What Is Other On Mac Storage El Capitan

Apps movies photos audio backups and that annoying undescriptive category other.

What is other on mac storage el capitan.

What is other on mac storage includes all the files like pdf doc psd etc zips dmg iso tar etc temporary files swap voices etc. These files are often denoted by a white document icon with that little fold on the top right corner. For this we turn to the apple site which explains that other storage contains all the files that do not match the specified standard categories displayed on the storage chart such as documents photos apps movies audio etc. Powerpoints zip rar files mail messages and so forth.

The other category is a combination of files that are not recognized as one of the other file types music apps etc this category may include system files and caches apps extensions user logs documents e g. The other in mac storage comprises files that do not fall in the category of any media file types such as pictures videos and audio files. The other storage is the blue item in new versions of os x and the yellow item in the graph on prior versions of mac os x regardless other is visible in any modern version of mac os x. In versions prior to mac os x 10 10 you will need to click on more info in the about this mac screen to see the storage tab otherwise everything else is the.

Click on about this mac. Select the apple menu icon in the upper left corner of the screen. Before deleting anything off your mac you ll want to know what is actually stored under the other banner. However when using apple menu about this mac storage tab you cannot access the files in other directly.

Your mac breaks down its storage categories as follows. What is contained in other depends on the os x you are using. They can be files within disk images data stored by apps like contacts or calendar and app plugins and extensions. In os x el capitan or earlier other files are usually the ones that mac doesn t recognize as belonging to any category.

For the most part these files are created and saved by various apps on the mac mainly in the library folder. They are more time consuming than using a third party app like disk drill and there is always the potential that you could delete something that your operating system may need. But what is other.