Storage space on your Mac is precious, specially if you accept a 128GB, or even a 256GB SSD. Your Mac can start to slow downwardly and non perform also when your storage is almost total, at which bespeak you might see a "Your Startup Disk Is Full" warning. So it'southward important to know what's using upward the infinite on your disk and clear out redundant files that build up over time.

Another reason yous might need to free up space on your Mac is if you are attempting to install a new macOS update. When it arrived in 2022 Large Sur was notorious for its hefty storage requirements - with some users faced with the challenge of freeing up almost 50GB of space in lodge to install it. (In fact We had that exact problem - read Big Sur too big for 128GB Mac.)

Similar bug arose when macOS Monterey arrived on in Oct 2021, leaving a multitude of Mac users looking for ways to go more than space on their Mac then that they could install it. Read: How to update to Monterey.

However, Monterey brought a big change to the manner that macOS displays the dissimilar kinds of storage. Prior to Monterey you'd have seen Other as a storage category, which always seemed to take upwardly a considerable amount of space. In macOS Monterey Other no longer shows up equally a category of storage. Some users might notice a new System Data storage tab.

Still, a lot of people are yet looking for means to delete Other storage, so in this commodity we will address how to get rid of Other storage, and we also the things you tin delete in macOS Monterey if you feel something is taking upwards too much space.

Tin can I delete Other storage on my Mac?

Faced with the demand to brand space on your Mac you volition no doubt be considering what you can delete. Y'all might be assuming the worst and preparing to remove some of your photos, videos, music and documents – but then you might stumble upon an allocation of something called Other storage that is taking up numerous gigabytes on your drive and wonder whether you can free up space past deleting Other.

Apple's decision to proper name this storage Other probably didn't help discourage people from attempting to delete it. Information technology'due south like the Stuff folder people tend to put unimportant things in - information technology basically says delete me! This may well be why in macOS Monterey in 2022 Apple has renamed this so it just shows up as macOS, a name that doesn't say delete me!

If you are wondering what is Other in Mac storage and want to know if you can delete Other storage - and if you should, nosotros will answer your questions. Plus we'll explain how you lot can delete Other storage on Mac.

Nosotros'll also hash out how you can delete what was known equally Other storage in Monterey, including how to access System Information, whether this is the same equally Other, and if there is anything you can delete from that.

We likewise run through various ways to gratuitous up space on your Mac in a split up article.

If you aren't sure how to run into how much disk infinite your Mac has read: How to check how much storage you lot have on your Mac.

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What is Other on a Mac?

When confronted with the demand to gratuitous upward storage on your Mac we're guessing that your first port of call was About This Mac, where there is a handy tool to help y'all manage your storage - and information technology'due south here that we're assuming y'all saw the gigantic Other category.

If you weren't already aware of the Nearly This Mac storage view, it's offers various tools to assistance you see and manage what takes upwards all the types of storage on your Mac. To go to this bones overview of what's taking up the space on your Mac past following these steps:

  1. Click on the Apple tree Logo in the height left.
  2. Go to About This Mac.
  3. Choose Storage. Await while it calculates.
  4. Eventually you will meet a bar chart showing what types of files are taking up space on your Mac, similar to the prototype below. In our case, yellow is Photos, red is Apps, low-cal blue is Messages, purple is Music, dark blueish for Mail, light bluish for iCloud Drive and greyness for System. Other is the biggest consumer of storage in our case: 38.55GB.

    Delete Other Storage

  5. Click Manage and you will see a screen similar the one beneath. Here you can make various tweaks to your arrangement, choosing to store files in iCloud, for instance, or reviewing files to reduce ataxia.

    What is other storage on mac: Managing Mac disk space

  6. However, you tin't access Other here at all - find how it's greyed out in the left hand column.

With Other such a big consumer of storage you are about likely wondering what exactly Other is.

While near of the primary categories for file types is straightforward, the Other variety can be quite a mystery. If it isn't music, documents, videos, photos or apps, what could it be?

The label 'Other' is applied by the system to files that don't fit squarely into those types, such as installer packages, enshroud files, old Time Motorcar backups, app extensions, temporary files and the like. Most are those that you don't need any more, but they've got to be stored somewhere, then they get dumped in the Other category.

Aside from Other another big user of storage space is Organisation - we have a divide article well-nigh what's in System and what yous can delete.

Other storage on macOS Monterey

In macOS Monterey System Data also includes junk files, app data, browser plugins and Fourth dimension Machine snapshot - which is essentially the same kind of content as Other storage used to contain, and so the same advice below almost how to delete this content will utilize.

