When you check the storage on your Mac, you might see a significant percentage of space occupied by something called ‘Other.’ macOS does not go into much detail. You may wonder what is Other storage on Mac, why it eats up so much space, and how can I delete it? Let me help by telling you more about this to free space on your Mac.

How to Check Storage on Mac

1. Click on the Apple logo from the top-left and choose About This Mac.
2. Click on Storage. Wait for a few seconds.
3. Take the mouse pointer to colored sections. You will see how much space is occupied by different categories like Apps, Photos, System, Trash, Other, etc.

You can use these techniques to move any icon (folder, document, alias, or program icon) into folders or onto other disks. Drag an icon onto a folder icon. Drag the icon for one folder (or file) onto the icon for another folder (or disk) and then release when the second icon is highlighted. The first folder is inside the second folder. (Note: You can drop files and folders on top of other folders, which puts the copy inside that folder.) If you’re copying multiple items, select them first and then drag and drop the entire crew. Instead of cluttering your Desktop with tons of files, create a folder or two on your Desktop and then store those items within those folders. Hide a File or Folder on a Mac. RELATED: How to Hide Files and Folders on Every Operating System.

1. Remove documents from Other Storage space. You might not think that pure text documents take.
2. You can use the File menu to create a new folder by selecting File, New Folder (or using the keyboard shortcut Command + Shift + N). The Edit menu contains the copy, cut, and paste commands. Using the View menu, you change how the contents of your folders are displayed in the Finder.

What is Other on Mac Storage?

Just like the ‘Other’ on iPhone and iPad, it is home to several files, cached data, and more. This section houses a mix of junk and important files.

In the simplest of terms, the “Other” category is a combination of files that are not recognized as one of the other file types. Here are some examples:-

• • Common documents and file types, including PDF, doc, PSD, etc.
  • Any type of archives and disk images, including zips, dmg, iso, tar, etc.
  • Files in the system folders of macOS, including temporary files, swap, voices, etc.
  • Application Support files, iCloud files, Screensavers, etc.
  • Cache items, including browser cache and locally stored message media files.
  • Fonts, app accessories, application plugins, and app extensions.
  • Various file and file types not recognized by Spotlight, for example, a virtual machine hard drive, Windows Boot Camp partitions, etc.

How to Delete Other on Mac Storage

Delete Cache Files on Mac

In typical situations, you do not need to worry much about cache. macOS handles them smartly. But if you are too low on storage or believe in having the cache of unused/uninstalled apps, here is how to delete them.

Note: Caches are there to make your Mac experience better and faster. Make sure you remove only the unnecessary ones.

1. From Finder, click on Go.
2. Press the option key. You will see a new option for the Library. Click on it.
3. Click on Caches.
4. Right-click on unnecessary app/service folders and choose Move to Trash.
5. Right-click on the Trash icon and choose Empty Trash.

Note + Tip: With regular use, macOS will recreate these caches. If you do not understand what to delete, go back and copy the entire Caches folder to desktop (for backup). Next, open the Caches folder, press Command + A, right-click, and then Move to Trash. Finally, empty the Trash. See if everything works properly or not. In case not, copy the contents of the backup Caches folder from desktop inside the actual Caches folder.

Clearing browser cache and website files for Safari also reduce the Other storage.

Clear Temporary Files Located in Other Storage on Mac

1. From Finder, click on Go.
2. Press the option key.
3. Click on Library.
4. Click on Application Support.
5. Delete files from here that you do not need. For example, old app folders that you do not need or have.

Remove Safari Extensions on Mac

At times, we install a browser extension for a purpose, and then do not reuse them or simply forget that it exists. The extension continues to occupy space (shown differently than the application itself. It is thus categorized under Other)

To remove an extension:

• Safari: Open Safari → Click on Safari from top left → Preferences → Extensions → Click on an extension → Choose Uninstall.
• Chrome: Open Chrome → Extensions icon (puzzle icon next to account picture) → Manage Extensions → Remove those you do not use.

Remove Old Downloads

Downloads are usually saved in the Downloads folder (unless you changed them). We often download .dmg files, large packages, videos, zip files, and leave them there. For example, many people do not delete the .dmg file even after app installation. Same for zip files.

1. Open Finder and click on Downloads from the left sidebar.
2. Click on the word ‘Size’ to arrange the items by size. This will help you locate the large files quickly.
3. To delete, right-click on the file and choose Move to Trash. You may also select the files(s) and press Command + Delete.

