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macOS Documents size bug

How do I retrieve the space that is being reported in macOS Systems Settings? It says ~40gbs, yet the actual size is 6kb.

I have:

  • removed all unneeded user profiles
  • pruned pnpm and brew packages
  • clean my user caches

How do I get that space back? Is it even being used?

I was told that "Documents" does not refer to the Documents folder? What does it refer to?

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    Could you clarify what you mean by the word "retrieve"? Do you mean that you are trying to "free up" space? Or get "actual" used space? Looking at the files inside Documents, what size to these add up to? Your question it unclear currently. Please consider what you have written, use the EDIT button, and do what you can to more clearly indicate the details of the problem you are facing.
    – music2myear
    Commented Jun 11 at 22:46
  • 3
    Documents can be the same kinds of files as you might store in the Documents folder, but they don't have to be in the Documents folder to count as documents. For example, an Excel .xslx spreadsheet file is a document, even if it's not in the Documents folder. So, most user files that don't fall into the other categories, are documents. For instance, that Botanist.zip file in your Downloads (not Documents) folder falls in the documents category because it's a user file and there's no category for something more specific like "compressed archive files".
    – Spiff
    Commented Jun 11 at 23:00
  • To continue off of what Spiff responded with, have you looked through the other tabs in the screenshot you have uploaded? I would imagine a decent amount could be under the downloads tab.
    – DrZoo
    Commented Jun 11 at 23:02
  • yes, I looked through all the tabs. I am trying to free up space. I cleaning up everything in the tabs.
    – Tithos
    Commented Jun 12 at 2:25

2 Answers 2

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As per your picture on the left, the Documents folder (which opens after clicking on Get Info) shows ~ 6 KB. This folder is in the location /Users/timothysmith/Documents.

Note that Macintosh HD > Users > timothysmith is same as /Users/timothysmith file-path.

The picture on the right shows all types of Documents which includes Large Files, Downloads, Unsupported Apps and File Browser, and the size of all of these together is 39.04 GB.

Currently, you have Large Files selected and those files are showing.

For example, note that the file Botanist.zip is contributing 351.4 MB to the 39.04 GB, and this file is located in the Downloads folder, as evident from the footer line in this picture.

Note that the file /Users/timothysmith/Downloads/Botanist.zip is same as the file Macintosh HD > Users > timothysmith > Downloads > Botanist.zip.

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I had faced similar issues, I used cleanMyMac space lens tool to understand what is taking space and user terminal and good old finder to erase the trace files. the free trial is useful to understand the consumed. also I would suggest to Run First Aid on the Disk Utility, and a restart before using any scan tools. this resolved the space issue I had

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    Commented Jun 24 at 16:51

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