How To Clear The Cache On Mac

In this guide, we’re going to look at clearing two types of cache: the user cache and system cache. A user cache includes data stored by apps — it will allow you to remove any stored personal data or any outdated files. A system cache comprises files that are being used by the operating system.  It’s easy to remove either one, but it’s also important to tread carefully. First of all, make sure you have a back-up of the files you are about to clear. We can’t stress this enough. It’s a way of ensuring you’re not going to be left high and dry if you make a mistake. Second, it’s best not to indiscriminately remove files. If you don’t know what effect removing something from the cache will have, either leave it alone or go online and search the file’s name to see if it could potentially cause a problem.

How to clear the cache on Mac: User cache

In summary, these are the steps for clearing the user cache on a Mac:

Open Finder, click go and click Go to FolderType ~/Library/CachesRight-click on a fileClick move to Trash

Read on to see detailed instructions.

Manually clear the Mac’s user cache

1. First, open Finder on your Mac and click Go in the toolbar. Now click Go to Folder from the menu.
2. In the pop-up box which appears, type ~/Library/Caches and press Enter.
3. You will see a folder containing your Mac’s cached files. You can press Command-A on your keyboard to select all of the files and right-click on the highlighted selection. Alternatively – and more preferable – right-click on an individual file. That way, you are less at risk of clearing something important. Remember: It’s always a good idea to back-up any files and folders that you are looking to change. That way, you can put them back if something goes wrong.
4. In either case, click Move to Trash or Move to Bin depending on where you live. This will move the cache files to the trash. You can now click the Trash can icon in your Mac’s Dock and select Empty.

How to clear the cache on Mac: System cache

You can also clean up any cached files created by macOS. This is only really recommended if you know what you’re doing or if you find you’re having problems with a program. Again, as with the app cache, it’s always a good idea to backup any files you are about to change!

1. Open Finder on your Mac, click Go in the toolbar and click Go to Folder from the menu.
2. Type /Library/Caches and press Enter.
3. Open a folder and delete the files that are inside it. And there you go. That’s how you clear the user and system caches of your Mac. To help speed up an iPhone, you can learn how to clear RAM on iPhone and how to clear cache on iPhone. But that’s just one of the many Mac tips we can offer you. Looking for emoji? Here’s how to find the emoji keyboard on Mac. We can also show you how to turn on the keyboard light of your Mac. You can also learn how to edit PDFs on Mac, how to right click on Mac, how to remote desktop on Mac, how to remote control your Mac from your iPhone, discover how to uninstall apps on a Mac, or find out how to free up space on iCloud.  Want to ditch passwords for good? Learn how to set up Passkeys on iPhone, iPad and Mac. Find out how to open Terminal on Mac, so you can become a power user.