Tip: Use Spotlight Search to search for big file types like – .dmg, .zip, .mp4, .mkv, .avi, etc. Then click on Show all in Finder… from the lower-left of the Spotlight Search screen. Next, you can delete them easily.

Delete Unnecessary iPhone and iPad Backups

iOS and iPadOS device backups might run into various gigabytes. If you have several archived backups or unnecessary backups of old devices, make sure to delete them.

1. Click on the Apple logo and choose About This Mac.
2. Click on Storage → Manage.
3. Select iOS Files from the sidebar.
4. Click on the files and choose Delete.

Note: If you accidentally delete a backup, go ahead and easily create a new one now.

Delete Unused Applications

Applications, when combined with their data, folders, etc. might be vast and occupy significant space. If you have several apps that are sitting idle, go ahead and delete them. Additionally, remove macOS install files, if any.

1. Click on the Apple logo from the top-left and choose About This Mac.
2. Click on Storage. Next, click on Manage.
3. Select Applications from the sidebar.
4. Click on an unnecessary one and then click on Delete.

Note: You may also use apps like App Cleaner for perfect uninstallation.

Use Third-Party Software to Free Storage on Your Mac

Apart from the inbuilt solutions, several third-party apps do almost the same thing but in an easier way. You launch them, and in a minute or so, they will help you free significant space. The interface for most is visually pleasing. If you have difficulty following the above methods, you may try one of the apps listed below.

• DaisyDisk ($9.99)
• Onyx (free)
• CleanMyMac (free download with paid version $39.95)

Signing Off…

These are some of the effective ways to delete Other storage on Mac. As stated earlier, it has lots of useful files, too (that are different from listed categories). Thus it is tough to remove Otherdata entirely. But the above ways, help you declutter it. Next, it would be an excellent idea to know how to use optimized storage on Mac.

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I have been an Apple user for over seven years now. At iGeeksBlog, I love creating how-tos and troubleshooting guides that help people do more with their iPhone, iPad, Mac, AirPods, and Apple Watch. In my free time, I like to watch stand up comedy videos, tech documentaries, news debates, and political speeches.

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MacBook storage issue is still a relevant one in 2020. The promised 1 TB of storage — which is the capacity of the upcoming MacBook Air 2020 — will still be not enough for many. We generate more and more content on our devices and use apps that are bursting with cache files. This is what creates the cryptic category of “Other” storage on Mac.

On recent macOS versions this storage category is labeled “other volumes in container”. Which, of course, doesn’t make it any less cryptic. This category contains junk files as well as important ones. That’s why you have to learn to properly check storage on Mac.
So let’s figure out what Other Storage is and how to remove Other from your Mac.

What is Other on Mac Storage?

Simply, Other storage on Mac consists of files that do not easily fall into the clearer category labels like 'Audio.' The types of 'Other' files would include:

1. Documents like PDF, .psd, .doc, etc.
2. macOS system and temporary files.
3. Cache files like user cache, browser cache, and system cache.
4. Disk images and archives like .zip and .dmg.
5. App plugins and extensions.
6. Everything else that doesn’t fit into the main macOS categories.

Like this file:

What’s this? A song? An unknown archive? Why on Earth it weighs 200 MB?

How to check Mac disk space usage

A few years back Apple introduced “Optimized Storage”, a great feature for finding out how your disk space is structured. This is how to check storage on Mac.

1. Open the Apple menu (top right corner)
2. Now, click About this Mac >Storage

Is your disk approaching full capacity? Now, click “Manage.” The sidebar to the left is really enlightening. This is the only place where on your Mac it shows the size of your apps, books, and documents in gigabytes.

Where is Other Storage on a Mac

To show you where it is, let’s look at your Library. This is where your macOS keeps application components, widgets, and various cache archives. This part of your Mac is hidden from view for a reason. Messing up a few folders here may break your Mac. But let’s take a look:
Click on Finder > Go (in the top menu).
Now paste in: Library/Caches

See those small folders? This is where your “Other” storage is. You’ve found it. Now, we'll see what's possible to delete.

How to delete Other Storage on Mac

You can’t entirely get rid of Other on Mac but you can reduce how much storage space it takes up. We’re now going to look at each of the six types of Other files and show you how to clean up your Mac. We’re going to walk you through deleting useless documents, junk system files, system slowing cache files, old backups, and all sorts of other junk.

1. Remove documents from Other Storage space

You might not think that pure text documents take up a lot of space but you may be surprised at the size of some .pages and .csv files. And that’s before you start adding images, downloading ebooks, and creating big presentations. Soon your Other documents can start to get out of hand.

