How to delete Mail storage on Mac

Whether you’re dealing with a flood of attachments or a pile of old email, it's crucial to manage your mail storage efficiently. This guide will show you how to delete and manage email storage on your Mac, ensuring your system runs smoothly.

Managing your Mac’s storage can feel like an endless task, especially when you discover how much space your email is taking up. But first things first: let’s get a handle on what’s actually taking up space on your Mac when it comes to emails.

The Mail app on macOS stores not only your email but also their attachments, archived messages, and more. Over time, this can build up and eat away at your storage—and you might not even know it’s happening. So, what can you do?

Checking Mail storage use on Mac

Before you start deleting things, it's important to see how much space your mail is using and where it’s being consumed.

How to check Mail app storage on Mac

• Open the Mail app: Launch Mail from your Applications folder or the Dock.
• Click on Mailbox: In the menu bar at the top of your screen, click on “Mailbox” and select “Get Account Info”.
• Check storage: Here, you’ll see a breakdown of the storage each email account is using, categorized by how much space messages and attachments are consuming.

How to check iCloud if using it to store email

• Go to System Settings: Click on the Apple menu and go to “System Settings”.
• Click on Apple ID: Select your Apple ID, then click on “iCloud”.
• Manage storage: Click on “Manage Storage” next to your iCloud storage bar. From here, you can see how much space Mail is using on iCloud.

Why is Mail using so much storage?

Several factors contribute to Mail consuming a significant chunk of your Mac's storage:

• Attachments: Every time you receive or send an email with attachments, those files are stored on your Mac.
• Archived email: Old messages you’ve stored away can pile up over time.
• Junk mail: Email in your junk and trash folders take up space until you empty them.
• Multiple accounts: If you have several email accounts linked in Mail, each one will add to the storage load.

How to clear and reduce Mail storage

Now that you know where your storage space is going, let's look at how to reclaim it.

Delete unnecessary email and attachments

• Sort email by size: In the Mail app, sort your messages by size to find the biggest storage hogs.
• Delete large emails: If no longer needed, delete large emails and large attachments.
• Empty the trash: Don’t forget to empty your trash to permanently remove these messages and attachments from your system.

Empty trash and junk mail

• Open Mail: Select your trash or junk folder.
• Empty both folders: Right-click each folder and choose “Erase Deleted Items” or “Delete All”.

Remove attachments using Finder

• Open Finder: Click on Finder and then “Go” in the top menu bar.
• Go to folder: Type “~/Library/Mail” and press Enter.
• Find attachments: Navigate through the folders to find and delete old attachments.

Use third-party tools to free up space

• CleanMyMac X: Scans your Mac for unnecessary files and email attachments, and helps you delete them.
• DaisyDisk: Provides a visual representation of your disk space so you can see what's taking up the most storage.

Archive old email on external storage

• Export your mailbox: In the Mail app, select the mailbox you want to archive, click on “Mailbox” in the menu bar, and select “Export Mailbox”.
• Save to external storage: Save the exported file to an external hard drive or cloud storage service.

Remove and re-add email accounts

• Remove account: Go to “System Settings” > “Internet Accounts,” select the email account, and click “Remove”.
• Re-add account: After removing the account, you can re-add it. This clears out stored emails and attachments but keeps your email account active.

Optimizing Mail storage settings

After freeing up storage space, it’s a good idea to optimize your Mail settings to prevent future issues.

Prevent Mail from automatically downloading attachments

• Open Mail: Go to “Mail” > “Settings” from the menu bar.
• Go to your accounts: Select the “Accounts” tab and choose the account you want to adjust.
• Change settings: Under “Download Attachments,” select “Recent” or “None” to limit attachment downloads.

Add rules to automatically manage email storage

• Go to your mail preferences: In Mail, click on “Mail” > “Settings” > “Rules”.
• Create a new rule: Set up rules to automatically move, delete, or mark emails based on specific criteria like size or sender.

Use web-based email services to save space

If you use a web-based email service like Gmail or Yahoo, you can reduce storage use by accessing email through a web browser instead of downloading them from Mail.

Advanced email management

For those who need more control or are experiencing email related issues, these advanced techniques can help you manage mail storage.

Using Mailbird to manage and delete email

Mailbird for Mac is a powerful yet simple email client that helps you manage large volumes of email. You can download and use the Free version or choose one of the paid plans.

Uninstall and reinstall Mail

• Delete Mail: Drag the Mail app from your Applications folder to the Trash.
• Reinstall Mail: Go to the Mac App Store, search for the Mail app, and reinstall it.

Resetting Mail

• Backup data: Ensure all important email and attachments are backed up first.
• Reset Mail: Go to “~/Library/Containers/com.apple.mail” and delete this folder.
• Reopen Mail: The app will reset to its default state.

Conclusion

Effectively managing email storage on your Mac is essential to keep your system running smoothly. By regularly clearing out unnecessary messages and attachments, optimizing your Mail settings, and addressing common issues as they arise, you can prevent storage overload and ensure your Mac performs at its best.

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