If you’re like most Mac owners, you’ve only got limited computer storage, so it’s important to make the most of the space you have. Although the MacBook Pro can be spec’d with up to 8TB of storage, most people don’t have a spare $2,600 lying around so opt for Apple’s base model MacBooks, which start at only 256GB of storage instead. And if you’re on an older model, you could be dealing with half of that.
If you’re constantly running out of space on your Mac, here are six apps and files you might want to say goodbye to because they’re probably taking up way too much space.
1. Adobe Creative Cloud: Are You Using It?
Whether you’re a creative professional or not, you’ve heard of Adobe’s software. Photoshop is a household name, and most feature films are edited in Premiere Pro. Adobe’s Creative Cloud apps make it possible for beginners or seasoned professionals to create top quality work.
While Adobe makes some great software, having too many Creative Cloud apps installed can hog your Mac’s storage. Photoshop takes up around 3.5GB of storage, and it’s sister app, Lightroom, is around 1.7GB. Premiere Pro alone will eat up a whopping 8GB of storage.
And that’s only the size of the base apps. If you have a ton of Premiere or Photoshop projects sitting on your Mac, they can easily take up dozens of gigabytes of storage space.
Adobe’s subscription model offers a low upfront price for its software, and lets you stop paying for apps you’re no longer using. If you previously tried out the Creative Cloud but are no longer subscribed, you may have unused apps or projects taking up valuable storage space on your Mac.
2. GarageBand: Do You Really Need It?
Every new Mac ships with a copy of Apple’s beginner music editor. GarageBand is a great way to see what your Mac can do, and have fun while doing it. But the base version of GarageBand takes up 1.7GB of your Mac’s storage, and if you’ve downloaded a lot of plugins or sound packs, that can easily add gigabytes to its file size.
While GarageBand is a great way to get a taste of the world of music production, most serious producers are using other digital audio workstations like Ableton Live or Apple’s own Logic Pro X.
If you’re not recording your voice or mixing songs on the regular, it might be time to break up the band.
3. Microsoft Office: Still on Office?
Microsoft Office is still the go-to productivity software for many schools, universities, and businesses. If you’ve ever been a college student or held down a job, chances are you’ve got Office installed on your Mac. Microsoft Word alone will take up 2.4GB of space on your drive. That’s a lot of space for a word processor. PowerPoint will use another 1.6GB of space, and Excel will cost you another 1.8GB.
Microsoft Office used to be an essential on every computer, but times have changed. Instead of paying for a subscription or license to Office, many people are opting for free Office alternatives like Google Drive. With the continued shift to remote work, lots of companies are using cloud based solutions like Google Workspace to manage productivity. Even Microsoft itself has made the jump to the cloud with Office 365.
Although Microsoft Office doesn’t have the same monopoly on productivity it did a few years ago, it’s still widely used. It’s often convenient to have Office installed just in case. But, if you’re not in the habit of downloading Word docs and most of your workflow is on Google Workspace or other cloud-based programs, it might be time to say goodbye to Office.
4. Pages, Numbers, and Keynote: What Are They Anyway?
If you’ve ever wondered what these mysterious apps on your Mac are, they’re part of iWork, Apple’s alternative to Microsoft Office. While they are not nearly as widely used as Office, they can be valuable in a pinch. Pages, Numbers, and Keynote are Apple’s answer to Word, Excel, and PowerPoint, respectively. The entire iWork suite will take up around 1.5GB of your space on your Mac.
iWork can be useful if you don’t own Microsoft Office because these programs can be used to open Word, Excel, and PowerPoint files. However, much of that same functionality is also built into Google Drive, which doesn’t use up any space at all on your Mac.
If storage space is at a premium, and you’re already at home with other productivity software, you can safely delete iWork.
5. Photos: Send Them to the Cloud
By default, your Mac will store your entire photo library on your storage drive. Depending on how long you’ve had an iPhone and how much of a photographer you are, that could mean dozens, or even hundreds, of gigabytes of photos and videos.
Thankfully, Apple has a solution. By optimizing your Mac’s storage, you can send most of your photo library to iCloud, while just keeping low resolution previews on your Mac. Whenever you open the Photos app, your Mac will automatically download full resolution versions of the photos you need. There are lots of ways to make the most of iCloud Photos like this, including options to turn a monster photo library into just a few megabytes of used space.
6. Games: Are You Still Playing That?
Although it’s no Xbox, Macs have come a long way when it comes to gaming. The amount of space a game will take up on your Mac will depend largely on what type of game it is. While games like Minecraft and Stardew Valley will only use 1GB or 2GB of space, triple-A titles like Shadow of the Tomb Raider can use up to a whopping 40GB of space on your drive.
Although the Mac App Store has more games on it than ever before, it’s still a much smaller selection than what’s available on Xbox, PlayStation, or PC. However, game streaming services like Stadia and Xbox Cloud Gaming are bringing more games than ever to Mac users. Better yet, because game streaming runs on the cloud, it won’t take up any space on your Mac at all.
Making the Most of Your Mac’s Storage
Unless you have a Mac with a massive internal drive, you’ll need to clean it out every once in a while. If you’ve got a ton of unused apps or old files sitting on your drive, getting rid of them can help you make space for your current and future projects. If you ever need something again, it’s just a download away.
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