Want to know how to clear up space on Mac?
Macs are great, but they can get really slow and full of clutter.
Your computer is a mess and it’s slowing you down. You want to clean up your Mac, but you don’t have the time or know-how.
But don’t worry! Keep reading because this article will show you how to organize your documents in folders so that you can have a clean mac that’s fast and reliable.
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Clear Off Your Desktop.
Since the desktop sits right in front of you every time you use your computer, it’s easy to let files pile up there until you’re drowning in digital clutter.
This is especially true if your work involves designing or graphics because design programs can spit out huge numbers of temporary files that only serve as temporary placeholders until the final product comes together.
2 . Purge Your Files
The next step is to run a thorough sweep of your disk drive and delete files that you don’t need. That means finding duplicate files, or at least old versions of them; bulky program caches; huge music libraries that are out of date; and anything else that you can safely clear away.
And the easiest way to do that is by using a disk-cleaning tool like Clean My Mac 3 . This app scans your entire drive for files that can be safely deleted, then lets you choose which ones to get rid of.
It’s also important to delete any unnecessary photos that may be clogging your system. You can find how to do it here.
3 . Have a Folder For Everything You Keep
Now that you’ve cleaned off your desktop and deleted unnecessary files, it’s time to put everything in its place. The best way to do that is to create a folder for every type of file, then put each individual file in the right folder.
For example, you might have a folder called “Work” for all the documents related to your job, or a folder called “Photos” for all the pictures you’ve ever taken.
4 . Clear Your Browser History and Cache
One of the easiest ways to free up disk space is to clear your browser history and cache. This will delete all the temporary files that your browser has saved, including images, cookies, and other website data.
Don’t know how to clear cache on Mac? Don’t worry, go to Preferences > Privacy and select “Remove All Website Data.”
In Chrome, go to Preferences > Under the Hood and clear your browsing history.
5 . Back Up All Your Files
The best way to keep your computer organized is to back up all your files on a regular basis. This way, if something happens to your computer and you lose all your data, you’ll still have a copy of it somewhere else.
There are lots of different ways to back up your files, but the easiest is to use an online backup service like IDrive.
6 . Delete Old Program Files
If you don’t know how to clear disk space on Mac, this will help. Every time you install a new program, it creates an entry in your computer’s Programs menu. Those entries take up space by design since they’re shortcuts to the actual files that make up the program.
They don’t do any harm if they stay there, but there’s no reason to keep an old version of something if you don’t need it. In most cases, you can delete old program files without any risk that they’ll start running in the background.
If there’s a chance that one of them may become relevant again, leave it alone and install a fresh copy when you’re 100% sure it’s needed.
And if you’re not sure, it’s usually easier to go with the “better safe than sorry” option of leaving it alone.
7 . Clean Up Your Font Cache
Your computer stores every font that you’ve ever installed on your system so they show up when you open new files and documents which use them. That means that, over time, there are a lot of fonts sitting around that you never use.
You can save disk space by cleaning up your font cache and removing all the ones that you aren’t using. To do this in Mac OS X 10.6 or later, go to Applications > Utilities and open Font Book. Then choose File > Validate Fonts and click Start Validation.
This will scan your computer for any invalid or missing fonts, then ask you how to handle them. You can choose to cancel the process, disable the font if it’s causing problems, remove it from your system entirely, or do nothing.
8 . Clean Up Your Dock
The Dock is one of the most visible parts of your Mac’s interface, and it can quickly become cluttered if you’re not careful. Over time, you may end up with dozens of icons taking up space on your screen.
The easiest way to clean it up is to move all the icons you don’t use regularly to a separate folder. To do this, select all your files in the Dock by pressing Command-A, then drag them into a new folder that you create somewhere else on your Mac.
9 . Clean Up Your Menu Bar
Your menu bar is the top part of your screen where different programs have important menus for doing things like opening, saving, and printing documents. For whatever reason, many people never bother to clean it up.
As a result, the menu bar can become cluttered with icons for programs you don’t use very often, or worse, ones that you’ve accidentally closed and can’t seem to reopen.
The easiest way to deal with this is to move all the icons you don’t use regularly to a separate folder. To do this, go to System Preferences > Keyboard and select the “Shortcuts” tab. Then click on the ” Services ” menu and scroll down until you see the ” Hide Menu Bar Icons ” option.
Click on it, then press the + button at the bottom of the window. This will add a new shortcut for hiding all the icons in your menu bar.
Now, all you have to do is select the shortcut and press it whenever you want to clean up your menu bar.
Want to Know How to Keep a Clean Mac?
We’ve covered the basics of Mac maintenance and organization. If you want to learn more, check out our blog for even more information on these topics or others that interest you. We hope this article has helped clear up any questions about how to care for your clean Mac so it runs smoothly!