Summary

This guide helps you troubleshoot and resolve: How to fix and clear 'Low Disk Space' warnings on macOS. Follow the steps below to fix the issue.

Common Causes

If your Mac is displaying a "Low Disk Space" warning, your startup disk is running out of room and macOS needs you to free up storage before performance starts to suffer. This guide walks you through identifying what's using your storage, clearing out unnecessary files, and keeping your disk healthy going forward. Most steps only take a few minutes and don't require any third-party software.

Quick Fix Steps

If you need to clear space fast, run through these steps first:

1. Empty the Trash.
2. Open Apple menu > System Settings > General > Storage and review recommendations.
3. Clear your browser cache and downloads folder.
4. Remove large files you no longer need from Documents, Downloads, and Desktop.
5. Restart your Mac to clear temporary files.

Detailed Instructions

Check What's Using Your Storage

Before deleting anything, it's worth seeing what's actually taking up space.

1. Click the Apple menu and select System Settings.
2. Click General in the sidebar, then select Storage.
3. Wait a moment for the storage breakdown to load. You'll see a coloured bar showing how space is divided across categories such as Applications, Documents, and System Data.
4. Hover over each segment for a description, or click Manage for more detail.

Use the Built-in Storage Recommendations

macOS includes several one-click tools that can free up space safely.

1. In System Settings > General > Storage, scroll down to the Recommendations section.
2. Review each suggestion, which may include:
   • Store in iCloud — moves rarely used files to iCloud and keeps recent files on your Mac.
   • Optimise Storage — automatically removes watched films and TV shows from Apple TV.
   • Empty Trash Automatically — permanently deletes items in the Trash after 30 days.
   • Reduce Clutter — finds large files you may no longer need.
3. Click Review next to each recommendation and follow the prompts.

Clear Your Browser Cache

Browsers store cached files, cookies, and downloads that can quietly grow into gigabytes of space.

In Safari:

1. Open Safari and choose Safari > Settings from the menu bar.
2. Click the Advanced tab and enable Show Develop menu in menu bar.
3. Choose Develop > Empty Caches.
4. To clear history and website data, choose History > Clear History, set the time range to All History, then click Clear History.

In Google Chrome:

1. Open Chrome and press Command + Shift + Delete.
2. Set the time range to All time.
3. Tick Cookies and other site data and Cached images and files.
4. Click Clear data.

Find and Remove Large Files

For a deeper clean, you can hunt down large files manually.

1. Open Finder and click Documents in the sidebar.
2. Click the List view button (or press Command + 2) to see file sizes.
3. Click the Size column header to sort from largest to smallest.
4. Review the largest items and move anything you don't need to the Trash.
5. Repeat this process for the Downloads, Desktop, and Movies folders.

Empty the Trash

Files moved to the Trash still take up space until you empty it.

1. Click the Trash icon in the Dock.
2. Right-click Trash and choose Empty Trash, or press Command + Shift + Delete.
3. Confirm by clicking Empty Trash.

Uninstall Applications You No Longer Use

Apps can take up surprising amounts of space, especially games or creative tools.

1. Open Finder and click Applications in the sidebar.
2. Sort by size by clicking the Size column header.
3. Drag any apps you no longer use to the Trash, or right-click and choose Move to Trash.
4. Empty the Trash when finished.

Clear System and User Caches

macOS creates cache files to speed things up, but old caches can pile up over time.

1. Open Finder and choose Go > Go to Folder from the menu bar (or press Shift + Command + G).
2. Type ~/Library/Caches/ and press Return.
3. Open each folder and move the contents to the Trash. Don't delete the folders themselves.
4. Repeat for /Library/Caches/ (the system cache folder).
5. Restart your Mac and empty the Trash.

Manage Mail Attachments and Downloads

Mail attachments are often a hidden source of large files.

1. Open the Mail app.
2. Choose Mail > Settings from the menu bar.
3. Click the Accounts tab, select your email account, then click the Account Information tab.
4. Untick Download attachments when viewing messages in the list if you don't need offline access.
5. To remove existing attachments, choose Mailbox > Erase Attachments from the menu bar.

Review Time Machine Local Snapshots

macOS keeps local backups called snapshots so you can restore files when your Time Machine drive isn't connected. These can use significant space.

1. Open Terminal (found in Applications > Utilities).
2. Type tmutil listlocalsnapshots / and press Return to see existing snapshots.
3. To delete a specific snapshot, type tmutil deletelocalsnapshots <date> replacing <date> with the snapshot date shown.
4. To thin snapshots automatically in future, type sudo tmutil thinlocalsnapshots / 10000000000 1 and press Return. Enter your administrator password when prompted.

Preventing Future Low Disk Warnings

Once you've reclaimed space, a few habits will help keep your Mac running smoothly:

• Empty the Trash regularly, or enable Empty Trash Automatically in System Settings > General > Storage > Recommendations.
• Avoid storing large files on your Desktop — move older projects to an external drive or cloud storage.
• Periodically review the Storage pane to catch large files before they become a problem.
• Uninstall apps you no longer use rather than leaving them dormant on your drive.
• Keep your Downloads folder tidy by moving or deleting files once you've finished with them.
• Consider using Store in iCloud to offload older files you don't need every day.

By following these steps regularly, you should be able to keep your Mac's storage under control and avoid low disk warnings in the future.

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