Overview: what you keep, and what you could free
The Overview shows your startup disk as one ring. Gray is what you keep, color is what MacClearings could move to the Trash after you review it, and purgeable and free space are shown apart.
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macOS 15+ · Apple silicon and Intel
- One ring for the whole disk
- Kept data in gray, reclaimable data colored by category, then purgeable and free space. A citron arc around the ring marks the share you could get back.
- Numbers before the first scan
- Rules that don't need a scan, like caches, logs and developer data, run at launch, so the ring fills in early. A home folder scan adds old downloads, project builds and large files.
- Purgeable kept apart
- Space macOS frees on its own, like local snapshots, is its own slice. It is never counted as free and never offered as a cleanup.
- Four figures under the ring
- Free space, how much was scanned and how many files, what's waiting in the Cleanup tray, and how much of what you freed stayed free.
- Biggest folders, recent cleanups
- The six biggest folders in your scan, each one click from the Map, and every cleanup with a link to History, where Undo lives.
What the ring shows
The Overview starts from the numbers macOS reports for your startup disk: how much is used, how much is purgeable and how much is free. It then splits the used part in two.
- Kept is gray. It's everything MacClearings has no suggestion for: your files, your apps, macOS itself.
- Reclaimable is colored by the category of the rule that found it: developer files, caches, logs, old downloads, iPhone and iPad backups, Mail attachments and so on. Each color has a label beside it.
In the screenshot above, the disk has 716 GB used of 995 GB. The ring shows 66.5 GB reclaimable (46.1 GB of developer files, 20.2 GB of caches and 204 MB of logs), 600 GB kept, 49.5 GB purgeable and 278 GB free.
The headline reads "You could free 66.5 GB." That's an upper bound, not a promise. It includes the 20.2 GB of caches, which Suggestions leaves unchecked because apps download or rebuild them within days. Click any colored row to open Suggestions and see what's behind it.
Purgeable space is not a cleanup
Purgeable space is storage macOS can release by itself, mostly local Time Machine snapshots and caches it manages. System Settings counts it as available. The Overview shows it as its own slice, so the free figure is what's actually empty. MacClearings never offers purgeable space as something to clean. Breakdown explains it in more detail, and the guide to purgeable space on a Mac covers what macOS does with it.
The four cards
Under the ring, four cards answer the questions people usually have next.
| Card | What it shows |
|---|---|
| Free | Free space, and what share of the disk that is |
| Scanned | The size of your last scan, where it was and how many files it covered |
| In Cleanup tray | What's staged, with the item count, waiting for your review |
| Stayed free | Of what you moved to the Trash, how much was still free when MacClearings measured again |
Stayed free shows a dash until your first cleanup has been measured again, a day later. It comes from History, which checks each cleaned place after a day, a week and a month.
Where to go from here
The two buttons beside the ring are the usual next steps: See suggestions and Open the map. Clicking a folder under Biggest in Home folder also takes you to the Map. Recent cleanups lists what you've moved to the Trash, with a link to History.
The staged total in the toolbar is on every page. Click it, or press ⇧⌘C, to open the review list. The menu bar extra shows free space and has Quick Scan and Review Cleanup, so you can check on the disk without opening the window. You can also drag any folder onto the window or the Dock icon to scan it.
What the Overview doesn't do
The Overview doesn't move, stage or change anything. Every cleanup still goes through the same review list, and MacClearings checks each item again right before it moves. The safety page explains each step.
Moving something to the Trash doesn't free its space on its own. The space comes back when you empty the Trash, and MacClearings never empties it for you. Until then, everything you moved can be put back from History.
If the free space in System Settings and the numbers here don't seem to agree, the guide on checking storage on a Mac walks through where each figure comes from.
Guides
- Mac storage full? What to do when your disk is almost fullYour Mac says its disk is almost full. What to check first in System Settings, the quickest safe ways to get space back, and why Mac storage keeps filling up.
- How to free up space on your MacFree up space on a Mac or MacBook with the tools macOS already has: Storage recommendations, the Trash, Downloads, unused apps and old backups.
- How to check storage on your MacCheck storage on a Mac or MacBook in System Settings, Finder, Disk Utility or Terminal, and what to do when the Storage pane is stuck on Calculating.
Questions about Overview
Why does MacClearings show less free space than System Settings?
System Settings counts purgeable space as available, because macOS frees it on its own when space runs low. The Overview shows free space and purgeable space as two separate slices, so the free figure is what's empty right now and the purgeable figure is what macOS can release later.
What does the reclaimable number include?
Everything the Suggestions rules found, by category. That includes app and browser caches, which start unchecked because apps rebuild them within days. What you actually get back depends on what you check, review and move to the Trash, and the space returns when you empty the Trash yourself.
Does the Overview change anything on my Mac?
No. The Overview only reads. Scanning only reads too. Nothing moves until you open Review & Clean Up and choose Move to Trash.
Do I need Full Disk Access to see the Overview?
No. Without it, macOS hides some folders, like Mail and Safari data, and the sidebar shows a Limited access card that says so. Those folders are left out of the numbers rather than guessed at. You can grant access from that card at any time.
Find out what's filling your Mac.
MacClearings explains your disk in plain words and moves only what you review to the Trash, with Undo. Paid once, every update included.
$12.50 launch price for the first 25 buyers, then $25.
macOS 15+ · Apple silicon and Intel