If you are unalterably opposed to iCloud then read no further. ☺ï¸
A recent SmallDog Tech Tails article led me to discovered a feature in Sierra I had overlooked. I have talked about mirroring the Documents and Desktop folders between local storage and iCloud and gone on at length about how between that, iTunes in the iTunes library, and the Photos library allow sharing virtually all the data files seamlessly between the Mac, iPhone, and iPhone. But this is a feature targeted specifically at storage management on the Mac.
Navigate to Apple Menu âž About this Mac âž Storage âž Manage. There you will find options to
- Store in ICloud — Store all files and Photos in iCloud and save space keeping only recently opened files and optimized photos on this Mac, when storage space is needed.
- Optimize Storage — Save space by automatically removing iTunes movies and TV shows that you have already watched and by keeping only recent email attachments on this mac, when storage space is needed
- Empty Trash Automatically — Save space by automatically erasing items that have been in the Trash for more than 30 days.
- Reduce Clutter — Sort through documents and other content stored on this Mac and delete what is no longer needed.
- Applications shows all the files in the the user and system applications library — and they can be deleted from this view
- Documents can be viewed by Large files, Downloads, or a file browser
- GarageBand opens GarageBand so you can delete instruments, lessons, etc.
- iBooks lists all iBooks their size and whether they are unread, read, or being read
- Mail lists the amount of space being used by Mail
- Photos lists the total amount of space being used by Photos and will open Photos so you can manage the Photos Library
- Trash shows all the files currently in Trash and not erased
- There are, of course, third party apps that will do much of what Reduce Clutter does but this appears to be thoughtfully and intelligently designed and best of all free.
There is a plethora of implications that can be drawn by the appearance of this kind of tool built into Sierra including Apple is looking at a reality that ever increasing local storage is expensive and perhaps impractical (local storage soldered to the logic board or built into the processor?), but to my way of thinking the major implication is it is one more step along to road to the iCloud becoming an integral component of MacOS and iOS devices.
One last comment. All of this means critical data can be stored both locally and on iCloud and easily shared between MacOS and/or iOS devices, but it is not a replacement for either Time Machine backups or clones. Data on iCloud can be a help in restoring after a disaster, but it does not offer a one call does all complete recovery nor does it provide the Time Machine's ability to step back in time to a previous state of the system or an individual file.
