Find: search every scanned file by name, size and date

Finding large files, with and without an app

macOS can find large files on its own. System Settings lists them under General → Storage → Documents, Finder's search can filter by file size, and Terminal's find lists files over any size you give it. The guide to finding large files on a Mac walks through all three.

Find does the same job across everything MacClearings has scanned, as you type. It's built for the moment after you've seen the Map and want to know where all the .dmg files, old exports or forgotten videos went.

How the search works

Type part of a name. Find matches it anywhere in the file or folder name, ignoring case and accents. Type several words and a name has to contain all of them. The placeholder suggests trying “invoice 2024” or “dmg”. If there are fewer than 20 exact matches, Find adds close matches, so a typo still lands, and the footer adds "including close matches".

Results are ranked by size, because that's usually what you're after in a disk tool. The 500 largest are listed and the footer gives the total, for example "Top 500 of 4,266 matches · 30 ms". Click any column header to sort by Name, Size, Kind, Modified or Where.

The search index is built the first time you search after a scan, away from the main thread, and kept until the next scan. You see "Preparing search…" once; after that, results keep up with your typing.

Filters

Three filters sit beside and below the search field:

• Kind: Folders, Apps, Images, Videos, Audio, Documents, Archives, Disk images and Code. Pick more than one.
• Size: Any size, Over 10 MB, Over 100 MB, Over 1 GB, Over 10 GB.
• Date: Any date, Past week, Past month, Past year, Older than a year, by when the file was last modified.

You don't need to type anything. Choose Videos, Over 1 GB and Older than a year, and Find lists every video that size you haven't changed in a year, largest first.

Known folders carry a short label from the field guide. In the screenshot, DiagnosticReports in ~/Library/Logs is labeled "Crash and diagnostic reports".

From a result to the Trash

Press ⌘F from any view to jump to Find. In the results, the space bar opens Quick Look and a double-click reveals the file in Finder. Right-click for Reveal in Finder, Quick Look, Copy Path and Add to Cleanup. Select several rows and Add to Cleanup stages them together.

Staged files wait in the Cleanup tray as "Your picks". Nothing moves until you open Review & Clean Up…, check the list and choose Move to Trash. Right before each file moves, MacClearings checks that it's unchanged since the scan, isn't open in an app and isn't protected. The safety page has the details.

If you'd rather not hunt, Suggestions has a rule for the same idea. It lists big files you haven't touched in a year and never checks them for you:

Suggestions rule · Large old files

Large files untouched for a year

Files over 500 MB you haven't opened or changed in a year. Only you know if they still matter, so they start unchecked.

Listed, but you decide whether to check it.

The size and age limits for that rule can be changed in Settings → Cleanup.

What Find doesn't do

Find doesn't read file contents; Spotlight does that. It doesn't watch the disk live: it searches your last scan, so scan again to pick up new files. And it only sees what was scanned. If you scanned your home folder, that's where results come from. Scan the whole Mac from the toolbar to search everything, with Full Disk Access if you want the folders macOS hides.