To find and remove large and unneeded documents from Other Storage manually:

1. From your desktop press Command + F.
2. Click This Mac.
3. Click the first dropdown menu field and select Other.
4. From the Search Attributes window tick File Size and File Extension.
5. Now you can input different document file types (.pdf, .pages, etc.) and file sizes to find large documents.
6. Review the items and then delete as needed.

Luckily, there’s a much quicker and more thorough way. By using a CleanMyMac X you are presented with a clear view of all the massive files occupying your Other space.

To locate large hidden files in all folders with CleanMyMac:

1. Open CleanMyMac X and click on Large & Old Files tab
2. Click big Scan button to start the search
3. Now, review the results broken down by different categories: archives, documents, movies etc.
4. Look through your files and delete the ones you no longer need.

What’s great about this method is that you can sort the files by their size and thus free up space most effectively. And there’s a special category for Other files that don’t fit into either category. These files can be also moved to another folder/separate disk or could be removed securely.

In addition to this, you can empty up a few more gigabytes taken up by Dropbox folder and your Trash.

You can download CleanMyMac X here (it's free to download from developer's site).
In the top right bar (where the time and language is displayed) you’ll find a small Mac icon that takes you to the CleanMyMac X’s Menu.

1. Click on CleanMyMac X Menu icon (within the upper bar)
2. Locate windows for Trash and Dropbox
3. Click Empty to instantly free up space

No try it and see how it helps you slim down Other storage on Mac. Deleting your old files alone can recover you tons of space, but there are more space hoggers that fall under the Other data category.

2. Clean up Other space of system and temporary files

Every second your Mac is on, the macOS creates and piles up system files — logs, for example. At some point, the system needs these files, but they quickly become outdated and just sit there wasting your disk space. And guess what, they are in the Other Mac storage category, too.

These files are mostly temporary but they never actually go away unless you do something about it. The difficulty is that Apple hasn’t made it easy to clear out system files. There’s a good reason for this – people often delete things they shouldn’t.

Let's inspect your Library folder

To manually find where a majority of apps temporary files live navigate to ~/Users/User/Library/Application Support/. In this folder you will find your applications and some searching will reveal a lot of space being taken up. For example, your may have gigabytes worth of old iOS backups in ~/Library/Application Support/MobileSync/Backup.

You could delete these manually but a much safer and faster method is to use a specialist cleaning app like CleanMyMac X. It has a System Junk module that specifically looks for useless system files and knows what’s safe to delete.

Here’s how to easily remove system files from Other Storage:

• Go to System Junk in CleanMyMac.
• Hit Scan.
• Hit Clean.

That’s pretty much it. Seriously. If this is the first time you ever cleaned your Mac, you’ll see that the OS X Other storage tab has shrunk considerably after the system junk cleanup.

Using this method I was able to additionally delete 4.75 GB of 'System Junk' from my MacBook.

3. Delete cache files from Other data section

Cache files are not just another invisible storage hog. They are often one of the worst offenders, often taking up gigabytes of precious space. The three main types cache are – browser, user, and system. Cache files are meant to help your system work faster, but over time they get bigger and bigger, eventually slowing your system down.

To manually clear cache files on Mac:

1. Navigate to Go > Go To Folder.
2. Type in ~/Library/Caches and click Go.
3. Click-hold Option and drag the Caches folder to your desktop as a backup in case something goes wrong.
4. Select all the files in the Caches folder.
5. Drag them to the Trash.
6. Empty Trash.

Follow the same steps for /Library/Caches (without the “~”) and ~/Library/Logs. Cache files sit in numerous folders, and with a little patience, you can clean them out manually (read more detailed instruction on clearing cache).

For those who don’t have the time or are worried about deleting the wrong files, CleanMyMac can quickly and safely do the job.

If you already cleaned out system files from step 2, congratulations, in doing so you also cleared out your cache files. If you didn’t, here are the steps again:

• Go to System Junk in CleanMyMac.
• Hit Scan.
• Hit Clean.

This will clear all the cache files on your Mac and considerably reduce Other storage on your Mac.

4. Remove app plugins and extensions from Other storage

Another cool way to manage storage on Mac.
While apps are, unsurprisingly, categorized as Apps on the Storage bar, their add-ons are under the Other storage category.Compared to some types of files, app plugins and extensions probably won’t take up as much of your Mac's Other space. Still, every bit counts. Since extensions can sometimes cause other problems on your Mac, why not remove the ones you don’t use to be safe and free up some extra Other storage space at the same time?

