Reduce Photo Library Size Mac

As we use desktop and laptop computers, we tend to fill up our hard drives with stuff we've collected over the years. It's like an attic, basement, or garage that slowly fills up over time. Some stuff gets used often, other stuff sits in a box and gets forgotten about. Eventually, though, the clutter becomes too much and you have to start getting rid of things. But how do you sort the import stuff from the trash? That's where Optimized Storage comes in.

Reduce Photos Library Size Mac
Reduce Photo Library Size Mac Free
Stock Photos

For example, my 98GB iPhoto Library contains an iPod Photo Cache folder that weighs in at just over 20GB. A Modified folder houses 15.4GB of data. And the Originals folder holds over 59GB of stuff. Nov 26, 2016 The second problem was new photo library /Macintosh HD/user/me/Pictures/Photos Library.photolibrary had a size of over 120GB. It was way too big for the 30k+ photos I had on the Mac. I did a bunch of clean up hoping that they would shrink the photo library. But to my dismay, the photo library only reduced by about 10%.

Optimized Storage takes files you've been storing in iCloud and moves them off of your computer if your local storage gets too full. It also leaves behind an icon of the item that has been removed so that, when you finally do want to access it again, you don't have to go somewhere different to find it. You can just click on the file and it will download back onto your computer when it's online.

There are four features to Optimized Storage that you can enable separately or all together. You can use Store in iCloud, Optimize Storage, Empty Trash Automatically, and Reduce Clutter.

How to access Optimized Storage

There are two ways to access Optimized Storage. The first is easy. Do nothing until your storage gets full. When it does, you'll get a notification asking if you want to optimize your storage. Click Yes to be directly taken to the Optimized Storage tool window.

To access Optimized Storage manually:

Click on the Apple icon in the upper left corner of your screen.
Select About this Mac from the drop-down menu.
Source: iMore
Click on the Storage tab in the System Information window.
Click on Manage.
Source: iMore

This opens up the four Optimized Storage tools, which are on the right side of the window.

How to use Store in iCloud

Store in iCloud allows you to store older photos, files, and messages in the cloud, freeing up space on your hard drive. Messages stay on your hard drive until your hard drive starts to get full. When you're running out of room, photos, files, and messages will automatically be stored in iCloud and only recent attachments will stay on your Mac for quick and easy access.

Click on the Apple icon in the upper left corner of your screen.
Select About this Mac from the drop-down menu.
Source: iMore
Click on the Storage tab in the System Information window.
Click on Manage.
Source: iMore
Click on Store in iCloud in the Store in iCloud section of the window.
Click on Store in iCloud again to confirm that you want to enable the feature to automatically store photos, files, and messages in iCloud when your hard drive gets full.
Source: iMore

How to stop syncing Desktop and Documents folders in iCloud on your Mac

If you've tried out Desktop and Documents folder syncing in iCloud but decided you don't like it, you can stop syncing. If you disable syncing, Desktop files will no longer appear on a secondary Mac computer's desktop, but they will still be in a file in iCloud Drive, which you can move them out of. Your Documents folder will also still be visible in iCloud Drive, which you can also move.

Click the Apple icon in the upper left corner of your Mac's screen.
Click System Preferences in the drop-down menu.
Source: iMore
Click on Apple ID.
Click on Options next to iCloud Drive.
Untick the Desktop & Documents Folders box.
Source: iMore

How to use Optimize Storage

Optimize Storage relates to storing media in the cloud that is not necessarily already in your iCloud storage, specifically movies and TV shows you have already watched on iTunes. When you select Optimize Storage, it will remove these files from your computer. If you want to watch them again, you can redownload them from iTunes.

It also gives you the option to store your email attachments. You can set it up so that recent email attachments are stored on your Mac, or you can store all of your email attachments in the cloud and download files that you need when you need them.

Click on Optimize... in the Optimize Storage section of the window.
Click on Optimize again to confirm that you want to enable the feature to automatically remove iTunes movies and TV shows that you've already watched.
Source: iMore

How to disable Optimize Storage on your Mac

Optimize Storage automatically removes iTunes movies and TV shows that you've already watched from your Mac. It also only keeps recent email attachments on your Mac when your hard drive starts to run out of room. If you want to keep your movies and TV shows on your hard drive so you don't have to re-download them every time you want to watch them, you can disable the feature.

Click the Apple icon in the upper left corner of your Mac's screen.
Select System Preferences from the drop-down menu.
Source: iMore
Click on Apple ID.
Click to uncheck the checkbox at the bottom of the window for Optimize Mac Storage.
Source: iMore

How to use Empty Trash Automatically

It is pretty common for the average computer user to forget to empty the trash bin regularly. Just like a real garbage can, trash can start to add up. Unfortunately, unlike a garbage can, your Mac's trash bin doesn't get full, so you don't realize you've been stocking up digital waste for months and months. Empty Trash Automatically will enable a tool that will erase items that have been in the Trash for more than 30 days. You don't even have to think about it anymore.

Click on Turn On in the Empty Trash Automatically section of the Optimized Storage window.
Click Turn On again to confirm that you want to enable the feature to automatically erase files that have been in the Trash for more than 30 days.
Source: iMore

How to disable Empty Trash Automatically on your Mac

If you worry that you are going to delete something from your Mac and need it back more than 30 days later, you can disable the feature and go back to manually emptying the trash.

Open a Finder window.
Click on Finder in the upper left corner of your Mac's screen.
Click Preferences in the drop-down menu.
Source: iMore
Click on Advanced in the Finder Preferences window.
Click to uncheck the checkbox for Remove items from the Trash after 30 days.
Source: iMore

How to use Reduce Clutter

Reduce Clutter is the one feature in Optimized Storage that requires you to manually clean files on your Mac.

