Nonetheless, rebooting the Mac is simple and will typically reduce the purgeable storage that comes from temporary files and caches. Typically this stuff is much smaller than data from iCloud however, so you may not see as big of a drop in the size of the purgeable space. Rebooting the Mac clears out temporary items, tmp files, and many caches, which is stuff that macOS also considers to be purgeable. Of course if you use Optimize Mac Storage you won’t want to disable this. This will require the Mac to download files from iCloud to the local disk.

Uncheck the box for “Optimize Mac Storage” (on earlier MacOS versions this setting is within iCloud Drive settings).

Choose your Apple ID or iCloud settings.

Open System Preferences from the  Apple menu.Turning off Optimize Mac Storage has consequences for data stored on iCloud, but it can also remove or clear the “Purgeable” storage space on a Mac (keep in mind the data is being downloaded to the Mac, so you’re not necessarily freeing up space, simply reallocating it). This doesn’t always work, but if that purgeable storage space includes Time Machine snapshot data, then letting a backup complete will often clear that space. If you use Time Machine but haven’t backed up recently, say because the backup disk is disconnected from the Mac, then backing up the Mac with Time Machine may clear out a significant amount of “Purgeable” space. Other than letting macOS manage the purgeable disk storage on it’s own, if you want to clear it on your own you can do so by disabling the Optimize Mac Storage setting, and also rebooting the Mac.īefore using any of the tips below, you should backup your Mac with Time Machine just in case. Remember, Mac OS will clear the purgeable space on its own if the storage capacity is needed.

Purgeable space will be cleared out automatically by macOS when the system needs the storage capacity, but it can also be cleared out manually somewhat indirectly by addressing the features that are causing files to be labeled as purgeable. Purgeable space on the Mac includes a variety of things, ranging from caches, temporary files, backup files, and if you use Optimize Mac Storage, some files and data from iCloud too. This curiously labeled disk storage item is similar to the “Other” storage space on the Mac that many users wonder about, so if you’re curious what purgeable storage space is, and how to free it up to clear it out, then read on.

How to clear mac storage