How To Prune Your Mac Files!
Mac Life|January 2018

Claw back acres of space by scanning your Mac and getting rid of documents and other files you no longer need

How To Prune Your Mac Files!

A SCAN YOUR DRIVE

Prettier apps exist to examine your Mac, but few are more usable than GrandPerspective (Free, grandperspectiv. sourceforge.net). Go to File > Scan Folder to scan your Mac’s entire drive and give you a graphical overview.

B SELECT ITEMS

Click an item to highlight it. You’ll also see how it sits within any group of associated files (such as Applications, or tracks in iTunes). The Focus buttons (top left) move the selection up and down the hierarchy.

C VIEW ITEM DETAILS

Whatever the selection you make, the path to the item will be shown in the status bar at the foot of the Grand Perspective window — along with the crucial value that tells you how much space it is taking up.

D PERFORM ACTIONS

Ctrl-click a selection and you can perform actions on it using the contextual menu — notably, previewing the item using Quick Look, or viewing it in Finder, prior to you potentially deleting it.

E BEWARE OF DELETION

In Grand Perspective’s preferences, you can decide whether the app can move files to the trash, and whether confirmation is required to do so. If unsure, turn off this capability of the app and delete files using only Finder.

F RESCAN & REPEAT

This story is from the January 2018 edition of Mac Life.

Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.

This story is from the January 2018 edition of Mac Life.

Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.