Macs are faster computers that offer amazing features and excellent functionality. To maintain the good functionality of your computer, you need to optimize its storage regularly. If you do not take care of your device, it will start showing signs of distress, will slow down, and the performance will degrade considerably.
Let's understand the ways to manage files and email attachments on a computer.
Manage Email Attachments in Mail
Mail, Apple's default email application, is a feature-rich platform that allows you to manage your emails quite seamlessly. It delivers a lot of features that simplify your day-to-day email management.
Email attachments can cause issues with the computer's storage. It's vital to delete the attachment email messages that are no longer important; else, they will clog storage. Here are some tips to delete Mail Storage to make more space for important attachments.
It's a good practice to gather all attachment emails in one Smart Mailbox. If you are new to Smart Mailbox, it's a self-maintaining folder that is populated with filters. You can create a Smart Mailbox by clicking the plus icon available in the bottom left corner of the Mail application.
The Mail application stores email attachments on the local drive, and if you receive a lot of emails daily, the storage will start to saturate soon. However, the Mail app allows you to strip off the attachment without deleting the actual email message.
To remove the attachment, select the email and click on Message from the menu bar. Select Remove Attachments from the context options. You can even remove all locally stored email messages from the hard drive.
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For removing all attachments stored on the computer drive, click on the Finder app, tap Go, and then select Go to Folder. In the then appeared text field, type in /Users/USERNAME/Library/Mail/V2 (where USERNAME will be your Name), and press Go.
Now select and open the folder that is associated with your email ID. In the search field in Finder, enter name:attachments and ensure that Finder searches for the item in the specific folder. Select the files and delete them as per your preferences.
Delete Unnecessary Files & Folders
One of the safest ways to manage your data on a Mac computer is deleting the files and folders or applications that you do not require in the future. The folders stored on the hard drive may include a large volume of data that might be occupying significant storage space.
You can use quite a lot of ways to delete data from your Mac drive, but make sure to backup data before you perform any data deletion action. One simple way to delete folders is by selecting and dragging them to the Trash folder.
If any of the files or folders are locked, you will have to confirm that you wish to delete it by moving it to the Trash in the Dock. You can also remove any file by pressing the Command + Delete keys simultaneously.
To unlock any item before you delete it, click on the file or folder, go to File, tap Get Info, and then uncheck the checkbox given with Locked. However, you will need to have administrator privileges and rights for unlocking any item on a Mac computer.
After moving items to the Trash Bin, the next step involves clearing the Trash itself to ensure permanent deletion. Storage space is refreshed only when data is deleted permanently from the hard drive.
Click on the Trash icon available in the Dock, press Control + Click to select a single item, and then click Delete Immediately. For emptying the Trash folder, click on Empty available in the top-right section of Finder and select Empty Trash.
Move Data to iCloud
Apple gives you 2GB of free storage space when you sign up to iCloud. Not to mention, cloud storage is becoming popular day by day, and its popularity will continue to increase in the future. Moving data to the cloud drive gives users the flexibility to access it from anywhere.
You can enjoy the benefits of iCloud storage on Mac desktops (OS X 10.10 or later versions), iOS devices (iOS 8 or later versions), and iPadOS devices. If you wish to access iCloud data on your Windows computer, you need to install iCloud for Windows, which is only possible with Windows 8 or later versions of the operating system.
To get started with iCloud storage, you will have to set up an account. Click on the Apple menu, tap System Preferences, click on Apple ID, select iCloud from the Sidebar, and then pick iCloud Drive.
Similar to any other storage media, you will have to optimize your iCloud storage regularly by deleting redundant data. With the advancement in technology and advanced security algorithms in place, Cloud has become a better place for data storage, but you should always ensure complete security of data and devices by assigning strong passwords.