The list of categories on the left side of the Optimized Storage window represents the folders that tend to store files that are older and can be removed from your Mac.

You can either click on Review Files in the Reduce Clutter section of the Optimized Storage window or select a category from the list on the left side of the window.

You can then go through the files individually and decide whether you want to keep or remove them from your Mac.

For example, in the Applications folder, you can view apps on your Mac by type. Older versions of apps you are currently using can sometimes take up dozens of GB of space. You can delete the files right from the Optimized Storage window.

How to optimize your photo storage if you have iCloud Photo Library

Photos on the Mac optimizes storage by letting you store full-resolution photos and videos in iCloud instead of on your internal hard drive. Even if you don't want to store all of your files and documents in iCloud, you can keep your photos safe, while freeing up space on your hard drive.

Your photos will also remain on your Mac's hard drive until it starts to get full, at which point, photos and videos — starting with the oldest — will be removed from your Mac and only stored in iCloud.

Photos and videos tend to take up a lot of space. You may find you don't have enough iCloud storage to keep your entire photo library in iCloud. You can upgrade your iCloud storage to a larger plan if you are running out.

Any questions?

Do you have any questions about what Optimized Storage is or how to use the tools? Let me know and I'll help you out.

Updated December 2019: Updated for macOS Catalina.

macOS Catalina

Main

More Apple TV+ content

Martin Scorsese's next movie might come to Apple TV+ after Paramount walked

Spiraling costs have put Paramount off Scorcese's next gig and Apple TV+ is one potential suitor. Netflix is said to be another potential avenue.

With the upgrade to Photos, many Mac users have been left with a duplicate iPhoto library on their Macs. Here’s how to delete iPhoto library and clear out some clutter.

iPhoto used to be the standard photo editor and photo management system on Macs, at least for the average computer user. Like it or not, however, that all changed when Apple first introduced the software, nearly a year ago. If your Mac came from Apple with Photos already installed, you don’t need to worry about old iPhoto libraries.

A Mac that was upgraded to a new version of OS X that added the Photos app, however, can end up with what look like duplicates of their photo libraries. The first time you start up Photos after upgrading, your Mac will copy over your photo library into the new software (if you explicitly set up more than one old iPhoto library, you’ll have to copy them over yourself). It doesn’t go back and delete the old one, though.

Here’s where things get a little bit confusing: you don’t actually have two copies of your photos. Thanks to the way OS X (the software that powers your Mac, like Windows powers a PC) works, your pictures aren’t actually stored in those libraries. Instead, they’re stored somewhere else on your hard drive, and each library has what Apple calls a “hard link” to the pictures. As a result, each library can access the photos, but store separate information about them. You can delete either library safely; only if you were to delete both libraries would you lose access to your pictures.

While having a second copy of your photo library doesn’t take up that much extra space on your computer, it can still be confusing – first of all, each library reports that it’s a certain size, which can make it difficult to figure out how much room is left on your Mac. Additionally, if you need to back things up, it can be hard to figure out where your files are.

Still with us? Let’s recap:

if you upgrade your Mac from iPhoto to Photos, you’ll get a second photo library
if you had multiple iPhoto libraries (you would know if you did), you’ll need to copy them into Photos manually
the libraries each link to a single copy of your photos, rather than storing each photo twice
it can appear that your libraries are taking up more space than they are, thanks to the way hard links work
you can safely delete either photo library – only if you delete both of them will you lose access to your photos

Reduce Photos Library Size Mac

How to delete iPhoto library on your Mac

Now that you understand why you might want to delete an old iPhoto library, and why you don’t necessarily have to, let’s talk about how to actually do it.

Before you do anything like this on your Mac – that is, delete something potentially important – you should back up your software with something like Time Machine.

Read: How to Backup Your Mac with Time Machine

That way, if you accidentally delete something important, or something else goes wrong, you can always roll things back to how they were when you started. This is really easy, and there’s nothing to be concerned about; it’s just good practice to back things up (and keep them backed up) before you muck about in your computer.

First, you’ll need to open a Finder window: you can do this by clicking on the Finder icon (it looks like a square face) on the dock, or by clicking on your Mac’s desktop background and hitting ⌘+N (Command + N) on your keyboard.

Next, look at the left-hand column in the new window. You’ll see a list of locations around your Mac; find the one that says Pictures and click on it. You’ll be taken to that directory, which contains libraries for Apple’s image-related apps (Photos, iPhoto, Photo Booth, etc).

In the list of files on the right, scroll down and look for your iPhoto library – it’ll be a little iPhoto icon, and the name will read, unsurprisingly, iPhoto Library. Don’t worry about accidentally deleting your Photo Booth or Photos libraries; you’ll be able to see which one is which.

To actually delete the library, you can do one of three things:

Click on the iPhoto Library listing, and without letting go of your mouse or trackpad button, drag it until it’s over top the Trash icon on your dock. Once you’re on top of the Trash, let go.
You can select (click on) the iPhoto Library, then right-click on your mouse or Trackpad (Apple will call this Secondary Click in your Mouse or Trackpad settings). A new menu will pop up; find the entry that says Move to Trash and click on it.
Finally, you can also delete your iPhoto Library by clicking on it and hitting ⌘+Delete (Command + Delete) on your keyboard.

Read: How to uninstall apps on Mac OS X

Now that you’ve gotten rid of your iPhoto library, it makes sense to completely uninstall iPhoto – that way you won’t accidentally create a new iPhoto Library and have to repeat all these steps. It’s as simple as opening up your Applications folder, and deleting iPhoto (using one of the three steps we just discussed). For a more in-depth look at how to uninstall apps on your Mac, be sure to check out our guide above!