?

If you are familiar with the Terminal command line, here are some quick tips to free up space with Terminal:

Command to Remove Duplicates: find . -size 20 ! -type d -exec cksum {} ; | sort | tee /tmp/f.tmp | cut -f 1,2 -d ' ' | uniq -d | grep -hif – /tmp/f.tmp > duplicates.txt
Remove System Logs: sudo rm -rf /private/var/log/*
Delete Cache Files: rm -rf ~/Library/Caches/*
Remove Speech Voices: sudo rm -rf Voices/*

How To Free Up Space On Macbook Air El Capitan

Now you have learned how to free up space on Mac with auto and manual ways. There are really several other ways that you can clean up your Mac and that you will be able to free up some of your space. You can either do this process by going all through this one by one.

Well, if you want to save time and do this in the fastest, easiest and yet very efficient way, then the PowerMyMac is the tool that you should use. Just have its free trial to get more space on your Mac now!

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Find out how much storage is available on your Mac

Choose Apple menu  > About This Mac, then click Storage. Each segment of the bar is an estimate of the storage space used by a category of files. Move your pointer over each segment for more detail.

Click the Manage button to open the Storage Management window, pictured below.

Manage storage on your Mac

The Storage Management window offers recommendations for optimizing your storage. If some recommendations are already turned on, you will see fewer recommendations.

Store in iCloud

How To Free Up Space On Macbook Air 2014

Click the Store in iCloud button, then choose from these options:

Desktop and Documents. Store all files from these two locations in iCloud Drive. When storage space is needed, only the files you recently opened are kept on your Mac, so that you can easily work offline. Files stored only in iCloud show a download icon , which you can double-click to download the original file. Learn more about this feature.
Photos. Store all original, full-resolution photos and videos in iCloud Photos. When storage space is needed, only space-saving (optimized) versions of photos are kept on your Mac. To download the original photo or video, just open it.
Messages. Store all messages and attachments in iCloud. When storage space is needed, only the messages and attachments you recently opened are kept on your Mac. Learn more about Messages in iCloud.

Storing files in iCloud uses the storage space in your iCloud storage plan. If you reach or exceed your iCloud storage limit, you can either buy more iCloud storage or make more iCloud storage available. iCloud storage starts at 50GB for $0.99 (USD) a month, and you can purchase additional storage directly from your Apple device. Learn more about prices in your region.

Optimize Storage

Click the Optimize button to save space by automatically removing watched movies and TV shows. When storage space is needed, movies or TV shows that you purchased from Apple and already watched are removed from your Mac. Click the download icon next to a movie or TV show to download it again.

Your Mac will also save space by keeping only recent email attachments on this Mac when storage space is needed. You can manually download any attachments at any time by opening the email or attachment, or saving the attachment to your Mac.

Optimizing storage for movies, TV shows, and email attachments doesn't require iCloud storage space.

Empty Trash Automatically

Empty Trash Automatically permanently deletes files that have been in the Trash for more than 30 days.

Reduce Clutter

Reduce Clutter helps you identify large files and files you might no longer need. Click the Review Files button, then choose any of the file categories in the sidebar, such as Applications, Documents, Music Creation, or Trash.

You can delete the files in some categories directly from this window. Other categories show the total storage space used by the files in each app. You can then open the app and decide whether to delete files from within it.

Learn how to redownload apps, music, movies, TV shows, and books.

How To Free Up Space On Macbook Air Os X El Capitan

Where to find the settings for each feature

The button for each recommendation in the Storage Management window affects one or more settings in other apps. You can also control those settings directly within each app.

If you're using macOS Catalina or later, choose Apple menu  > System Preferences, click Apple ID, then select iCloud in the sidebar: Store in iCloud turns on the Optimize Mac Storage setting on the right. To turn off iCloud Drive entirely, deselect iCloud Drive.
If you're using macOS Mojave or earlier, choose Apple menu > System Preferences, click iCloud, then click Options next to iCloud Drive. Store in iCloud turns on the Desktop & Documents Folders and Optimize Mac Storage settings.
In Photos, choose Photos > Preferences, then click iCloud. Store in iCloud selects iCloud Photos and Optimize Mac Storage.
In Messages, choose Messages > Preferences, then click iMessage. Store in iCloud selects Enable Messages in iCloud.

If you're using macOS Catalina or later, open the Apple TV app, choose TV > Preferences from the menu bar, then click Files. Optimize Storage selects “Automatically delete watched movies and TV shows.”
In you're using macOS Mojave or earlier, open iTunes, choose iTunes > Preferences from the menu bar, then click Advanced. Optimize Storage selects “Automatically delete watched movies and TV shows.”
In Mail, choose Mail > Preferences from the menu bar, then click Accounts. In the Account Information section on the right, Optimize Storage sets the Download Attachments menu to either Recent or None.

Empty Trash Automatically: From the Finder, choose Finder > Preferences, then click Advanced. Empty Trash Automatically selects “Remove items from the Trash after 30 days.”

Other ways that macOS helps automatically save space

With macOS Sierra or later, your Mac automatically takes these additional steps to save storage space:

Detects duplicate downloads in Safari, keeping only the most recent version of the download
Reminds you to delete used app installers
Removes old fonts, languages, and dictionaries that aren't being used
Clears caches, logs, and other unnecessary data when storage space is needed

How to free up storage space manually

Even without using the Optimized Storage features described in this article, you can take other steps to make more storage space available:

Music, movies, and other media can use a lot of storage space. Learn how to delete music, movies, and TV shows from your device.
Delete other files that you no longer need by moving them to the Trash, then emptying the Trash. The Downloads folder is good place to look for files that you might no longer need.
Move files to an external storage device.
Compress files.
Delete unneeded email: In the Mail app, choose Mailbox > Erase Junk Mail. If you no longer need the email in your Trash mailbox, choose Mailbox > Erase Deleted Items.

Learn more

The Storage pane of About This Mac is the best way to determine the amount of storage space available on your Mac. Disk Utility and other apps might show storage categories such as Not Mounted, VM, Recovery, Other Volumes, Other, Free, or Purgeable. Don't rely on these categories to understand how to free up storage space or how much storage space is available for your data.
When you duplicate a file on an APFS-formatted volume, that file doesn't use additional storage space on the volume. Deleting a duplicate file frees up only the space required by any data you might have added to the duplicate. If you no longer need any copies of the file, you can recover all of the storage space by deleting both the duplicate and the original file.
If you're using a pro app and Optimize Mac Storage, learn how to make sure that your projects are always on your Mac and able to access their files.