The fastest way to see how much storage you have left

Open the Apple menu in the top-left corner of your screen and select About This Mac. Click the Storage tab. You will see a horizontal bar showing your total storage capacity and how much space is used by different categories — System, Apps, Photos, Audio, Video, Documents, and Other. This view tells you at a glance whether you are running low on space.

If you want more detail about what is taking up room, click Manage in the Storage tab. This opens a window showing your largest files and folders, sorted by size. You can delete items directly from this view or move them to external storage.

Key Takeaways

  • The Storage tab in About This Mac shows your total capacity and breaks down what is using space by category.
  • The Manage button reveals your largest files and folders so you can see exactly what is consuming storage.
  • Disk Utility provides a detailed tree view of folders and lets you see storage use by individual directory.
  • External drives and cloud storage show their own usage separately and do not count against your Mac's internal storage.

Using Disk Utility for a detailed breakdown

Disk Utility is built into macOS and gives you a more technical view of storage use. Open Applications, then Utilities, then Disk Utility. Select your Mac's drive in the left sidebar — usually called Macintosh HD or similar. The bottom of the window shows your total capacity and available space.

To see which folders are using the most space, you need a separate tool. Disk Utility itself does not show a folder-by-folder breakdown. Many people use free third-party apps like DiskSight or OmniDiskSweeper for this, or you can use the Manage button in About This Mac, which is faster for most users.

Understanding the storage categories

System includes macOS itself, built-in apps, and system files. This typically takes 15 to 35 GB depending on your macOS version. Apps is the space used by programs you have installed. Photos counts your photo library, Audio is music and podcasts, and Video is movies and video files.

Documents covers files in your Documents folder and other standard locations. Other is a catch-all for everything else — caches, temporary files, downloads, and items that do not fit neatly into the other categories. If Other is very large, you may have old downloads or temporary files taking up unnecessary space.

Checking storage on external drives and USB devices

Plug in an external drive or USB stick. It will appear on your desktop and in Finder. Right-click the drive and select Get Info. A window opens showing the total capacity, used space, and available space for that device.

You can also see external drives in the Storage tab of About This Mac if they are connected. They appear as separate entries and do not count toward your Mac's internal storage limit. This is useful for understanding how full your backup drives or portable storage are.

What to do if your Mac is running out of space

If available space drops below 10 GB, your Mac will slow down and some apps may not work properly. Start by emptying the Trash — select Finder, then Empty Trash in the menu bar. This reclaims space immediately.

Next, look at your Downloads folder. Open Finder, click Downloads in the sidebar, and delete files you no longer need. Old installers and archived files often sit here for months. Move large video or photo files to an external drive or cloud storage if you do not use them regularly. If you have old app versions or duplicate applications, delete them from the Applications folder.

Using iCloud to free up local storage

If you have an iCloud account, you can enable iCloud Photos to store your photo library in the cloud instead of on your Mac. Open System Settings, click Your Name at the top, then iCloud, then Photos. Turn on iCloud Photos and choose Optimize Mac Storage. Your Mac will keep lower-resolution versions locally and store full-resolution versions in iCloud.

You can also enable iCloud Drive to move Documents and Desktop folders to iCloud. This frees up local space while keeping your files accessible. Both features require an iCloud+ subscription for storage beyond the free 5 GB tier.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why does my Mac show less available space than I think I deleted?

Deleted files go to Trash first and do not free up space until you empty it. Also, macOS reserves some space for system operations and temporary files. If you deleted a large file and the available space did not increase much, check whether Trash is full or whether the file was moved to iCloud instead of deleted.

What is taking up space in the Other category?

Other includes browser caches, temporary files, old language packs, and system logs. It can also include files from apps that do not fit into the standard categories. If Other is larger than a few GB, clearing your browser cache and deleting old downloads often helps. Some third-party cleaning apps can show you exactly what is in Other, though the built-in Manage button is usually sufficient.

Can I move my entire photo library to an external drive?

Yes. Open Photos, go to Settings, click General, and look for the library location option. You can change it to point to an external drive. Make sure the drive is always connected when you want to access your photos, or use iCloud Photos instead to keep them accessible from any device.

Does storage space on my iPhone count toward my Mac's storage?

No. Your iPhone and Mac have separate storage. However, if you use iCloud, files stored in iCloud count against your iCloud storage limit, which is shared across all your Apple devices. Your Mac's local storage and iPhone storage are independent.