How to meet what's in Other

So now we know what types of files end up in Other, but how tin can we actually run across what'south taking up all the Other space on our Macs?

To see what's using upward all that Other space you'll need to open the Finder and head to the Library folder, as that's ordinarily where the majority of Other content is stored.

Depending on how your arrangement is fix up, you lot might non exist able to see the Library folder in your normal Finder window, and then the easiest way to jump directly to it is to follow these steps:

  1. Open Finder.
  2. Click on the Go option in the carte du jour bar.
  3. Select Get to Binder.
  4. So blazon in ~/library and press enter.

What is other storage on Mac: Finding the Library folder

You'll now be presented with a long list of folders, most of which will contain files deemed by macOS to be Other.

Yous'll see a lot of folders, many of which we would propose yous to step away from immediately. However there are a few folders hither that yous might be able to safely delete some items from, for example, Caches and Awarding Support. Merely you lot demand to be very careful as yous dig around looking for sub-folders inside them that comprise data that is safe to remove. (You might also like to read our article that explains How to delete cache on a Mac.)

Before you lot start to delete anything please read on though - because deleting some of these files might affect the way your Mac works!

As well, non all the files in Other volition be visible. If you desire to know how to see hidden files read: How to show hidden files on a Mac.

Can I delete Other files?

Yes, but you'll need to exist careful. Some files in Other might touch on the mode your Mac works. The safest files in the Other category to remote are things like .dmg files left over from installations, erstwhile Time Automobile backups, and iPhone and iPad backups. We'll run through this below.

Simply when you lot start getting into cache files and other more obtuse types yous can quickly run into problems. For example, deleting a cache from an old app that you no longer accept won't crusade whatsoever issues. But should you delete one from an app y'all practice use, then it will immediately forget all of your preferences and other details.

Basically, the rule of thumb is if yous're non certain what something is or what it does, leave it alone. Of course, as e'er, we strongly recommend that you run a complete backup of your system before y'all start removing anything, just to avoid disaster.

Simply follow our pace-past-step guide on how to backup a Mac and you lot can begin cleaning upward your system knowing that you accept a re-create to fall back on should anything go amiss.

How to delete Other files

As we said above, you lot can't just select Other and delete it thereby reclaiming 30GB of infinite in i get. Yet, you can locate and delete some of the file types that Apple tree classes in the Other category, thereby reclaiming some of that space.

You can delete some files that are classed as Other via the Finder. Some of these y'all can search for past file type, but others are to be found in the Library folder, just you lot'll need to know where to look and take an idea of what they are before yous trash them.

At that place are also some file types that are like shooting fish in a barrel to locate and delete safely, so we'll start by showing you how to tackle them.

All these files are deleted the same way as whatever normal file: locate them in the Finder > right click on the file > choose Move to Bin (or Trash if you are in the The states).

Note that yous'll need to empty the Bin/Trash later or the file will nonetheless exist on your Mac. To do that right click/control-click on the bin icon and choose Empty Bin/Trash.

Delete DMG files and other space hogs

It is quite like shooting fish in a barrel to locate and delete DMG files (programme installers) and these are a good identify to commencement because they can take up a surprising corporeality of space. You can locate and delete them via the Finder.

  1. Click on your Desktop (anywhere in that location isn't a file or folder)
  2. Open the Finder.
  3. Click on This Mac.
  4. In the search box type dmg.
  5. When it appears below select Kinds: Disk Image.
  6. Press Enter.
  7. Now you will run across all the dmgs you accept on your Mac. You lot can safely delete these.
  8. To delete them select all past pressing Command + A and then right click/control click on the selected area and choose: Move to Bin/Trash. Delete DMG files
  9. You may need to enter your countersign to confirm.
  10. Once you have moved these files to the trash/bin yous will need to empty it: right click on the trash icon and choose Empty Bin/Empty Trash (depending on your language).

There are other file types that can take a lot of space up on your organization that you can also delete this mode. Repeat the steps above to delete PDFs, CSV files, and Nada archives.

Delete Temporary files

macOS creates temporary files on your Mac and generally these files are vital to performance, even so, they quickly become outdated. Once you are certain your Mac no longer needs them you lot can safely delete them.

  1. Open the Finder.
  2. Click on the Become choice in the menu bar.
  3. Select Go to Folder.
  4. Type in ~/library.
  5. Press enter.
  6. Locate the Application Support folder.

