Clean up your data

In this article we'll go through ways to identify unneeded data and clutter on your Mac or Windows computer. Data accumulates over time and there are some easy things you can do to make sure your backup doesn't get too large.

Mac Data Clean Up

macOS computers include a tool to help you identify data you may not need. This tool is called Storage Management. You can access this tool by searching in Spotlight or by clicking on the Apple Logo --> About This Mac --> Storage --> Manage.

iOS Files

The first place we recommend looking is under iOS files. This will show you your backups of iOS devices and downloads of iOS Installer Files. You don't need iOS installers at all as they can be re-downloaded from Apple at any time. We recommend selecting all of them and deleting them.

iOS Back Ups are a little more tricky. We recommend looking at the last accessed date and only keep the most recently used backup. Alternatively, you could delete all the backups and then immediately back up your iOS device again.

Trash

Remember to delete your trash!

Documents

There are three things we're looking for here. First, we want to click on the "Large Files" tab at the top and see if there is anything here that can be removed. Often times, installers for software will remain on your Mac that will take up space and are not needed after the application is installed. We recommend removing any large files you no longer need.

The second thing we're looking at is the "Downloads" tab. Most of the time, if a file has been download it can be downloaded again. So, if you're done reading or using the download file it should be deleted. We recommend deleting anything in the downloads folder that isn't need immediately.

The third thing we're looking at is the "File Browser" tab. This lists folders on your Mac in order of the amount of space they consume. We recommend reviewing these folders and the files or sub folders they contain and deleting things that are no longer relevant.

Mail

Now that all Gustavus Employees have migrated to GusMail and IMAP has been turned off you should no longer need any mail files since you'll be checking your mail through the web interface. Contact GTS for assistance removing any remaining mail files.