How to Remove Unwanted Files from Mac

The classification test

Three questions, asked about every file:

1. What created it? A downloaded installer came from a website and can be downloaded again. A file inside an application bundle belongs to that application, and removing it breaks the app.
2. Can it be recreated? A render can be re-exported from its project. A recording of an event cannot.
3. Is this the only copy? If it is also backed up or stored elsewhere, removing the local copy is low risk. If this is the only copy, it is not a deletion candidate at all.

A file that fails any of the three is not something to delete. It might be something to move, but not to remove.

What is generally safe

• Installers you have already run. Downloaded, used once, never needed again.
• Archives you have already expanded, where you kept the contents.
• Downloads you have finished with. Read, watched or used, and no longer needed.
• Duplicate files where an identical copy remains and nothing references the one you are removing.
• Caches, logs and temporary files. They are rebuilt when needed.
• Files you created and no longer need.

What is not safe

• Files inside application bundles. They are part of the application even though they look like ordinary files.
• Anything in system folders. The space recovered is rarely worth the risk.
• Files an application expects at a specific path. Application support data is referenced by location, so an identical copy elsewhere does not help.
• Anything referenced by an alias, a symlink or a script. Removing the path breaks the reference, often silently.
• Files you cannot identify. Open them first. If it is still unclear, leave them.

Delete or archive

Archiving is the better default when there is any doubt. Moving a file to an external drive removes it from the startup disk just as effectively as deleting it, and it is reversible.

Delete only what you are certain about. The space you gain from deleting a doubtful file is a few hundred megabytes; the cost of being wrong is a file you cannot get back.

Doing it in a way you can review

The reason file removal goes wrong is that it happens without a review step. The fix is to make the review explicit:

• The Mac Cleaner groups removable items by category and reports what each group occupies, so you see the whole change before committing to any of it.
• The File Mover is for the files you are not ready to delete. It moves them to a destination you choose — an external drive, for instance — which takes them off the startup disk without destroying them.

After removing

Empty the Trash. Until you do, the files still occupy disk space and the cleanup has not actually happened. This is the single most common reason a cleanup appears to have no effect.