Take a look through these folders, if you find whatever for apps that you know you lot don't utilise then you can probably safely delete the files associated with them.

Delete Cache files

Caches are another file type that takes up infinite in Other, and like the temporary files addressed above, you need to exist conscientious considering your Mac may need these files to run the way you desire it to.

We do have a separate article that explains How to delete cache on a Mac which is worth a read considering the whole process is quite complex. There'south more than one kind of cache for starters.

Y'all tin delete system cache by post-obit these steps:

  1. Open up the Finder.
  2. Click on Go > Go to Folder…
  3. Type in Library/Caches/
  4. Click on Go.

Now y'all can open each folder and wait for files you lot recall y'all can safely delete.

Just exist careful.

Deleting application enshroud is a slightly different process:

  1. Open the Finder.
  2. Click on Get > Become to Binder…
  3. Type in ~/Library/Caches/ (there is a ~ this time, information technology's adjacent to the Z).
  4. Click on Go.

Once again y'all will need to open each folder and make a decision almost what to delete.

Think yous too need to empty your Trash/Bin later you take deleted these files.

Delete Fourth dimension Machine snapshots

Fourth dimension Machine snapshots could also exist a space squealer on your Mac. Y'all may be aware that Apple's Time Motorcar software tin can back up your Mac to an external bulldoze, merely did you know that information technology too creates local snapshots on your Mac itself?

Apple says that it will only shop these snapshots if there is enough free space, and it volition delete quondam ones to store new i, so this shouldn't be a big infinite squealer. But it could allow you to recover enough space to make all the departure.

Luckily at that place is an piece of cake methods for removing local snapshots from your difficult drive - merely plow off the Fourth dimension Machine feature. When you do this it should remove these backups from your Mac.

The other fashion to delete these snapshots isn't and so easy: you need to utilise Terminal. If you want to try information technology and so nosotros explain how here: How to delete Fourth dimension Machine snapshots on your Mac.

You lot may also like to read how to delete Time Machine backups on Mac to find the easy manner to remove them.

How to delete Other safely

If we've not made it clear plenty higher up, it is possible to delete a lot of what Apple classes as Other, but you demand to be extremely cautious considering without some of these files your Mac may non work optimally.

As well, you lot need to be aware that deleting certain files this way can go out some remnants on your Mac, fifty-fifty afterward you have emptied the Trash.

Considering of these concerns our preferred method for deleting Other on a Mac, and removing all the space hogs, is to use 1 of the dedicated Mac cleaning software packages that help y'all avoid any costly mistakes.

Some of our current favourites are CleanMyMac X, MacCleaner 2 Pro, and Daisy Disk, only you'll notice a selection of other excellent options in our roundup of the best Mac cleaner software and optimization tools.

These often have system analysing features that tin highlight redundant files while property back on the ones that are still used on a regular basis. Then if you want to remove them it's simply a case of striking one button rather than trawling through hundreds of sub-folders and hoping you don't delete anything essential.

What is other storage on Mac: CleanMyMac X

You'll demand to pay for them, every bit the trials usually merely offer the ability to diagnose issues rather than fix them, but most are well worth the coin when you lot consider the fourth dimension and frustration that they can salve.

We used CleanMyMac to delete files when nosotros needed to free up space for macOS Large Sur. There are diverse options, nosotros'll run through some of them beneath:

Smart Scan - this will scan your Mac and somewhen let you know what junk you can remove. Yous tin click on Review Details to meet what information technology is suggesting you delete. In our case these are Used Cache Files, Universal Binaries, Organisation Log Files, Linguistic communication Files, and then on, to the tune of 4.56GB. In that location's also the option of removing Mail Attachments and emptying the Trash.

Clean My Mac delete Other

Large & Former Files - this lets y'all remove files you haven't opened for a while. This accounted for 5.23GB in our case.

Delete files Other

You tin can also use CleanMyMac to uninstall apps.

CleanMyMac is £29.95/$29.95 (commonly £34.95/$34.95) if you lot purchase the plan for one Mac. In that location is also a complimentary trial. Download from developer MacPaw hither.

We likewise have a round up of the Best Mac Cleaners in which we look at the following alternatives to CleanMyMac: DaisyDisk, MacBooster, Parallels ToolBox, and MacCleaner Pro.

Before ownership whatever additional software or delving into the Library folder, take a look at our tips on how to free space on a Mac, as there might be some simple things y'all can do to claim back that valuable hard disk storage.