Tracking down all your add-ons can be a hassle. Some you’ve forgotten you had (like that nCage extension for Chrome), others you didn’t know of in the first place.

Here’s how to manually remove extensions from Chrome, Firefox, and Safari.

To remove extensions from Safari:

1. Open Safari browser.
2. Click on Preferences.
3. Click on the Extensions tab.
4. Select the extension you want to target and uncheck “Enable” to disable or click “Uninstall” to remove.

To remove extensions from Chrome browser:

1. Open Chrome.
2. Click the three dot icon in the top-right corner.
3. Click More tools > Extensions.
4. Disable or remove as you choose.

To remove extensions from Firefox:

1. Open Mozilla Firefox browser.
2. Click on the burger menu in the top-right corner.
3. Choose Add-ons.
4. From the Extensions and Plugins tabs disable and remove whatever you want.

Important! If you’re not sure what a plugin does, don’t rush to remove it. Try disabling it first and see if your apps and your system work as expected. You can always remove that add-on later. Also note that Chrome extensions can’t be deleted automatically. But if you’d like to get rid of them, we’ll list these extensions for you and tell how to do that manually.

5. Clear Other space of disk images and archives

Normally, archives and images are files you keep for a reason. However, if you think you might have accumulated some useless .zip and .dmg files on your Mac, then you should definitely clear them out as well.

You can find these files using Spotlight search:

1. Open Finder.
2. Type DMG/ZIP in the search field.
3. Select Search: This Mac.
4. Sort the results by Size.

How To Make A Folder Within A Folder On Mac

Finder will show you all files of the format you’ve specified, sorted by size. You can clean out those you don’t need.

To safely and easily remove all your old unused disk images, CleanMyMac X has a dedicated tool within the System Junk module. Everything is categorized so you have a better understanding of what you’re removing.

1. Go to System Junk module in CleanMyMac X
2. Click Scan and when it’s done, click Review Details

Now you get a detailed overview of some ultra-specific categories of files that are normally invisible to you. Among those you’ll see Unused Disk Images (another name for DMG installations). Then, there’s Old Updates — you would like to remove those too. Old Updates are past versions of update packages that you already got installed.

Do you often use use graphic editors like Photoshop or Sketch? Then, you’ll probably be fascinated by Document Versions feature. If you click on Document Versions tab (System Junk > Scan > Review Details), you’ll be able to see how much of your space is taken by large document re-edits. Imagine a 60 MB Photoshop file cloned 10 times with just slight differences. In CleanMyMac X you can delete these intermediate revisions. And, handy enough, the program keeps just the original file and its final revision on the drive.

6. Get rid of everything else from Other disk space

Even Other storage space has its own “other” files and no, the irony of that statement is not lost on us.

Other storage on Mac can also include:

• Files in your user library (screen savers, for example).
• Files Spotlight search doesn’t recognize.

Typically, they won’t be as big of a share of Other data on your Mac as cache files and other items we’ve cleared out. However, if you’re determined to clean out as much Other Mac storage as possible, here’s how you can delete screensavers:

1. Open Finder.
2. In the Menu bar, select Go > Go to Folder.
3. Type this: ~/Library/Screen Savers and click Go.

You’ll see the screen saver files now — they are lightweight, but for the sake of being thorough, you can trash them as well.

As for files Spotlight doesn’t recognize, they are rare. They could include files like Windows Boot Camp partitions or virtual machine hard drives. If you don’t recall putting anything like that on your Mac, you probably have nothing to look for.

7. See your disk contents through a Space Lens

Some apps, like Daisy Disk or CleanMyMac create a visual map of your entire drive. It’s an amazing way to see your Mac as it is under the hood — with bubbles of different sizes representing each file category. But what’s most important, you can delete your useless files right from there. It's so cool you can manage storage on Mac in a visual way:

• Run the Space Lens tool in CleanMyMac X — A link to a free version from developer’s site
• Explore the bubbles
• Delete files you don’t need

How much can you expect to delete from Other storage on Mac?

You’ll never remove Other data section from Mac entirely, nor should you want to. It’s perfectly fine to have space taken up by necessary files, whatever category label they have. What is not okay is valuable storage space being wasted.

How To Make A File Folder

Download CleanMyMac and follow the steps in this guide to clean gigabytes off Other storage on your Mac.
Your lighter and faster Mac will love you for it. =)

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