Clearing temporary files on your Mac is crucial for optimizing storage space and improving system performance. In this guide, we’ll delve into the various methods to efficiently delete temporary files, such as caches and logs, that accumulate over time.
By following these steps, you can enhance your Mac’s speed, reclaim valuable disk space, and ensure a smoother overall user experience. Learn the simple yet effective ways to keep your Mac tidy and free from unnecessary clutter.
What are temporary Files on Mac?
Temporary files on your Mac are the unwanted system junk files accumulated on the hard drive from system updates, applications, browser cache and log files.
The amount of temporary files on your Mac depends on the applications and frequency of websites visited. The larger amount of temporary files on Mac impact hugely on the performance and safety as well.
How To Find and Delete Temporary Files on Mac
Manual Methods
To manually find and delete temporary files on your Mac, you need to open the Caches folder inside the Library and individually locate all the cache files under subfolders and move them to Trash.
Make sure to quit all the active tabs and apps running on your Mac before considering manually clear temporary files.
1. Open Go to Finder by pressing Command + Shift + G keys simultaneously on your Keyboard.
2. On the new window dialog box enter : ‘’~/Library/Caches/’ and Press Return.
3. Here, on the Caches folder, find and select all the temporary files from sub folders.
4. After done with selection, drag n drop them all to the Trash icon on Dock.
5. Now repeat the above steps for below file paths one after another :
- ‘/Library/Caches/’
- ‘~/Library/Logs/’
6. Finally after deleting all temporary files, make sure to Empty Trash to remove completely.
Clear temporary files in Safari manually
1. Launch Safari on your Mac, Select Safari tab on top right of the menu bar and Click on ‘Preferences’ option from dropdown list.
2. Select the ‘Privacy’ tab from the top on the new window and Click on the ‘Manage Website Data’ button.
3. On the new window with a list of all the cache files, Click on the ‘Remove All’ blue button at the bottom. And Click on ‘Remove Now’ option when prompted for confirmation.
Clear temporary files in Chrome manually –
1. Launch Chrome on your Mac, Select three horizontal dots button on top corner.
2. Select ‘More tools’ option from the dropdown and Click on ‘Clear Browsing Data’ option further.
3. Here, For the Time rage option, Select All Time from the dropdown options and Check ‘Cached images and files’ option below.
4. Finally Click on the ‘Clear data’ blue button at the bottom.
Clear temporary files in Firefox manually –
1. Launch Firefox on your Mac, Click on ‘Settings’.
2. Select ‘Preferences’ and then Click on ‘Privacy and Security’ settings option.
3. Locate the History section by scrolling down.
4. Here Select ‘Clear Data’ under the ‘Cookies and Site Data’ section.
5. Finally on the new window, Click on ‘Ok’ to remove cache files.
Find and Delete Temporary Files on Mac quickly
The easiest and quickest way to clear temporary files from your Mac is through getting third-party applications like CleanMyMac. It lets you scan for temporary, cache and log files on your Mac with a single click and delete them all completely after the scan result.
1. Download and install CleanMyMac on your Mac.
2. Launch CleanMyMac, and tap on ‘Scan now’ module on bottom.
3. Once the Scan is complete, you can see a list of junk files on your Mac organised in categories.
5. You can review the scan result and select the particular category to remove or simply select all and Click on ‘CLEAN’ button at the bottom corner.
6. Wait till the cleaning process is over and the ‘Cleanup Completed’ message is displayed.
Frequently Asked Questions –
Q1. How do I delete temporary files and cookies on Mac?
You can delete temporary files and cookies on your Mac either manually locating them and deleting them or you can get a third-party Mac cleaner application like PowerMyMac to delete easily.
Q2. Can I delete all TMP files Mac?
Absolutely, you can delete all TMP files on your Mac. It will help you regain precious disk space otherwise wasted on unwanted files and helps improve your Mac performance significantly.
Conclusion
If you regularly clear temporary files on your Mac will help you improve performance and declutter all the unwanted junk. These temporary files, log files and cache are not very useful and tend to occupy a considerable amount of space on your Mac hard drive resulting in sluggish Mac performance and lack of disk space.
You can either delete temporary files on Mac manually or use a third-party application like PowerMyMac, pick the right one according to your preference.
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