~/Library

[rbpeirce]

There may not be an answer to this but I thought I'd ask. Is there any way to determine what in your library is no longer being used?

My library is currently 55Gb, out of 300Gb currently in use. That's almost 20% and I'm positive there is a lot of stuff in there I'm no longer using, some of it possibly going back as far as the Power PC. Doing a clean re-install is too much of a PITA and I'd rather delete what I can.

 

[Jimmysb]

There may not be an answer to this but I thought I'd ask. Is there any way to determine what in your library is no longer being used?

My library is currently 55Gb, out of 300Gb currently in use. That's almost 20% and I'm positive there is a lot of stuff in there I'm no longer using, some of it possibly going back as far as the Power PC. Doing a clean re-install is too much of a PITA and I'd rather delete what I can.

Just looked at mine, although only 3.29 GB, I would have no idea where to start cleaning this out (not that I plan to).

 

[pine man]

Don't forget there is the Library and there is also the 'Hidden' Library.

My Library contains 3.56GB and the Hidden Library contains 29.53GB.

If you are not aware the 'Hidden' Library is accessed by selecting Library then use Go from the taskbar and then press the Option key.

As far as deleting items go, unless there is a pressing need, I would leave well alone.

 

[rbpeirce]

Don't forget there is the Library and there is also the 'Hidden' Library.

My Library contains 3.56GB and the Hidden Library contains 29.53GB.

If you are not aware the 'Hidden' Library is accessed by selecting Library then use Go from the taskbar and then press the Option key.

As far as deleting items go, unless there is a pressing need, I would leave well alone.

I tried this and nothing happened. Maybe I'm dong it wrong. I just use Get Info on ~/Library.

I'm also using a fair amount of space to archive iPhone backups, but I deducted that from the Get Info total for ~/Library and I'm still using about 55Gb elsewhere. I'm not pressed for space. I'd just like to clean out any old stuff that is no longer needed.

 

[pine man]

I'd just like to clean out any old stuff that is no longer needed.

A dangerous philosophy

Make sure you've got plenty of backup in place if you must

 

[Jimmysb]

If you are not aware the 'Hidden' Library is accessed by selecting Library then use Go from the taskbar and then press the Option key.

Couldn't get anything to happen !!!

 

[pine man]

1. Click 'Go' in the Finder menu bar, and hold down the 'Option' (Alt) key.
2. The Library entry now appears in the Finder > Go menu.
3. Clicking Library directly opens the hidden User Library folder in a new Finder window.

 

[MacInWin]

The location ~/Library is YOUR library. The location /Library is the SYSTEM Library. In ~/Library are lots of things that could take up a lot of space. One such is Mail, which stores both the individual messages AND the attachments to those messages. That Mail folder can be very large, indeed. Another is in "Mobile Sync," which is where backups to iDevices are stored. Those two alone can really eat up space in a hurry. But don't fiddle with either directly. There is a reason ~/Library was hidden. Leave it alone.

 

[ferrarr]

Also, once you have your user Library open, you can drag it to the Finder sidebar to have easy access to it.

 

[Jimmysb]

1. Click 'Go' in the Finder menu bar, and hold down the 'Option' (Alt) key.
2. The Library entry now appears in the Finder > Go menu.
3. Clicking Library directly opens the hidden User Library folder in a new Finder window.

If I use Go menu with or without "Option" key, the results are the same, obviously not the same Library, that sits in the main folder as below.

 

[IWT]

Hi Jim B

This is what should happen

Here is a screenshot when you click on Go:



NB Look at Home - underneath is Computer

Then when you hold down the Option Key, this what you should see:



You will notice that under Home, there is Library. That's the one you want.

Good luck.

Ian

 

[MacInWin]

As I said, /Library is the system library, whereas ~/Library, which shows in finder as Ian has depicted, is YOUR library. The "~" expands to be /Users/<<your account>>, so the ~/Library is actually /Users/<<your account>>/Library.

 

[Randy B. Singer]

Hi Jim B

This is what should happen

Here is a screenshot when you click on Go:

View attachment 38457

NB Look at Home - underneath is Computer

Then when you hold down the Option Key, this what you should see:

View attachment 38459

You will notice that under Home, there is Library. That's the one you want.

Good luck.

Ian

Lol! This is all sounding a bit like an Abbott and Costello routine. What’s tripping everyone up is that you have to hold down the Option key BEFORE clicking on the Go menu in the Finder .

 

[Jimmysb]

Library is the here all the time!! Option key or not.

 

[IWT]

Lol! This is all sounding a bit like an Abbott and Costello routine. What’s tripping everyone up is that you have to hold down the Option key BEFORE clicking on the Go menu in the Finder .

Randy, it must be a first; because I never disagree with you.

But for as long as I can recall, including now; you can click on Go and then hold down the Option Key, release it again, back to normal, then hold it down again, ad infinitum. That's how I managed to produce the pics in my post #11.

Ian

 

[Randy B. Singer]

Randy, it must be a first; because I never disagree with you.

But for as long as I can recall, including now; you can click on Go and then hold down the Option Key, release it again, back to normal, then hold it down again, ad infinitum. That's how I managed to produce the pics in my post #11.

Ian

I am on vacation, so I don’t have a Macintosh here to check it. But my recollection is, if you don’t hold down the option key first and you hit the go menu there’s no user library shown.

that would seem to be born out by the problems the other people here are having with your directions.

 

[rbpeirce]

Library is the here all the time!! Option key or not.

Me too. I'm set up to display hidden files. I only recently realized what is referred to as the hidden library is really ~/Library.

 

[IWT]

There are three library folders on a Mac.

The library folder in the root directory of your system drive (usually called Macintosh HD) contains data accessible to all users, but only administrators have write access to the files.

There's the Library folder in System, which contains the main macOS system files.

Then there's the hidden user library (~/Library) where ~ means you or yours.

I believe that's the order of things.

Ian

 

[jpdemers]

In the past, the option key was needed to access the user's library under the Go menu. Today, on my M1 running Ventura, the library is always there, and the option key does nothing. This is why people are baffled: we're talking about different OSes.
MacInWin makes a good point about the mail libraries. Those can grow to enormous size, and if you've changed email client software, you might very well have useless stuff that's left over from years ago. I would not hesitate to toss out big files created by software that I no longer run. You can move them to a folder on the desktop first, if you're worried, and see how your mail client works, before deleting them... just keep track of where they belong. (They're usually buried pretty deeply, and an alias of the containing folder is a handy dodge.)

"Clean-up" software like Onyx might or might not root out defunct library items, and might be worth a try. I trust Onyx, but I'd still make a complete backup first.

 

[Lifeisabeach]

I am on vacation, so I don’t have a Macintosh here to check it. But my recollection is, if you don’t hold down the option key first and you hit the go menu there’s no user library shown.

that would seem to be born out by the problems the other people here are having with your directions.

I just checked. Now, this behavior may be different on older versions of macOS, but on Ventura with my user Library set to invisible, if I click on the Go menu first, I can then hold down the Option key to show the user Library.