maclife.com MAR 2020 213
Delete downloads
The Documents pane also has a tab
or your Downloads folder, which often
contains disposable files such as installers.
You can also open Downloads from its icon
in the Dock, or from your Home folder in
the Finder.
Click the Size column heading (Opt–
click any heading and check Size to add it)
to order by file size, clicking again if
necessary to get the biggest first. Starting
from the top of the list, delete anything
you don’t need.
The Documents pane in Storage Management
lists files that are taking up space.4
Start backing up
Check Back Up Automatically. Your
first backup will start in the background.
This takes time but future updates will be
quicker. Check “Show Time Machine in
menu bar” to add an icon in the menu bar.5
Restore files
In future, select a file in Finder (if
you’ve deleted it, select the folder it was
in). On the Time Machine menu, click
Enter Time Machine. Use the arrows to
pick a dated version, then click Restore.3
Check available space
Eligible drives are listed showing
free space. Time Machine can share a
drive with other files (no need to partition
it). Aim to select a drive bigger than all
the space you’re backing up. Click Set Up.
1 Go through your bin
As you remove unwanted files,
you might notice you’re not gaining
any space. That’s because anything
you’ve deleted will normally still be
sitting in the Trash, which means it’s
still taking up storage. Opt–click the
Trash icon, at the right–hand end of
the Dock, and choose Open.2 Rescue any trashed
files you need
Check through the list of files. If
there’s anything you’ve deleted by
mistake, Opt–click it and choose Put
Back to return it to its original folder,
or drag it to another location.3 Delete the rest
To be cautious, you can delete
individual files from the Trash: Opt–
click and choose Delete Immediately.
To get rid of them all, Opt–click the
Trash icon and choose Empty Trash.Take out
the Trash
Image rights: Apple.
Detox your Mac
maclife.com APR 2020 21