I have a 256GB MacBook Pro from 2017 running Ventura, and I'm looking to clear up some local storage. I've noticed my Messages attachments are taking up about 35GB, which is quite a bit. I have a 2TB iCloud plan and don't want to lose any messages or attachments stored there. I usually keep my phone close by and rarely text from the MacBook, so I'm considering disabling Messages in iCloud. If I do that, can I safely delete the attachments from my hard drive without losing them from iCloud? Also, will I still be able to send and receive messages on my MacBook, but just not have them saved to iCloud anymore?
1 Answer
Yes, you can definitely disable Messages in iCloud to free up space on your Mac. But here’s the catch: don't delete messages directly from the app because if you do that and later enable Messages in iCloud again, those deleted messages will also vanish from iCloud and all devices synced to it. Instead, locate the folder where the Messages app stores its files and delete the attachments from there. This way, the app isn’t aware of the deletion, so if you ever decide to re-enable Messages in iCloud later on, it will see your Mac as a new device and download your messages back from iCloud. Got it?
Got it! So just to confirm, if I use something like OmniDiskSweeper to delete from the Library folder, that should be fine? Can I delete the whole 'attachments' folder, or just its contents?