What you’ll notice if you send a lot of messages via the Messages app is that all of a sudden, you have less and less available space. That’s a problem that you want to manage, and ideally you want to do that as fast as you can.
Because if you don’t, you will lose space without knowing where it goes, and your Mac will start running slower and slower all the time.
Why are Messages Taking a lot of Space?
Let’s face it, you are sending messages every day, and those can have documents, links, videos or photos attached to them. All of those things eat up a lot of space, and that’s certainly something that you want to take into consideration. The same thing is valid when it comes to the chat history, or just having long conversation threads. And yes, there’s also the application cache, yet another thing that can prove to be problematic when too much cache starts adding up all of a sudden.
Delete Attachments and Messages
It’s a very good idea to start deleting messages and attachments mainly because it allows you to reduce the space used by the Messages app. It can fix Messages taking space, at least for a little bit. Deleting attachments is better mainly because a lot of the time, attachments eat up a lot of space. And that’s the important aspect, as it allows you to save time, and not worry about any issues or problems that might arise. Most of the time, it’s the seamless solution you need, and it’s not that hard to do, either!
Aside from just deleting messages, you can delete entire conversations with people. Needless to say, those can eat up a lot of space to begin with. And the more conversations you have, the more you will be dealing with issues and challenges. It helps if you right click the conversation you want to delete and then just press the Delete button. Removing attachments is always a very good idea, because they do eat up a lot of space. And the more time you let them accumulate, the more problematic this issue will become. Gradual/frequent deletion is amazing, and it will help more than you might expect.
Use the Reduce Clutter Feature
The feature is great because you can go to General/Storage and then choose messages, and here you will be able to delete items pertaining to the Messages app. You can also turn on the option to automatically delete messages that are older, and you choose which ones as well. That’s pretty useful because you will not have to worry about having messages that are years old. Instead, those get automatically deleted very fast, and that alone will make the process much easier to handle, which is what matters the most here.
Use a Mac Cleanup Tool
The role of a cleanup tool is to remove unnecessary files, and aside from system caches, temporary files or duplicates, it can also remove old messages or attachments from the app. That’s helpful because it allows you to save time and effort, while also ensuring that you have very good results, and an excellent experience every single time.
With help from a Mac cleanup tool, you will also improve the performance of your Mac. So it’s bringing you double the benefit without any downside. That being said, you can also do this many times, and it will only lead to a better result.
Clear Downloaded Files
Go to the Downloads folder and in there you want to remove all the unused downloaded files. A lot of the time, we have many of these files that we don’t really use at all. It just makes a lot of sense to tackle those problems and doing that correctly will help more than expected. It’s definitely a very good idea to clear downloaded files effectively, and in doing so, it just leads to improvements in performance.
Move Items to External Storage
If you want to save some space, you can clear some of the files from Messages to an external hard drive. That’s a nifty idea because it allows you to save lots of space, and it will only lead to a much better experience in the end. We believe it’s a great idea to try and ensure that you don’t have to deal with lots of wasted space.
Usually, if you move this stuff to external storage, it’s better, and you know where you can find those files at any time. There’s also the option to move such files to the cloud, if you can. It’s always up to you to make the right choice. Keep in mind that cloud services require a monthly payment, which is not the case for an external drive. However, with cloud services, you can access those files from anywhere, so there are pros and cons in both situations.
One thing is certain, if you have issues with the Messages app taking a lot of space, it’s important to figure out the most effective ways of dealing with those problems. Once you start handling those problems, it’s a lot easier, and it comes down to deleting unnecessary files and figuring out the right methods of dealing with such problems. At the end of the day, that’s what matters, to ensure that your device runs smoothly and that you’re not wasting any storage space!
Somewhere along the way she found herself doing freelance consulting for small businesses and home users, supporting both Linux and Windows users and integrating Linux and Windows on the LAN, primarily Linux servers and Windows clients. She is the author of the Linux Cookbook, Linux Networking Cookbook, and the Linux Cookbook 2nd Edition for O'Reilly, and has written hundreds of Linux howtos for various publications, .
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