How to Clear Temporary Files & Folders on Mac in 2024

From launching any of the programs on your mac to surfing on the internet, every activity of yours generates temporary files. Yeah!! Now sit back & think how many times, how many programs we launch throughout the day. And now imagine the number of temporary files we have created that are completely unnecessary on our system.

And soon these set of temporary files become a pile that starts affecting the overall system’s performance. And since temporary files aren’t of any use to your system, those need to be deleted as early as possible. Here we would be talking about how to delete temporary files on mac including temp folders so let’s explore this thoroughly.

What Are Temporary Files & How Do They Get Created?

Often called as temp files or foo files, temporary files are created when you are working on or modifying a particular file or program. why these files or folders are called temp files because as soon as the program has been closed, these files get deleted. Plus, they haven’t been created with the purpose of letting users access the same because they are unnecessary.

However, there are users who are quite advanced and want to explore every teeny tiny info on their mac and this is where they come into existence. Though temporary files are unnecessary for your system, you mustn’t delete them without proper guidance. Because if you delete temporary files, there are possibilities that files can get corrupted or some issue might occur with the system installation.

Types of temporary Files on Mac

If you wish to delete temporary files on your mac, it’s not important to know the types of temp files are there. However, it’s good to know information if you wish to dig into the temporary files category some day. Temporary files can be created from every activity including your workarounds on the web browsers. For example, the process of managing passwords, incomplete downloads, & other files so above are those types of temp files:

1. Application Cache

2. Internet Browser Cookies

3. System Logs (Outdated)

4. Intermediate Document Versions

5. Users Logs

How Do I Locate Temporary Files/Folders on a Mac?

Once you have identified what are temporary files & it’s different types, let’s check how to locate them on your mac. though the device has been designed with the simplest navigation system, sometimes you just can’t make your way through. All you need to do is, follow the steps mentioned below & it will take you to the exact location of temporary folders that contain temp files:

• Navigate yourself to the Applications & make your way to Utilities.
• Here you need to look for the Terminal that would be under the Utilities section.

• Now you need to use the command (Open or temp) that will take you to the temporary folders on your mac.

Here’s Why & How to Clear Temporary Files on Mac

Now that you have identified the location where all the temp files are stored, now is the time for action. Please know that clearing temporary folders & files are necessary for your system as it helps in keeping system maintenance. You can schedule the scan running (daily, weekly, or monthly) as well so your mac doesn’t face the issue of poor performance or slow functionality. Also please don’t forget how much space you will recover just by clearing out temp files on your mac.

So better system performance, unnecessary storage space recovery, & security of the device are a few reasons you must delete temporary files on mac.

Without further ado, let’s get to know the ways to take care of temporary files on mac. Also, you need to follow a combination of codes in order to take care of the temp files on mac so let’s see how to do so:

A. Considering that you have reached the Terminal (through Applications > Utilities), you need to run below command. This will be used to keep a tab on all the maintenance tasks & the code is “sudo periodic daily weekly monthly”

Please know there wouldn’t be any indication that your script is running as it will run in the background.

B. Now in case you want to use the same code combination on a weekly basis, you can do so by tweaking the script as “sudo periodic weekly”

Same way, you can change the script running on your mac if you wish to make it daily or monthly.

C. In case you are planning to clear logs from the home directory section, you are most welcome to do so by typing in,

“cd ~/Library/Logs

sudo rm -rf ~/Library/Logs/*”

Though weekly & monthly script running will help you keep the maintenance of mac. However, clearing mac temp files on a daily basis will clear out all the junk along with log files (older as well).

Now you need to restart your mac & everything has become perfect for you as temp files have been taken care of.

Method 2: How to Deal With The Temp Files on Mac

Another in-built way to take care of all those unnecessary temporary folders & files on mac is through Disk Utility. Yeah!! The same navigation you used in the above section to make your way to Terminal. This time you need to reach to the Disk Utility section (Applications > Utilities) and here you need to tap on Repair Permissions on the disk to verify all the available drives.

All of us store many types of stuff on the computer and let me tell you that the whole drive gets full before you even know. Moreover, there are different apps like iTunes where even if you delete photos from the app, it still remains in the app trash. This is your clue where you need to clear out all these trash files so that the whole performance of mac can be improved. So you need to start by going through the trash folder of all these apps and clear out as soon as possible as it will save a lot of space on the disk.

Apart from the trash files, there are call logs & temp files that require your immediate attention. Though you are working on any of the tasks, it will create temp files that sometimes don’t get used and slows down the system. Since these files are completely unnecessary, they might have virus content that can harm other systems (if you transfer files across).

So, deleting temporary files on your Mac will help you improve mac performance & make it faster as well. Additionally, this will create more space on your system that you can eventually use for useful files rather than unnecessary ones like help folders & files.

Also Read: How To Clean Up Duplicates In My Library On Mac?

Delete Temporary Files on Mac Using Disk Clean Pro

Disk Clean Pro is not an in-built tool that aims at clearing temp files on Mac, but a powerful utility that helps you declutter your Mac & improve its performance. Considered to be the perfect cleaning & optimization suite, Disk Clean Pro has been designed to improve the overall performance of your Mac. Also, the same tool helps you keep away the malicious content with its Internet Privacy segment. Just like other Mac utilities, Disk Clean Pro scans, analyzes and cleans your Mac to remove redundant and obsolete files to recover storage space & organize data. This powerful utility comes at an attractive price of $23.99 only and is the best option as a Mac cleaning app that can optimize Mac.

Download and install Disk Clean Pro from the link below.

The first screen shows you the System Status wherein you will see a brief description of the issues found on your Mac. You will now need to click on the Start System Scan to see a complete status.

Furthermore, you get to explore many other options including one-click cleaning, optimize memory, find duplicates, internet privacy, misc cleaning, removes large files, old downloads and more. This software lets you organize your Mac and enhance the system’s speed and performance.  with all these amazing features, Disk Clean Pro lets you get rid of all junk i.e. cache, cookies and temp files etc.

That’s all! You now have a decluttered and smooth performing Mac on your

Clear Temporary Folder & Files From Mac

Flushing out temporary files on a Mac is very important as it will improve your mac’s overall performance. There are so many files on your system and while you are going through files including internet browsing, temp files start getting created. Soon it becomes a pile of files that needs to be cleared or else it may affect the overall performance of the mac.

So start exploring the in-built as well as external ways to clear temporary files on mac & delete them including internet cache.

Next Readings:

Best Mac Cleaner Software (Free & Paid)

Must-Have Mac Apps To Use

Best Disk Defrag Software for Windows