Choose a folder
Launch GrandPerspective. Select
a listed folder, or scroll to the bottom of
the list, double–click Select Other Folder,
and choose an alternative. Or skip the
window and kick things off with File >
Scan Folder (Cmd+N).
Browse items
Hover over or click any square. It
will be highlighted, as will any containing
folders. In the status bar at the foot of
the window, you’ll see the path to the
document, its file name, and — most
importantly — its size.
Filter your scans
Should you want to reduce noise,
create a filter for your scans. Go to
Window > Filter, click New and call your
filter “Huge files”. Select Huge files from
the Available tests area, and click < to
add it to the match area.
Scan your selection
It may take a long time to scan
your entire drive, or a large folder with
many documents. So it’s sometimes
worth scanning smaller folders like ~/
Downloads to quickly weed out large
documents you weren’t aware of.Double–check
deletions
For the current selection, use toolbar
buttons or the contextual menu (Ctrl–
click) to view it using Quick View, or reveal
it in Finder. It’s best to check (and possibly
back–up) anything you plan to delete!Choose criteria
Click OK to save your filter.
Run a scan — or select an existing one
on–screen. Go to Window > Filter, select
your filter from the pop–up menu and
click OK. The scan will now only display
files larger than 100MB.Remove a file
On selecting Delete, you’ll be
asked to confirm. Your file isn’t
immediately removed — it’s sent to the
macOS trash, from where it can be
retrieved. In GrandPerspective, the space
it once took will be colored grey.Adjust your display
Click Drawer. Display > Color by
lets squares’ colors represent file type or
age rather than folder. Also, use “Show
entire volume” to compare the current
scan to your entire drive, and avoid
pruning tiny files!View your scan
When the scan is complete, your
selected folder will be represented as
a grid of colored squares. Each of these
squares is a document — and the larger
the square, the larger the document.
Hone in on the biggest ones.How to do anything on your Mac, iPhone & iPad
Image rights: Apple. maclife.com DEC 2019 87