

If your Mac is running macOS Sierra or later, it has great built-in tools for managing files and optimizing storage. The first port of call when making space on your Mac is to see what tools your Mac offers you for such a task. This tends to be files like temporary and cached files, app installer packages, Time Machine backups and similar.


The truth is that files which do not fit neatly into other sections get marked as Other. "Other" on Mac can make up an awful lot of storage, and it's not immediately apparent what is stored as Other. Sections like Music, Photos, Messages and Mail are easy to see what kind of data is stored there - however there's also a mystery grey section called "Other". If you hover over each coloured section in the bar, you'll see what each segment represents. This overview will show what categories are taking up the most space, as well as how much space is available on your Mac.
