How to Clean up with Smart Folders

1 Create a Smart Folder

In Finder, go to File > New Smart Folder. The window’s title will change accordingly, and you can direct the search at your entire Mac (This Mac) or the folder that was previously in the window (Desktop by default).

4 Save your folder

Click Save. In the sheet, name your Smart Folder ‘Large + big files’. Searches are saved to ~/Library/Saved Searches, and can be placed in Finder’s sidebar by ticking Add To Sidebar before you click the sheet’s Save button.

7 Fine- tune a selection

It’s possible to nest criteria in Smart Folders, thereby enabling more complex searches. In a moment, you’ll create a new rule like the one in step 2, but this time with a smaller target file size – something like 100MB, for example.

2 Set a criterion

Click the + button and set your criterion to match files whose size is greater than 250MB. Almost instantly, you’ll see matching files in the window. Change the size figure and the Smart Folder’s contents will update to suit.

5 Use your search

At any point, click your Smart Folder in any Finder window’s sidebar to see an up-to-date list of matching files. ≈- click a file and choose Show Enclosing Folder to see its original home – or use the path bar (choose View > Show Path Bar).

8 Add a criteria group

Rather than clicking + to add the second condition, hold å. The + turns into an ellipsis (‘…’). Click that and a group is created, into which you can add multiple criteria and define whether any, all or none of them must be met.

3 Add a second criterion +

Click to add another criterion, and set its properties to ‘Last opened date is before’ and a date that’s several months in the past. That way you won’t have to wade through recent files that you probably want to keep for now.

6 Change your criteria

Criteria are not set in stone. ≈- click your Smart Folder in Finder’s sidebar and choose Show Search Criteria. You’ll now see all of the conditions you set again. This enables you to, for example, adjust the last opened date when needed.

9 Add more conditions

In the group, add a few ‘Kind is’ rules, to narrow your search to images, music and video. Now you’ve a way of quickly spotting big media documents on your Mac, without the search results including file types like apps.